Nokugcina Elsie Mhlophe (born 24 October 1958), known as Gcina Mhlophe, is a South African storyteller, writer, playwright, and actress. In 2016 she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa, and also helps to motivate children to read.

Her childhood 
Nokugcina Elsie Mhlophe was born on 24 October 1958 in KwaZulu-Natal, to a Xhosa mother and a Zulu father. 

She started her working life as a domestic worker, and did not visit a library until she was 20.

Career
Mhlope worked as a newsreader at the Press Trust and BBC Radio, then as a writer for Learn and Teach, a magazine for newly-literate people.

She began to get a sense of the demand for stories while in Chicago in 1988. She performed at a library in a mostly-Black neighbourhood, where an ever-growing audience kept inviting her back. Still, Mhlophe only began to think of storytelling as a career after meeting an Imbongi, one of the legendary poets of African folklore, and after encouragement by Mannie Manim, the then-director of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg. From 1989 to 1990, she was resident director at the Market Theatre.

Mhlophe has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London, and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili, and Japanese. She has travelled extensively in Africa and other parts of the world giving storytelling workshops.

Mhlophe's stories meld folklore, information, current affairs, song, and idiom. Storytelling is a deeply traditional activity in South Africa, and Mhlophe is one of the few woman storytellers in a country dominated by males. She does her work through charismatic performances, working to preserve storytelling as a means of keeping history alive and encouraging South African children to read. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.

Other activities
Mhlophe mentors young people, developing young talent to carry forward the work of storytelling through the Zanendaba ("Bring me a story") Initiative. This initiative, established in 2002, is a collaboration with the Market Theatre and READ, a national literacy organisation.

She currently serves as the patron of the ASSITEJ South Africa, the International Association for Theatre for Children and Young People.

She runs a performance space called "The Storytelling Tree" in Durban. 

She also works as a motivational speaker.

Recognition and awards
From 2019, Mhlophe's birthday, 24 October, is recognised as National Storytelling Day in South Africa. 

 she has been awarded honorary doctorates from seven universities across the world.  These include:
 1999: Open University, UK
 1999: University of Natal
 2014: Rhodes University

Other recognition of her work includes:
 1987: Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress (New York City) for Born in the RSA
 1988: Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress (Chicago) for Have you seen Zandile?
 198?: Sony Award for Radio Drama from BBC Radio Africa for Have you seen Zandile?
 1990: Fringe First Award (Edinburgh) for Have you seen Zandile?
 1991: Nominee, Noma Award,  for Queen of the Tortoises
 1991, Ashoka Fellowship (social entrepreneurship innovator)
 1994: Book Chat Award for Molo Zoleka
 2016: Named as one of BBC's 100 Women
2018: Inaugural USIBA Cultural Legend Award, from the Minister of Arts and Culture
 SAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Selected performances
 1983, lead role in Umongikazi: The Nurse, by Maishe Maponya
 1984, in Black Dog: Inj'emnyama
 1986, Place of Weeping (film)
 1986, Have You Seen Zandile? (autobiographical play, at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, Mhlophe as Zandile)
 1987, Born in the RSA (New York)
 1989, storytelling festival at the Market Theatre
 1989, performed a poem in honour of Albert Luthuli, 1960 Nobel Peace Prize winner
 1990, performed Have You Seen Zandile? at the Edinburgh Festival tour through Europe and the USA
 1997, Poetry Africa, presenting poet
 1999, guest speaker at the Perth Writers Festival
 2000, performed in Peter und der Wolf at the Komische Oper (Berlin)
 2002, The Bones of Memory (performance, history-telling from the old and new South Africa)
 2003, lectured on storytelling at the Eye of the Beholder seminar
 2003, Mata Mata (performance, family musical)
 2006, FIFA World Cup South African handover ceremony, Germany

 2016, Kalushi (film)
 2017, Liyana, a multimedia film by Aaron Kopp

Documentary appearances
 Acted and narrated in  Travelling Songs
 1990, performed poetry in Songololo: Voices of Change  (how aspects of culture in South Africa have become part of the anti-apartheid struggle)
 1993, The Travelling Song (the contemporary process of story gathering)
 Appeared in  Literacy Alive
 Appeared in Art Works

Recordings
Mhlophe wrote music for her SABC TV series Gcina & Friends
 1993, Music for Little People (CD)
 1993, reader voice Not so fast, Songololo (videorecording), Weston Woods, Weston CT, Scholastic  
 1994, The Gift of the Tortoise (contributed to the Ladysmith Black Mambazo album)
 2002, Fudukazi's Magic screened in Durban at the African Union Film Festival

Collaborations
 Pops Mohamed, musician and tribal music preservationist
 Ladysmith Black Mambazo, choir group, The Gift of the Tortoise (CD), 1994 and Music for Little People in America (CD), 1993
 Anant Singh, video producer, Fudukazi's Magic (CD and video for German audiences)

Bibliography
 Mhlophe, Gcina. The Toilet 1987 (Short Story)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Molo Zoleka New Africa Education, 1994. (Children's book)
 MaZanendaba (Children's book)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. The Snake with Seven Heads. Johannesburg, Skotaville Publishers, 1989. (Children's book, translated into five African languages, the English edition is required in all South African school libraries)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Have you seen Zandile?. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1990. (Play, based on her childhood, required in South African university libraries)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Queen of the Tortoises. Johannesburg: Skotaville, 1990. (Children's book)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. The Singing Dog. Illustrated by Erica Maritz and Andries Maritz. Johannesburg: Skotaville, 1992. (Children's book)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Nalohima, the Deaf Tortoise. Gamsbek, 1999.
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Fudukazi's Magic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. (CD – lyrics and music, performance)
 Mhlophe, Gcina.  Fudukazi's Magic. Cambridge University Press, 2000 (CD – lyrics and music, performance, for German audiences)
 Mhlophe, Gcina.  Nozincwadi,  Mother of Books. Maskew Miller Longman, 2001. (CD and book, South African roadshow to rural schools)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. African Mother of Christmas. Maskew Miller Longman, 2002. (CD and book)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Love Child. Durban: University of Natal Press, 2002.  (Memoir, collection of stories)
 Margaret Daymond et al. (eds). Women Writing Africa: the southern region. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 2002.
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Stories of Africa. University of Natal Press, 2003. (Children's book)
 Mhlophe, Gcina. Queen of Imbira. Maskew Miller Longman. (Children's book)
 Mhlophe, Gcina  Songs & stories of Africa – South African Music Awards Winner 2010 for Best English Kids Album – African Cream Music

See also
 List of African writers
 Famous South African people
 Poetry Africa

References

External links

 Badilisha Poetry Exchange Profile and podcast

1958 births
Living people
South African women poets
Women storytellers
South African dramatists and playwrights
South African women dramatists and playwrights
20th-century South African poets
20th-century women writers
South African actresses