Pontas is very proud to represent previous recipients of the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award in partnership with South African publisher Jacana Media and we are delighted to announce that we are continuing this partnership with the 2024 winner of the award, which published in January 2025: Buried in the Chest by Illinois-based South African writer Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani. WEL (excl. SA), all translation rights and film/TV rights are currently available.
Buried in the Chest is a poignant tale of self-discovery, love, and community set against the backdrop of post-apartheid South Africa. Unathi is raised by her grandmother, Gogo, in the village of Moya, where mothers are eerily absent. The story follows Unathi’s journey as she navigates her identity as a queer woman and the complexities of interracial relationships and her cultural heritage, and pursues her quest for her mother’s truth.
The author says she wrote the novel as a way to process apartheid, colonialism, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the words of the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award adjudication panel:
This poetic novel is the kind of inventive truth telling South Africa urgently needs as we continue to grapple with the past and imagine a better future for all… the book will linger in the heart and mind long after reading.
Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani has an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. In May 2017, she received a doctoral degree in Mass Communication and Media Arts from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Her terminal degrees were, in April 2011, preceded by an MA in Media Studies from Nelson Mandela University. When she is not writing or observing one or another social or cultural phenomenon that she knows will end up in one of her stories, she is teaching because that is what English Professors do – they teach and help to shape young and all minds.
For more information about the above title, please contact Carla Briner (carla@pontas-agency.com).