cheekynatives – Cheeky Natives

Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda: No Be From Hia

March 28, 2021April 1, 2021cheekynativesLeave a Comment

‘My book was inspired by my multicultural background – Zambian, Nigerian, Jamaican and British. I wrote it at a time when I was processing the loss of both sets of grandparents, whom I had visited in Nigeria and in my Zambian village, Chinsali.’ Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda In a search for identity, love and acceptance two […]

Brit Bennett: The Vanishing Half

January 8, 2021January 8, 2021cheekynativesLeave a Comment

Cheeky Natives · Brit Bennett: The Vanishing Half “The only difference between lying and acting was whether your audience was in on it, but it was all a performance just the same.” Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of […]

Brandon Taylor and Paul Mendez: Real Life and Rainbow Milk

November 20, 2020November 20, 2020cheekynativesLeave a Comment

Cheeky Natives · Brandon Taylor and Paul Mendez: Real Life and Rainbow Milk “It was a cool evening in late summer when Wallace, his father dead for several weeks, decided that he would meet his friends at the pier after all.” – Brandon Taylor “Jesse’s alarm went off at seven, but he’d barely slept. He […]

Phumlani Pikoli: The Fatuous State of Severity

November 7, 2020November 7, 2020cheekynativesLeave a Comment

Cheeky Natives · Phumlani Pikoli: The Fatuous State of Severity “The Fatuous State of Severity – a mouthful for most – was a state of mind I had learned to occupy while recuperating from a depressive episode at a psychiatric clinic.” – Phumlani Pikoli The Fatuous State of Severity is a debut collection of short […]

QnA with Keletso Mopai

October 18, 2020October 18, 2020cheekynativesLeave a Comment

Writer Keletso Mopai, tackles mental health, queerness and the undeniable power of the Balobedu Rain Queen, in her short story collection. Keletso Mopai hails from Lenyenye, a township located 20km from Tzaneen, Limpopo. The township is well known as a place where Mamphela Ramphele was banished by the apartheid regime from 1977–1984. It is also […]

Lockdown Edition with Angela Makholwa: The Blessed Girl

September 28, 2020September 28, 2020cheekynativesLeave a Comment

Cheeky Natives · Lockdown Edition with Angela Makholwa: The Blessed Girl (Part 1) Cheeky Natives · Lockdown Edition with Angela Makholwa: The Blessed Girl (Part 2) Even as a young child, Angela Makholwa wanted to be a storyteller. Her first story was published at 13 and from then on a lifetime relationship with words was […]