Local novelist Futhi Ntshingila wins international literary award for her latest novel They Got To You Too

By CityLife Arts Writer

With three novels behind her name, journalist-turned fiction writer Futhi N tshbingila continues to scale literary heights with her latest triumph at an international literary award ceremony..

“Pan Macmillan South Africa is delighted to congratulate our author, Futhi Ntshingila, for winning the Best International Fiction Book prize for her third novel, They Got To You Too.

Futhi collected her prestigious awa,rd in person, at the 41st Sharjah International Book Fair which aims to be “an oasis of knowledge and enlightenment”. Sharjah is known as the cultural and literary hub of the UAE,” says her publisher.

Published in 2021 and set in contemporary South Africa, They Got To You Too is narrated in the first person by two characters bound to each other by their harrowing histories. One an 80-year-old white man haunted by the crimes he committed as an officer under the apartheid government, the other a compassionate black nurse who is caring for him, and hiding her own secrets. As the Covid-19 lockdown keeps them isolated, the bond deepens between these two unlikely companions.

 Ntshingila is a writer from Pietermaritzburg. She is also the author of Shameless and Do Not Go Gentle. Her work centres on women and marginalised communities. Futhi holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and currently lives and works in Pretoria.

They Got To You Too: A Novel ‘Futhi Ntshingila is a brilliant storyteller. The way in which she inhabits each character, portrays the inescapable inter-relatedness of humans and weaves the different layers of quite disparate lives is nothing short of magic.’ Says SINDIWE MAGONA AUTHOR Futhi Ntshingila Hans van Rooyen is a former police general raised by two women who survived the 1899 South African War. He finds himself being cared for in an old age home by the daughter of liberation struggle activists. At 80, he carries with him the memories of crimes he committed as an officer under the apartheid government.

Having eluded the public confessions at the TRC for his time in the Border Wars, he retained his position in the democratic South Africa, serving as an institutional memory for a new generation of police recruits. Zoe Zondi is tasked to care for the old man. Her gentle and compassionate nature prompts Hans to review his decision to go to the grave with all his secrets.

Zoe has her own life story to tell and, as their unlikely bond deepens, strengthened by the isolation that COVID-19 lockdown brings, they provide a safe space for each other to say the things that are often left unsaid. AUTHOR DETAILS Futhi Ntshingila is a writer from Pietermaritzburg. The author of Shameless and Do Not Go Gentle, her work centres on women and marginalised communities. Futhi holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and currently lives and works in Pretoria.