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About the author

l This is an excerpt from Memory is a Weapon.

l This is an excerpt from Memory is a Weapon.

The author, Don Monnapula Mattera, is an accomplished poet, novelist, journalist, youth and community development visionary who was born in Westbury and grew up in Sophiatown, or Kofifi it was affectionately tagged.

Kofifi was a vibrant social, political and cultural cosmopolis that was commandeered by the Nationalist Party regime, removing the "rainbow-coloured" inhabitants and installing whites, then callously renaming Kofifi, Triomf, Afrikaans for triumph.

Mattera, a deserving recipient of the Presidential Order of the Baobab, is one of 43 emergent and established writers who were honoured through the South African Literary Awards for their fine contribution to to literature between 2005 and 2007.

The awards are a nation-building partnership project of Sowetan, Nutrend Publishers, wRite Associates and the Arts and Culture Department.

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