Alpha Female Fridays - Rešoketšwe Manenzhe

"I am a gift, I am gifted , my gifts make room for me in powerful spaces" Bon

Today we meet an amazing "Gifted" Alpha Female Rešoketšwe Manenzhe a poet, short story writer and novelist. Her debut novel published by Jacana Media in 2020 called Scatterlings has gotten her much deserved recognition.

A novel set over a hundred years ago, and chronicles a tale of migrancy very different to what we have come to expect in African literature. It incorporates myth and ritual, and the stories of extraordinary, ordinary women.

In 2020 she was awarded with the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award and was the first runner- up for the 2019 Collins Elesiro Prize for fiction. In 2021 she was shortlisted for the Sunday Times CNA Literary Awards. Earlier this year she was awarded with the HSS Award for the Best Fiction Single Authored. She has also written short stories which have appeared in the Kalahari Review, Fireside Fiction, Praxis Magazine, Lolwe, FIYAH, and the 2017 Sol Plaatjie European Union Anthology, among others. Rešoketšwe also won the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize.

Some of her short stories include Southern Wind and deals with identity, and what it means to be African. She's also published a short story, titled Moths and Butterflies: An Extremely Brief story Telling of How Jared July Became Something Close to a Hero.

It deals with a rather morbid subject–suicide. Her stories tackle issues that are relatable and need to be told.Rešoketšwe Manenzhe is a PhD student and lecturer at the University of Cape Town. She also holds a Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering from the which she obtained with distinction and has worked as an engineer.

A gift that keeps giving… A voice in African literature for ours and the future generation ….#AlphaFemaleFridays#Author#AfricanLit#PhDCandidate#Engineer#Writer#Lecturer#StoryTeller