Listen to Makhosazana Xaba on the WiSER Podcast—An absent presence: Writing Noni Jabavu’s life

Makhosazana Xaba was recently featured on the WiSER Podcast, discussing the life and work of Noni Jabavu, editor, memoirist, reader, radio broadcaster and columnist.

Xaba is an award-winning writer, poet and academic, and a Patron of The JRB. She is currently a Research Associate at WiSER, working towards a biography of Jabavu called ‘A Stranger at Home’.

South African writer and journalist, Noni Jabavu (1919-2008) pictured standing on The Strand in London in 1961. (Photo by Rolls Press/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

The podcast begins with a wonderful and rare recording of an interview with Jabavu, from 1977, talking about her writing life and her favourite books and authors.

Xaba chats about what first drew her to the work of Noni Jabavu, and the dearth of information on Jabavu’s life and distinguished career.

‘I decided I would start work towards a biography on Noni, because I could no longer ignore this loud and present absence,’ Xaba says.

Listen to the podcast:

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