A Burning Hunger by Lynda Schuster,  a narrative history that tells the extraordinary story of the Mashinini family and the charismatic teenage activist who sparked one of the most significant uprisings in South African history. 

On 16 June 1976, teenager Tsietsi Mashinini led the youth of Soweto into the streets to protest a new government decree making Afrikaans the compulsory medium of instruction in their schools. An adherent of Black Consciousness, he rallied his comrades emphasising that  ‘Whites in this country are defining us and we must first begin to define ourselves. We’re not “non-white”, we’re black’. He believed that the armed struggle was inevitable but only after political structure and organisation were achieved.

What makes A Burning Hunger exceptional is that it doesn’t attempt to tell the entire history of apartheid. Instead, its power lies in something far more intimate and devastating: the way one family’s story reflected the emotional, political and human realities of a country in upheaval.

Through the Mashininis, readers encounter almost every dimension of the anti-apartheid struggle: the fury of the 1976 uprising, the brutality of imprisonment and torture, the loneliness of exile, the ideological tensions shaping resistance movements and the devastation carried inside ordinary homes.

‘A Burning Hunger is the history of a South African family that suffered, resisted and finally triumphed over apartheid: a book that is as fascinating as the best novels.’

– Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian novelist and journalist

‘This is an earnest and passionate historical account, crafted from meticulous research and study. It is a narrative made for captivating reading and painful reminder of the brutality of the apartheid system. The book is a welcome addition to a much needed but historically neglected genre of struggle biography.’

– Reverend Frank Chikane, former Director-General in the Office of President Thabo Mbeki

Join Lynda Schuster in conversation with Koketso Moeti for the online book launch of A Burning Hunger. The launch will be held on the Crowdcast webinar platform at 18:00 (SAST) on Thursday, 9 July.

Lynda Schuster worked as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and The Christian Science Monitor in Africa, Central and South America and the Middle East. She is also the author of the memoir Dirty Wars and Polished Silver: The Life and Times of a War Correspondent Turned Ambassatrix.

Koketso Moeti has a long background in civic activism, working at the intersection of governance, communication and people power. She currently serves as Founding Executive Director of amandla.mobi. An insightful and impact-driven thought leader, she writes and has been published by City Press, Project Syndicate, The Guardian, the Mail & Guardian and Al Jazeera, among others.

A Burning Hunger Online Launch