Reading & Conversation with Welcome Mandla Lishivha

Das sagt der/die Veranstalter:in:

It is the godly feeling of dancing like a goddess and snapping on a beat with sheer joy that makes all the trouble life demands worthwhile. In these moments, of intensive freedom from pain, of joy that knows no bound and peace that passeth all understanding, I become that kid again, dancing with my mother.’

Welcome Mandla Lishivha’s exquisitely crafted memoir is unlike anything you’ve ever read. Boy on the Run is a staggeringly beautiful and honest exploration of identity through grief, love and friendship, giving us, the readers, a glorious song of self-expression.

Welcome Mandla Lishivha has been shortlisted for the 2023 UJ Debut Prize and longlisted for the Sunday Times Non-fiction Award. His remarkable work, Site Visits, an ethnographic study of a male-only nude bar, was shortlisted for the Gerald Kraak Anthology and was taught at the University of Johannesburg for its daring and humanising approach. Lishivha’s writing has appeared in several prominent publications. In addition to his various roles such as hatmaker, baker, and editor, he worked as a researcher and publicist for Nkoli: The Vogue Opera, which focuses on anti-apartheid and gay activist Simon Nkoli. He is currently extending his creative writing on Nkoli’s life and trials into a book publication. Welcome is currently a fellow at LIAA Arts Programme in Leipzig.

Moderation: Stefanie Hirsbrunner