Tshika Fa E Ya Baneng, by Tuelo Gabonewe

Nana and his two children are left to fend themselves, when her family’s breadwinner dies suddenly at work. Despised and unloved by a community far-flung from everything Nana – somewhat frail and too old for her years – takes one final, drastic and fatal step to protect what remains of her family. In this bleak drama of life, existence and death, Gabonewe’s characters are only redeemed in the worst possible ways – either through death or by sinking deeper into their poverty.

In this “transcreation”, Gabonewe moved away from English mode of writing and thought. He delves deep into his native tongue – to borrow from its rich heritage of storytelling. He reimagines the same narrative, but using Setswana devices – of idioms, proverbs, anecdotes, mannerisms that will escape any English writer. Gabonewe’s brilliance shines in the manner he writes Tshika as if it is an original work, not a translation.

Repatriation of Letters is commissioned by Sol Plaatje University. It is aimed at ‘repatriating’ works from English to Setswana. Tuelo Gabonewe, author of Planet Savage (Jacana), chose his second novel; Sarcophagus (Geko) to repatriate from English to Setswana. The novels that are being repatriated are set in Setswana-speaking communities, they have Batswana characters and they are intrinsically Batswana.