Short.Sharp.Stories is a platform showcasing established and emerging South African short story writers. For the 2025 anthology, Power: Short stories that light the dark, writers imagined “power” in fictional terms – how it influences and affects us, including political and personal power, and the ever-present issues of loadshedding.
In this Short.Sharp.Stories interview, David Mann chats with Uthimna Gqangeni, author of the short story “Jiti morale”, which takes place over a single day and follows a well-loved musician who has to make a difficult choice.
Uthimna Gqangeni is a writer and poet from Cape Town. She holds a degree in the fine arts from the University of the Witwatersrand and works for the mining company Samya. In her free time, Uthi loves painting, does a bit of photography and writes poetry. This is one of her initial attempts at sharing her writing with a broader audience.
First off, could you tell us a bit about your journey as a writer? When did you start writing?
I started writing in primary school, when I was eight. It was a fantasy book I started with, a rip-off of Dragon tales, and even then I loved the activity. In high school, one teacher liked this book I was writing called Where the wind blows, and it’s a memory that sticks out as one of the first times someone enjoyed what I’d written.
Your story looks at the power of art to effect change. You also studied visual art at university. Is it safe to say that art is a medium that helps you make sense of the world?
Yes, and not only make sense of the world, but also make sense of myself. Art is the place I go to process emotion. Literature, reading and also writing are like flashing a light in the dark. Once in a while, the light beam stumbles on the truth, and the world becomes easier to handle because of that truth. It becomes easier to be human. Art allows me to engage better with myself and, in turn, with everything else.
“Jiti morale” draws on music as an art form and focuses on the life and career of musician Jah Bhule. Was there any specific inspiration for this story, or is Jah Bhule and the nameless African city in “Jiti morale” more of a composite?
There was no specific inspiration. To me, the story felt written somewhere else already. It felt that common. Jah Bhule’s story is a moral dilemma found in any African’s climb to success, particularly in Africa, where abuse of power is most blatant and unchecked. Making the protagonist a musician is what felt closest to home; a politician, a pastor, anyone in any position of power could have sufficed to express what I wanted to express: when faced with adversity, do we stand for what we believe?
What appeals to you about the format, style or possibility of the short story? Is it the primary format in which you write?
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Short stories force me to be economic with words.
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Short stories force me to be economic with words. In turn, my understanding of what moves a story is refined. I see more clearly what I need and what I can do without. It’s easier to experiment with time also. In just a few thousand words – low commitment – I can write about a single night or about entire lifetimes and see which I’m more comfortable with – intricate analysis of singular events or broad, sweeping observations. In terms of learning how to write better, the short story is definitely my primary format. For reading, I deal mainly with novels.
This story also takes place over a single day, but manages to convey a great deal about Jah Bhule’s life and the context in which he works and makes music. How did you go about building and pacing a story like this?
I’ve done a fair share of brooding thus far in my life, and I wanted the story to play out like a night of overthinking. How the brain meanders, goes back and forth in time, rationalises actions – that’s the effect I was going for. The challenge was directing Jah Bhule’s thoughts as naturally as possible towards what I wanted to expose to the reader.
Some stories emerge quite quickly and relatively well formed, while others need time and tend to develop over several revisits. What kind of story was this for you?
I wrote the story in a single sitting. It was not personal. Personal stories are the ones that take a long time; I’ve taken years to finish some before. But stories like “Jiti morale” I tend to type out fast while the idea is still exciting, before I overthink the idea to death.
Who are your influences?
African writers as a whole, and Wole Soyinka and Tsitsi Dangarembga in particular. The Beat Generation of writers: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller and the like. I think Toni Morrison is the best thing to come out of American literature. She is one of my favourites. For short stories, Alice Munro; I don’t think anyone else comes close. Writers who are just as good at writing a plot as they are at writing about why the plot exists and what runs it, are my favourite kinds of writers and my influences.
Do you have a writing routine or process?
No. I try to write in the morning, though; I’m not too bad before the sun comes up. Throughout the day, I jot down thoughts or observations that I think are interesting, and I find homes for them in my stories.
What would you say is the general subject matter or focus of your fiction? What about these things interests you?
Exploring the capacity for drama that I see in the places I have lived and in the people I have met, is the main focus of my fiction. I never find new people or new places boring. To me, being boring is an interesting quality in and of itself.
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Exploring the capacity for drama that I see in the places I have lived and in the people I have met, is the main focus of my fiction. I never find new people or new places boring. To me, being boring is an interesting quality in and of itself.
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I like to imagine situations, within the context of my environment, that force characters to make interesting choices. These choices give rise to events that allow readers a chance to think about themselves. When we think about ourselves, we become better, and I think that’s the most important power that art has.
Finally, why do you write? What is it about telling stories and creating characters that keeps you coming back to the craft?
At the risk of being too direct and on the nose, I write because of the power that literature has. I am attracted to it. In 1998, the novel Paradise by Toni Morrison was banned in Texas prisons because the directors of the prison system thought that the book would cause an uprising. They banned Doris Lessing in Rhodesia for her book The grass is singing. These are two of a million examples that showcase what literature can do. It can change minds. I write because there are things worth saying, I have the ability to say them and I want to say them. As long as I feel this need to speak, I will write.
David Mann is an award-winning writer, editor and art critic from Johannesburg. His short fiction, which draws from the undercurrents of the South African art world, has appeared in various local and international journals. He has also edited numerous local art publications, including Creative feel and Cue, the publication of the National Arts Festival. He currently works as the writer for the arts incubator The Centre for the Less Good Idea, and edits the ARAK Journal, based in Doha, Qatar. His short story collection, Once removed, was published in 2024 and was awarded the Thomas Pringle Short Story Prize.
Power is available at good bookstores and directly from Tattoo Press: joanne.hichens@gmail.com.
Tattoo Press is an independent small publisher, specialising in contemporary South African short fiction.
Also read:
Short.Sharp.Stories anthology, Power: interview with Tanya Faber, author of "Standing still"