Second award for Baloyi

Read: 1221

     Literature

Local author Musa Aubrey Baloyi made newspaper headlines late last year when he was announced the winner of the Maskew Miller Longman Literature Award for 2016.

He received the award in the Xitsonga category for his novel Vutlhari Bya Lunya. Recently, he reached another milestone when he was awarded the PanSALB Language and Literature Award for the very same book, during an event that was held at Cape Town International Convention Centre. He was rewarded for his contribution to  the promotion and preservation of the Xitsonga language.

“I got a certificate and a cash amount,” he said. “One doesn't just win an award. They evaluate the quality of the work submitted in that category and then give an award to the best literary work on the shortlist.”

He further said that it was not surprising news that his book had just won a second prize. “It's only a confirmation that it is a good book, and it's another reason people are buying Vutlhari Bya Lunya,” he said. “As people, we seem to be moving away from the idea that books are there only to be read by pupils at school. We are now reading books for pleasure and entertainment reasons, just like when one listens to good music.”

A resident of Mhinga village in the Malamulele area, Baloyi said that he was recognised because of the quality of his work. “I know what it means to spend a long time alone, crouched over a computer keyboard, typing away word after word until they form a whole story that can be read and understood for what it is,” he said.

The novel tells the story of a teenager, named Darren. He loses his leg after he gets shot while running away behind his mother during war. He does well in his university studies and becomes one of the university’s top 10 students.

“After graduating, he gets a well-paid job at the National Health Laboratory Services, which he later defrauds of millions of rands,” he told. “He flees to Singapore with his friends, but they are later arrested and deported back to South Africa. They are charged with theft and sentenced to life imprisonment.”

In this tale, the author is trying to convey the message that crime does not pay, whether you are physically disabled or not.

Baloyi  can be phoned on 073 464 7297.

Follow Baloyi on Facebook: 

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.