Tokelo Hlagala
- Who are you?
Tokelo Hlagala is a storytelling practitioner from South Africa Pretoria. Amongst many things he is a writer, an editor and proof-reader, and also offers writing consultation. He has been in the literature and arts space for over four years in various capes. Through the oozing of his pen ink, Tokelo views himself as a student of the human condition. His writings aim at exploring what it means to be human. This is to address the proverbial existential questions such as, ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What am I here for?’
- Where are you from?
South Africa, Pretoria.
- What is your profession?
My current role is as an editor/ proof-reader and writing consultant at Afrocentric Media House.
- Where did you publish?
Afrocentric Media House, South Africa.
- Who is your illustrator?
My Illustrator is Orapeleng Simanga, an amazing artist studying Fine Arts at the Tshwane university of technology. I shared with him the concept I had for the book, and he delivered accordingly.
- Did you make an input in your cover design?
Yes, I was involved throughout the process of the making of the book cover.
- Your best book from your poem, tell us more about that poem.
Poor Folk/s is an anthology of short stories, there is but one poem in the book, and this poem is a dedication to the characters in the book. This poem was written by a good friend of mine and business partner Zuko Gqadavama.
“My breeders hoped and prayed that “nothing happens” but I happened and affliction began.
Frustrations, fears and feuds fuelled anxieties and they panicked.
Like PE weather they experienced four seasons of emotions in one day.
The thoughts of I, being a blessing kept their hopes up.
The understanding of I, being a “mistake” kept them up at night.
The hope that this was not true haunted their already crippled souls.
They indeed hoped and prayed that I was a passing-by nightmare.
I am the poor folk!
I am the poor folk!
I am the poor folk!…”
- Who motivated you to write?
From an early age I was an avid reader. I remember reading two books around the time I was in grade 6/7, one was a book titled ‘Ways of Dying’ by Zakes Mda, the other was ‘Maru’ by Bessie Head. I can say it was in these two books that I saw fragments of myself, my own reality in their stories. The literature began to help me not only comprehend myself, but the world at large. From this period, I began reading each and everything I could get my hands on. Some of these books I was reading I did not understand at the time. I found bliss in reading them nonetheless, it was around the same period when I started writing, but later on stopped because I did not know what to do with my writings. I did not know any writers from my township, and I felt that I was not a good writer. Nonetheless the reading never stopped. Years later the writing fire within me became too intense, I could not contain it anymore. The embers were flaming hot, and so I began writing again: blogs and short stories. In 2021 I set to write a book that became Poor Folk/s which took me around a period of 6 months to write and publish. The feedback I received post publishing the book has been overwhelming. I did not think that such a plethora of people from different walks of life would relate to these nuggets of stories but they did and I am motivated to write more.
- What inspired you to write?
My inspiration comes from both my internal and external world, the things that I experience, and those that I see transpiring around my immediate world. During covid-19 lockdown I saw people losing their jobs, struggling to make ends meet, and I was one of those people. I began to internalise various stories that I saw around me, the struggles with poverty for many black South Africans even years after the new regime in the country. My quest with these stories was to illuminate the human condition, people who are battling poverty, to shed light on some of the psychological pains they are subjected to.
- Bogus versus legit publishers, have you encountered such?
I have not encountered Bogus publishers along my journey as I am part of a publishing house (Afrocentric media house) that was responsible for my literary endeavour.
- Merging the books with community service, are you involved in any community service?
I am the founder of KCS Book Club (www.kcsbookclub.co.za), the core purpose of this book club is to create and distribute information. Through this entity we run various programs such as storytelling workshops, establishing book clubs in schools, and hosting book markets. This is a platform where my book and other writers that we have, push our literature movement.
- How did your faith help you in your marketing?
Firstly, faith allowed me to write and publish. It sustained me to work well with the various individuals who are involved in the project. The book has continued to reach places we have never thought about. Faith allowed me to release the book and hope that it will reach the right hands, and it has.
- How many copies have you sold, or do you plan to sell in future?
I have not kept record of the number of books sold as they are mostly distributed by our book club and other partners.
- What is your future plans?
Apart from writing more books and continuing with my other literary duties, I am looking to create a storytelling program course. The course will enable people interested in storytelling the opportunity to learn from those who have been in the industry for many years, and to bestow them tools that can help them emerge as storytellers. This is a project I am doing with Afrocentric Media House.
- How can people get your book?
People can order my book via few channels, through the Facebook/Insta page KCS BOOK CLUB/ info@kcsbookclub.co.za, KCS whatsapp line 064 909 2408, or via my email tokelo@afrocentricrsa.co.za and social media @Tokelo Hlagala.
- Do you plan to convert your book to an ebook too?
I had not planned to convert the book into an ebook. Due to the growing demand of the book from my network of people outside South Africa, we are planning to take the book digital so it can be available for readers outside South Africa.
- Parting last words.
‘In the beginning was the word’. I believe that human progress is grounded on stories, the religious movements have clearly depicted this. One can argue that to steer society in the direction of progress, we need to have stories that play this fundamental and imperative role. We need stories that will illuminate; the suffering of others, oppression of others, it is in showing these human conditions, whether through fiction or non-fiction, whether through novels, music, and artworks, that we get to understand the conditions of our society.
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About the Author
