A Father is Born: A Memoir

By (author): Tumiso Mashaba. Tumiso Mashaba's memoir opens with the death of his father, Neo "Snowy" Mashaba, at 55 — an event that surfaces complicated grief given their distant and often difficult relationship. From there, Mashaba interrogates his own psychology, asking whether he will repeat his father's harmful patterns with his own children. The book confronts fatherhood, Black masculinity, generational trauma and mental health against the backdrop of contemporary South Africa, described by novelist Niq Mhlongo as "a gripping, poetic, vivid and deeply entertaining memoir."