Publications:

The Day Gogo Went to Vote , Little Brown & Co., 1996, and Tafelberg, 1997

Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime , David Philip, 2002

ELINOR SISULU

South Africa

Elinor Sisulu , born and educated in Zimbabwe , continued her studies in Senegal and the Netherlands, in history, English literature, development studies and feminist theory. As an academic researcher for the Ministry of Labour in Zimbabwe in the early eighties, she published studies of women's work and development assistance in Zimbabwe. This included a major study for NORAD that was later published by SAPES in a book entitled Women in Zimbabwe. From 1987 to 1990 she worked for the International Labour Organisation on assistance programmes for the ANC, PAC and SWAPO, when she met and married her husband, Max Sisulu, and in 1991 moved with her family to Johannesburg . From 1991 to 1998 Elinor worked as a freelance writer and editor, and was assistant Editor for SPEAK, a black feminist publication.

From her early childhood days Elinor wanted to be a ‘writer', and her interest in writing for children was sparked by her concern about the declining importance of oral storytelling traditions in African societies. The need for preserving history through stories was her main motivation for writing The Day Gogo Went to Vote, which won numerous awards, including the African Studies Association of America Best Children's Book award. This story about a child accompanying her grandmother to vote in the 1994 elections has been translated into 6 major South African languages. In 1993 she was granted a Fellowship at Radcliffe College, Massachusetts, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, to start researching and writing the biography of Walter and Albertina Sisulu. Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime was published in 2002 to critical acclaim and was runner up in the Sunday Times Alan Paton Non-Fiction Award, and was awarded the NOMA Award for most outstanding book published in Africa in 2003. Elinor Sisulu is currently advising on projects on democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe.