To Every Birth its Blood by Mongane Serote

To Every Birth its Blood (Picador Africa Edition of Serote's Debut Novel)

A Lyrical Township Novel of Political Awakening in 1970s Alexandra, by South Africa's Poet Laureate

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: To Every Birth its Blood
• Author: Mongane Serote
• Publisher: Picador Africa, Johannesburg
• Publication Date: 2004
• ISBN-13: 9780958470841
• ISBN-10: 0958470847
• Edition Details: Picador Africa edition, 2004 (Picador Africa Classics). Reprint of the author's debut novel.
• Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, perfect bound, with a colour photograph of an Alexandra township street on the front cover and a shack with washing on the back.
• Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback), roughly 235 x 155 mm. No maps or plates.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Wraps: The illustrated wrappers show light rubbing and slight handling marks. There is some darkening and staining at the lower fore-edge corner. The spine is intact, with no obvious creasing. The corners are slightly worn.
• Interior: The pages are toned and yellowed, with tanned edges. The binding is tight. The copyright page carries handwritten pencil study notes in the lower and side margins, and the facing opening page of Part I is heavily covered with pencil annotations. The text on the final page is clean.
• Provenance: Previous owner's pencil notes, in the style of literary study annotations, on the copyright page and the opening page of Part I. No signature, name or bookplate.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

To Every Birth Its Blood is the debut novel of Mongane Wally Serote, set in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, during the 1970s. It is a lyrical and empathetic work that follows a community's journey from weary apathy towards political awakening and, ultimately, violent resistance.

The first part is narrated by a black journalist named Tsi, and the novel experiments with chronology and perspective. Scholars have argued that this formal restlessness challenges apartheid's control over people's lives, and critics have long praised the book for its depiction of township life in Alexandra.

This Picador Africa edition of 2004 keeps the novel in print for a new generation of readers. With its heavily annotated opening pages, this copy shows signs of having been properly studied, and it is offered as an affordable, honest reading copy of an important work of South African protest literature.

Author Profile: Mongane Wally Serote

Mongane Wally Serote was born in 1944 in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. He was detained for nine months in solitary confinement under the Terrorism Act in 1969. His first poetry collection, Yakhal'inkomo, appeared in 1972 and won the Ingrid Jonker Prize. He later held a Fulbright scholarship for an MFA at Columbia University and was barred from re-entering South Africa.

His other works include Third World Express (1992), History Is the Home Address (2004) and the novel Revelations (2011). His honours include the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa and the Pablo Neruda Award, and he was inaugurated as National Poet Laureate in 2018.

To Every Birth Its Blood Serote · Mongane Wally Serote novel · Alexandra township novel · apartheid-era South African fiction · Picador Africa Classics · South African protest literature · Serote debut novel