Book lovers embrace emerging literary voice Lebo Mazibuko’s new novel Fabrics of Love at its launch
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
It is not so often that someone new on the literary scene gets to enjoy so much attention and love from readers the way that young novelist Lebo Mazibuko did at the launch of her new novel Fabrics of Love at Book Circle Capital in Melville.
The launch attracted especially young female readers who clearly connected with the book and its characters as a mirror of their lived current experiences of falling in love and out of love in contemporary South Africa. I will for now go into stating what I think about the book as I have only started reading a few days ago. But allow me to state right now that Mazibuko with this book being her second after realising the first called Bantu Knots, is a new literary voice to look out for.
Both Fabrics of Love and Bantu Knots were published by Kwela Books.
A holder of a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from University of Cape Town, on Saturday, September 27, 2025, at the book launch, she had an intelligent and quite engaging conversation with fellow author Lebohang Masango, herself well respected for producing books for young readers.
The audience that attended the launch appreciated both of them and how they engaged each other regarding the content of the book, particularly as they unpacked the complex characters in the book.
When the discussion ended the audience formed a Bee-line, book in hand and ready for an autograph. It was uplifting to see so many young people getting excited to invest in literature, particularly fiction. Perhaps we have been wrong all along to have concluded that South Africans do not appreciate fiction as they do with other genres such as Non-Fiction, particularly black people. Rather we should ask ourselves the question, what kind of literature connects with black people.
Mazibuko’s Fabrics of Love seems to be that book that particularly young black South Africans connect with, based on what transpired at the launch.