ABSTRACT
In this conversation with Niq Mhlongo, the author addresses the role of the short story throughout his writing career, commenting on prominent short story writers who have influenced his work, the short story tradition in South Africa, his practice as a writer, teacher and marketer of the short story genre, the reception of his stories in various geographical contexts as well as the increasing significance of book clubs, social media and digital publication platforms. Mhlongo further describes how he conceives his short stories around a key theme or idea that speaks to contemporary South African socio-political realities. Experimentation with conventions of the short story genre for Mhlongo is driven by his efforts to detail the complexities of a theme rather than by a mere desire for textual play with form and language. As such, Mhlongo rejects observations about the modernist short story and its inchoate, fragmented and disjointed nature as suitable means to approach the postapartheid moment in favour of a poetics that re-validates relatability, accessibility and everyday speech. During the course of the interview Mhlongo also highlights his approach to marketing and facilitating access to his work in an effort to forge and sustain black reading communities across South Africa and other parts of the continent.
