Fluid book cover: Karavan Press; Lerato Mahlangu, photo: provided
Short.Sharp.Stories is a platform showcasing top and emerging South African fiction writers. The theme of this year’s anthology is Fluid – freedom to be. Fluid, this year’s Short.Sharp.Stories anthology, seeks to engage fictional expression around identity, culture and society.
Joanne Hichens conducts interviews with the respective short story writers.
Mini-interview with Lerato Mahlangu, author of the short story “The healer who married the water”, featured in the 2023 Short.Sharp.Stories anthology, Fluid
Lerato Mahlangu developed a love for stories from the moment she could first hold a storybook. She has always been drawn to horror and fantasy stories, and in her work likes to blend the two with a touch of African spirituality. She holds a Diploma in Media Practices specialising in Journalism from Boston Media House, and is gradually carving her path in the literary spaces with work published in Isele Magazine and Brittle Paper. Lerato writes of her inspiration:
This story came about through my love for spirituality and my fascination with the divine powers intrinsic to humans, animals and nature. I come from a long line of diviners and healers, and also sinister sorcerers, who all propelled me, involuntarily, to write this story.
JH: Trained in media practice, do you now work in media? Does that involve writing? What, then, draws you to writing fiction?
LM: I currently do not work in media, though I would love to. I’ve been unemployed pretty much since college, but that’s the reality in our country. My writing and reading fill that void. I’ve always been drawn to fiction and used to read a lot of horror and fantasy books when I was growing up. I tried to mimic the Goosebumps books I read, and to this day I enjoy the sense that when writing fiction, I can make up people and worlds to escape my own.
JH: It sounds as if your parents must have been completely encouraging in influencing your love of reading. How important is reading to you now?
LM: Indeed, they were. When I was in primary school, we used to have a mobile library that came to our neighbourhood on Wednesdays. My mom got my sister and me library cards to encourage us to read more, and we instantly fell in love with books and couldn’t wait to get our hands on new ones, come Wednesday.
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Books teach us things we don’t learn in school, about the world and people, and they build our creativity and expand our imagination.
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My father encouraged us to value education and particularly reading, and he preferred to buy us numerous books instead of cool clothing and gadgets. I think reading is important even if you don’t plan on becoming a writer or teacher. Books teach us things we don’t learn in school, about the world and people, and they build our creativity and expand our imagination.
Right now, I’m trying to get back to reading speculative fiction, because that’s what I loved reading as a child. I’m currently reading Mexican gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
JH: Your spiritual background is fascinating, too – to come from a long line of diviners, healers and sorcerers. How does this affect your daily living and, indeed, your writing?
LM: I became interested in my spiritual background in my last school year, in grade 12, when my mom was initiated into becoming a healer. I knew that the gift came from my grandmother, who had been a well-respected healer, too. I try to honour them through my work. Many of the matriarchs from my mother’s family had the gift of healing, including my late aunt, who is said to have read palms, too. My grandfather, just like Mavumvambe in the story, dreamed of herbs with which to heal. I do not know much about my father’s side of the family, but the little that I know is that his father was a healer from Limpopo.
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Of course, these people, living or transcended, certainly fuel my writing. Most of the content for my work is motivated by their stories and the stories I hear from the people around me, as well as from my own experiences of having seen both the good and evil that come with spiritual matters.
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And, of course, these people, living or transcended, certainly fuel my writing. Most of the content for my work is motivated by their stories and the stories I hear from the people around me, as well as from my own experiences of having seen both the good and evil that come with spiritual matters.
JH: In general, how prevalent is African spirituality in South Africa?
LM: I think that African spirituality is slowly becoming strong in South Africa, because I often see many people, young and old, going back to their roots and finding out who their ancestors were and what they did, and making space for how the ancestors can be part of their lives. It is becoming less taboo to see a person wearing the isiphandla or beads than it was before, when I was still in school; we were often forced to remove those items, but things have now changed. I think it is an indication that people are becoming more accepting and knowledgeable of their roots.
JH: Getting to your story, “The healer who married the water”, it has a fluid, other-worldly quality to it. Did the story come from a spiritual experience of sorts?
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Some dreams feel so real to me that I spend a long time trying to think about whether it happened or not. I wanted this story to carry the elements of that sort of dream.
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LM: My story came from dreams, so I think I can say it came from experiencing what happens in the mind and body. I love dreams because they feel like fantasy worlds. Anything can happen in a dream, especially what seems impossible. Some dreams feel so real to me that I spend a long time trying to think about whether it happened or not. I wanted this story to carry the elements of that sort of dream. That is, in a sense, a spiritual experience.
JH: Your story, the writing, is also very rhythmical, almost like a song or a litany, using repetition for emphasis. Were you aware of this while putting pen to paper?
LM: Yes, I was aware of this. I love poetry, but am not too good at writing it. So, instead of writing a full poem and doing badly at it, I decided to write a story that reads like a poem and which has elements of poetry in it instead.
Recently, a story I wrote has been developed into a play by UJ Arts and Culture, and the performance took place on 20–22 April. So, I’m looking forward to pursuing more writing endeavours. I’ll be hunting for good stories and seeking different platforms on which to tell them. There is crossover in all these forms.
JH: In the unfolding narrative, the female healer, Amaka, becomes a formidable challenge to her male counterpart, Mavumvambe. To what extent is this a comment on patriarchy?
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I didn’t intentionally choose to comment on patriarchy and its effects, but I guess patriarchy is so prevalent in our society that even in the most fictitious of stories it is inescapable, and it has to be addressed in order to challenge its effects on our families and societies.
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LM: When I wrote this story, I was writing about what I know and what I see. I didn’t intentionally choose to comment on patriarchy and its effects, but I guess patriarchy is so prevalent in our society that even in the most fictitious of stories it is inescapable, and it has to be addressed in order to challenge its effects on our families and societies.
JH: Thank you for sending your beautiful story to Short.Sharp.Stories. In conclusion, what tip could you offer to aspiring writers, particularly writers whose mother tongue may not be English?
My mother tongue is not English. I would advise anyone whose mother tongue isn’t English, but who wishes to write in English, to do what I did and read many short stories, magazines and novels, and even the backs of cereal boxes. We learn every day, so no one should limit their learning to school only. It sounds clichéd, but it really helped me. I also (I will admit) watched a lot of Cbeebies and Disney Channel; in a way, that also helped improve my English skills.
Organisations now also encourage writers to write in their mother tongue. Sometimes, those stories are translated, so not every door has to close, and there is beauty in every language. Our education system has many flaws, and schools are partly to blame. I saw that when I was an education assistant in 2022. Schools need to be provided with enough books, libraries and initiatives to make learners fall in love with literature.
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