Njabulo Ndebele

Njabulo Ndebele (b 1948, South Africa) is an author and academic and by many considered one of the foremost intellectuals of South Africa.

He currently serves as the chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and as the Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg.

His debut collection of short fiction, Fools and Other Stories, was published in 1983, and received the Noma Award for the best book published in Africa that year. Ndebele is also an acclaimed essayist. His writing has been described by The Guardian as distinctive for its “innovative, hybrid form" and his novel The Cry of Winnie Mandela by many considered one of the most important books in the post-apartheid era.

For many years, Ndebele was President of the Congress of South African Writers, and his career in higher education includes periods serving as Vice-Chancellor at both the University of the North (now the University of Limpopo) and the University of Cape Town.