Sihle Khumalo’s fourth book Rainbow Nation My Zulu Arse is here. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
We were introduced to Sihle Khumalo’s work a few years ago when we read his first book Dark Continent My Black Arse. In this book he gives the chronology of his trip from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt on public transport. In our glowing review, we rave about the travel writer who was going through my continent in a way that I had hitherto thought impossible. He would follow up this book with Heart of Africa (our review) where he travels from South Africa to the source of the Nile. His third book, we believe his best technically, was Almost Sleeping My Way To Timbuktu where he travels across French speaking West Africa without any knowledge of French. The South African Literary Awards thought so too giving him the creative nonfiction award in 2014.
The writer’s newest book Rainbow Nation My Zulu Arse is here. Published by Penguin Random House, the book is based on his travels across his home country of South Africa. Here is the blurb of the book from the publisher.
After exploring more than twenty other African nations using only public transport, Sihle Khumalo this time roams within the borders of his own country. The familiarity of his own car is a luxury, but what he finds on his journey through South Africa ranges from the puzzling to the downright bizarre. Voyaging from the northernmost part of South Africa right to the south, the author noses his car down freeways and back roads into small towns, townships, and villages, some of which you’ll have trouble finding on a map.
But this is no clichéd description of beautiful landscapes and blue skies. Khumalo is out to investigate the state of the nation, from its highest successes to its most depressing failures. Whether or not he’s baffled, surprised, or sometimes plain angry, Sihle Khumalo will always find warmth in his fellow South Africans: security guards, religious visionaries, drunks, political activists and the many other colourful personalities that come alive in his riveting account.
Khumalo has announced the first few dates of the book tour in South Africa and promised that his new baby will “rattle a few cages.” The tour includes:
- November 6th: Love Books, Melville (Johannesburg).
- November 8th: Exclusive Books, Gateway (Durban).
- November 14th: Exclusive Books, Sandton (Johannesburg).
- November 29th: Bridge Books, Maboneng (Johannesburg).
Have at it my Mzansi people. No word yet on any other African launches at this point.
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