PODCAST

Chwayita Ngamlana: If I Stay Here
Chwayita Ngamlana: If I Stay Here
So begins a conversation that can only be described as a black girl communion of spirit and ideas. Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele sat down with the ineffable Upile Chisala, author of... Read more...
Zibu Sithole: Love, Zola
Zibu Sithole: Love, Zola
[buzzsprout episode='18618243' player='true'] In the final installation of the acclaimed trilogy, Zibu Sithole, the acclaimed author of the beloved Zola series, reveals why she’s choosing to tell stories of gentle,... Read more...
Frank Thabani Sayi: No Safer Kinder Hatred
Frank Thabani Sayi: No Safer Kinder Hatred
[buzzsprout episode='18517850' player='true'] Frank Sayi grew up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in the 1970s. His childhood straddled two very significant periods in his country's history, both of which heavily influenced... Read more...
Bolu Babalola: Honey and Spice
Bolu Babalola: Honey and Spice
[buzzsprout episode='15386721' player='true']  Honey & Spice is a sweet, evocative and humorous coming of age debut novel from Bolu Babalola. We first encountered Bolu in the short story collection “Love... Read more...
Angela MAKHOLWA: THE REED DANCE STALKER
Edit The Cheeky Natives Angela Makholwa: The Reed Dance Stalker "And in breaking news, convicted serial killer and rapist, Napoleon Dingiswayo, escaped from Pretoria’s C-Max Prison at twelve-fifteen this afternoon, along with serial rapist and armed robber Andries Mathe, and heist kingpin Sifiso Khumalo.’ The voice of the newsreader rings crisp and cool while announcing the earth-shattering news." Angela Makholwa is one of South Africa’s more eminent crime writers. In Red Ink, we were introduced to the characters of Lucy Khambule and Napoleon Dingiswayo and left on the edge as... Read more...
Arinze Ifeakandu: God's Children Are Little Broken Things
Arinze Ifeakandu: God's Children Are Little Broken Things
[buzzsprout episode='15238021' player='true'] In this enthralling debut collection of short stories by Arinze Ifeakandu God’s Children Are Little Broken Things is a collection of 9 short stories set in Nigeria... Read more...
Okechukwu Nzelu: Here Again Now
Okechukwu Nzelu: Here Again Now
LISTEN TO PODCAST [buzzsprout episode='15314284' player='true] In this immaculate study of father-son relationships and the black masculinity, Okechukwu introduces to two Black, gay British-Nigerian men. Achike and Ekene find themselves... Read more...
Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ: Dazzling
Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ: Dazzling
LISTEN TO PODCAST [buzzsprout episode='15158501' player='true] In this intriguing debut by  Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụwe are introduced to two young girls Ozoemena and Treasure, whose coming of age takes place in a... Read more...
Safiya Sinclair: How to say Babylon
Safiya Sinclair: How to say Babylon
[buzzsprout episode='14905608' player='true'] In this beautiful memoir, Safiya Sinclair writes about her childhood and adolescence in Jamaica with parents in the Rastafari faith. In an act of personal excavation, she... Read more...
Q&A with Nadia Owusu
Q&A with Nadia Owusu
Who is your favourite author of all times?* James Baldwin What is your favourite book of all time? Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God." What is your favourite... Read more...
Diana Anyakwo: My Life As A Chameleon
Diana Anyakwo: My Life As A Chameleon
[buzzsprout episode='14710910' player='true'] In My Life as a Chameleon, Diana Anyakwo explores the themes of identity, family and memory with a tender hand. Centred around the experiences of Lily, a... Read more...
Angela Makholwa: The Reed Dance Stalker 
Angela Makholwa: The Reed Dance Stalker 
[buzzsprout episode='14565738' player='true'] "And in breaking news, convicted serial killer and rapist, Napoleon Dingiswayo, escaped from Pretoria’s C-Max Prison at twelve-fifteen this afternoon, along with serial rapist and armed robber... Read more...
Nadia Owusu: aftershocks
Nadia Owusu: aftershocks
[buzzsprout episode='14630586' player='true'] "1. Unwelcome Reunion Unwelcome ReunionWhen I was twenty-eight, my stepmother Anabel came to New York on vacation. She was living, at the time, in Pakistan, where she... Read more...
Angela Makholwa: The Reed Dance Stalker
Angela Makholwa: The Reed Dance Stalker
https://soundcloud.com/user-404664175/angela-makholwa-the-reed-dance-stalker?si=0771fd68feef4be88757a9b91f71dd2f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing "And in breaking news, convicted serial killer and rapist, Napoleon Dingiswayo, escaped from Pretoria’s C-Max Prison at twelve-fifteen this afternoon, along with serial rapist and armed robber Andries Mathe,... Read more...
Zibu Sithole: The Thing with Zola
Zibu Sithole: The Thing with Zola
https://soundcloud.com/user-404664175/zibu-sithole-the-thing-with-zola?si=4f6753328f144932b4ebcfacbc3b0875&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing In this refreshing tale about Black love and the self-discovery, we are introduced to Zola, a young woman in her 20’s thrashing out what it means to reckon with... Read more...
Q&A WITH Wisani Mushwana
Q&A WITH Wisani Mushwana
The Cheeky Natives: Who is your favourite author of all time? Wisani Mushwana: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi The Cheeky Natives: What is your favourite book of all time? Wisani Mushwana: Kintu The... Read more...
Wisani Mushwana: A Soft Landing
Wisani Mushwana: A Soft Landing
https://soundcloud.com/user-404664175/wisani-mushwana-a-soft-landing?si=11731369ef844e078c40a8178f70b6a2&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing “In Violet’s bedroom, most of the furniture had been moved, except for the bed whose mattress lay on the floor and carried the weight of an unconscious Violet. The... Read more...
Q&A WITH Buki Papillon
Q&A WITH Buki Papillon
Q: Who is your favourite author of all time?A: Gabriel Garcia MarquezQ: What is your favourite book of all time?A: 100 Years of Solitude Q: Which book did you most... Read more...
Q&A WITH SUE NYATHI
Q&A WITH SUE NYATHI
Who is your favourite author of all time? I don’t have one because I am not intentional about reading all an author’s books to be able to say I love this... Read more...
Q&A WITH SUE NYATHI
Who is your favourite author of all time? I don’t have one because I am not intentional about reading all an author’s books to be able to say I love this author’s entire body of work. Which is actually odd because I do it with musicians.  The problem I guess is consistency, for example I loved Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie Ngozie but failed to get into Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah. There is one author, Jean M Auel, I read her Earth Children’s series and loved it. I... Read more...
Q&A with nozuko siyotula
Q&A with nozuko siyotula
Who is your favourite author of all time? Toni Morrison and Barbara KingsolverWhat is your favourite book of all time?SulaWhat book did you enjoy the most in 2022?Sankofa by Chibundu... Read more...
Tapiwa Mugabe: Zimbabwe
Tapiwa Mugabe: Zimbabwe
“You learnt it was human not womanly to cry.” ― Tapiwa Mugabe Tapiwa Mugabe is the author of a poetry collection called Zimbabwe. This book tackles topics around masculinity, immigration,... Read more...
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw: Intersectionality
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw: Intersectionality
‘If we aren’t intersectional, some of us, the most vulnerable, are going to fall through the cracks.’ - Kimberlé Crenshaw Intersectionality has been a buzzword for some time now. The... Read more...
Zukiswa Wanner: Hardly Working
Zukiswa Wanner: Hardly Working
In the latest episode of the Cheeky Natives, Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele sat with the incomparable Zukiswa Wanner to discuss books, life and almost everything in between. Over the course of... Read more...
Ashlee Haze: Land of the Living
Ashlee Haze: Land of the Living
'But look how she dances when she thinks no one is watching.Look at the balm oozing from her bonesshe is my pomegranate promise in this land of the living' -Ashlee... Read more...
Ebony Stewart: Home.Girl.Hood
Ebony Stewart: Home.Girl.Hood
‘This poem is about joy. how long it stayedhow we remember itin usalways’ - Ebony Stewart These words are the last lines from a poem titled ‘This poem is a... Read more...
Yrsa Daley-Ward: Bone
Yrsa Daley-Ward: Bone
“because writing is soft and a hard place, all at once.” – Yrsa Daley-Ward Instagram poetry seems to dominate the modern way of consuming poetry and also in many ways... Read more...
Kleaver Cruz: The Black Joy Project
Kleaver Cruz: The Black Joy Project
"Black Joy is one of the entities that has gotten us through the many trials and tribulations of our existence around the world." -Kleaver Cruz Kleaver is the creator of... Read more...
Dudu Busani- Dube: The Hlomu Series
Dudu Busani- Dube: The Hlomu Series
Hlomu, Zandile and Naledi. Three seemingly random names but whose stories our readers are so invested in, you'd swear they were real. Dudu Busani-Dube, author of the Hlomu series, new... Read more...
Darnell L.Moore: No Ashes in the Fire
Darnell L.Moore: No Ashes in the Fire
"To discover and name what shapes us is to engage in the work of history" - Darnell L. Moore. On this episode of the podcast, Letlhogonolo speaks to acclaimed writer... Read more...
Upile Chisala: Soft Magic and Nectar
Upile Chisala: Soft Magic and Nectar
‘A dose of nectar’ with Upile Chisala. So begins a conversation that can only be described as a black girl communion of spirit and ideas. Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele sat down... Read more...
Chwayita Ngamlana: If I Stay Here
Chwayita Ngamlana: If I Stay Here
Toni Morrison says “If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” A recent story... Read more...
Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele and Letlhogonolo: Catching up
Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele and Letlhogonolo: Catching up
In the latest episode of the podcast we check in with Dr Slay and black boy magic, Letlhogonolo to find out just what’s been popping over the past few months. Read more...
Ashley Makue – I know how to fix myself
Ashley Makue – I know how to fix myself
From being CPS National Slam to performing at the Women of the World Poetry Slam, Ashley is a prodigious force. One worth the Cheeky Natives pilgrimage to the Republic of... Read more...
Chinelo Okparanta: Under the Udala Trees
Chinelo Okparanta: Under the Udala Trees
Lynne Pann said ‘books allowed my imagination to take flight and it hasn’t landed yet’We hope you’ll enjoy taking flight with us.To literary infinity and beyond Read more...
Sisonke Msimang: Always Another Country
Sisonke Msimang: Always Another Country
"This book is both personal and political - it is about how I was made by the liberation struggle and how I was broken by its protagonists'." - Sisonke Msimang... Read more...
Lebo Mashile and Majola: Moya
Lebo Mashile and Majola: Moya
"If we going to heal let it be glorious" - Warsan Shire The Cheeky Natives sat down with Lebo Mashile and Khanyisa Buti(Majola) to discuss their album ' Moya' -... Read more...
Koleka Putuma: Collective Amnesia
Koleka Putuma: Collective Amnesia
'Being black, woman and alive is a metaphysical dilemma, I haven't quite conquered yet' -Ntozake Shange is quoted as saying. And so as The Cheeky Natives, we sat with the... Read more...
WordnSound: Poetry, Literary, Blackness
WordnSound: Poetry, Literary, Blackness
"Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form."- Toni Morrison On this episode the Cheeky Natives sat down and spoke to the Melanin... Read more...
Mohale Mashigo: The Yearning
Mohale Mashigo: The Yearning
'My mother died seven times before she gave birth to me. I am grateful for that corpse that somehow always seemed to resurrect itself. My father is gone now but... Read more...