Putting UKZN on the Literary Map

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Accomplished author and academic, Dr Phindile Dlamini has been appointed the Acting Publisher for UKZN Press with effect from 15 March 2022.

Professor Mosa Moshabela, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, welcomed Dlamini and commended her on a stellar career in academia and publishing.

Dlamini is honoured by the University’s confidence in her and reaffirmed her commitment to UKZN Press and the furthering of scholastic and linguistic endeavours in partnership with authors within the University and the broader writing community.

‘Honestly, I thought I had closed the publishing chapter of my life but some things have a way of weaving themselves into one’s life. I am honoured by this secondment to UKZN Press. Considering where we are as a country in terms of current narratives, research and the promotion of young academics, as well as intellectualisation of indigenous languages; University Presses have a major role to play. UKZN, therefore, is the perfect home for UKZN Press; for mutual benefit,’ she said.

‘UKZN Press prides itself on the quality of each book published for more than 65 years. Our titles include scholarly monographs, edited collections and scholarly-trade cross-over books, mainly in the humanities. We also publish titles in indigenous languages and we want to be recognised as leaders in the production of material promoting languages and the intellectualisation of indigenous languages. It is our aim to make our mark in the publishing space and in ensuring UKZN Press is the publishing house of choice for the UKZN community and beyond.’

She expressed gratitude for the support from the Research Office; College of Humanities and other strategic units at the University.

UKZN Press welcomed her into the fold and expressed confidence in her management and publishing capabilities. The team acknowledged the exemplary work she has done recently in co-curating one of the oldest South African book festivals, Time of the Writer in 2021 and 2022.

In a communique to the University community, Moshabela outlined Dlamini’s extensive work experience. Her academic career was forged at UNISA, she then cut her teeth in publishing for the next 15 years. During this time, some of her products scooped a number of awards, including the PanSALB Multilingualism and Nation Building Publication of the Decade Award (2008) as well as funded visits to international bookfairs. She also served as a Deputy Chairperson for the Publisher’s Association of South Africa. Dlamini was also involved in the South African Literary Awards (SALA) in 2007 and 2008 and led the publishing of SALA’s debut anthology of 2005-2007 winners titled Band of Troubadours.

In 2013, she registered for her PhD at UKZN and subsequently got a position as a lecturer in July 2014 in the African Languages Discipline. She obtained her PhD in 2016. During her tenure as a lecturer, she took over a number of responsibilities, including School of Arts Language Champion where she led a number of language policy implementation initiatives. She facilitated the publishing of the prescribed book for the Basic isiZulu module and became the book editor.

In 2018, she received a National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) grant which saw her spending a month in the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in China as a visiting researcher. She successfully facilitated collaboration between UKZN SOA and Msunduzi Museum in holding a Youth Day Career Expo and celebration of Africa Month events in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

In 2019, she was trained as a facilitator for Entrepreneurship in the Arts and worked closely with UKZN InQubate in running the pilot programme. She has worked closely with the Centre for the Creative Arts (CCA), from 2021, as a co-curator of the African Languages programme. She is also the editor of the PhD abstracts that are translated into isiZulu.

From October 2020, she acted as a Cluster Leader for the African Languages, Linguistics and Development modules. She is currently involved in two major funded projects as a researcher in one which focuses on the intellectualisation of isiZulu and as a principal investigator in the other which is a Human Language Technology project.

She is also an accomplished author and has published more than 50 isiZulu children’s books; her uGwajo series of 15 titles is prescribed in schools nationally. Her latest publication is her monograph titled, Avoiding Potholes in Translation: A Practical Perspective on Translation between English and isiZulu, published by UKZN Press in 2021.

Words: Raylene Captain-Hasthibeer and UKZN’s Research Office

Photograph: Supplied