It might seem outrageously trite to suggest that reading Mandla Langa’s fifth book, The Lost Colours of the Chameleon, was akin to meeting the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, but having had the privilege of both experiences, I unashamedly defend it. It is also tempting to attach a swatch of “-ists” to this accomplished South African author - lyricist, activist, humanist – but while they are appropriate to Langa’s genius, these, among others, are precisely the tangled pretensions his tale seeks to unpick.   

Other reviews of the book have outlined its triumph as an allegorical satire, based on intense research and set in the post-colonial quagmire of a developing democracy on Bangula, a fictional Indian Ocean island. Its parallels with the South African experience are obvious: social anguish wrought by unrelenting poverty and disease, racial discord, institutional neglect, wastefulness, greed and denialism, and a prophetic vision of governance by death squad as both a remedy and a railcar for rampant crime and political anarchy.  

Penguin African Writers Series Book Cover Illustrations
The Penguin African Writers series, launched in 2009, showcases writing from a diverse range of writers from Africa for contemporary readers in Africa and the rest of the world. The series launched with works from Chinua Achebe, Dambudzo Marechera, Véronique Tadjo, Lília Momplé, Ngũgĩwa Thiong’o and Karen King-Aribisala. In 2010 we will be expanding the series and this is a call for submissions for artwork to be used on the covers of these forthcoming titles.

It is a wonderful opportunity for both established and new artists, with assured international exposure and the support of the Penguin Group. Every book in the Penguin African Writers series is distinctly African and the illustrations should reflect a theme central to Africa. We are looking for creative representations of ‘African’, contemporary and/or traditional. The artwork’s connection to the title and content of the book does not necessarily have to be literal as the messages and themes are open to interpretation.

Artists who would like to submit artwork for possible inclusion in one of the upcoming Penguin African Writers books should contact Reneé Naudé at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

Centocow is a small community located in southern kwaZulu-Natal. Situated close to the village of Creighton, it lies roughly between Ixopo, Bulwer and Underberg in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains. Over time, a persistent lack of economic development has resulted in conditions of terrible poverty at Centocow.