About The Book

“Tsotsi is a real find, by one of the most affecting and moving writers of our time” (Financial Times)–and the novel is now being reissued to coincide with the release of a feature film, which is already being compared to 2004’s runaway hit City of God

One of the world’s preeminent playwrights “who could be a primary candidate for either the Nobel Prize in Literature or the Nobel Peace Prize” (Mel Gussow, The New Yorker), Athol Fugard is renowned for his relentless explorations of personal and political survival in apartheid South Africa–which include his now classic plays Master Harold . . . and the Boys and The Blood Knot. Fugard has written a single novel, Tsotsi, which director Gavin Hood has made into a feature film that The Times (London) calls “a remarkable achievement” and is South Africa’s official entry for the 2006 Academy Awards.

Set amid the sprawling Johannesburg township of Soweto, where survival is the primary objective, Tsotsi traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader. When we meet Tsotsi, he is a man without a name (tsotsi is Afrikaans for “hoodlum”) who has repressed his past and now exists only to stage and execute vicious crimes. When he inadvertently kidnaps a baby, Tsotsi is confronted with memories of his own painful childhood, and this angry young man begins to rediscover his own humanity, dignity, and capacity to love.

Praise

“One of the best novels in contemporary South African fiction.” –The Times Literary Supplement

“In lean yet lyrical prose . . . [Athol Fugard] uncannily insinuates himself into the skins of the oppressed majority and articulates its rage and misery and hope.” –The New York Times Book Review

Praise for the Film Adaptation of Tsotsi:

“[A] powerful tale that turns the traditional gangster film on its ear.” –Los Angeles Times

“Spine-tingling . . . Wrenching.” –LA Weekly