WE ARE DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THAT KARAVAN PRESS IS THE SOUTH AFRICAN DISTRIBUTION PARTNER FOR BRAIDS & MIGRAINES BY ANDILE CELE, RUNNER-UP FOR THE ISLAND PRIZE 2023.
ABOUT THE BOOK
“A novel of insight and emotion. Cele has the talent to both shatter and uplift, making her an invaluable new voice in South African literature.” The Island Prize Judges
“The beauty of this novel is that while it takes a close-up look at human strife, in doing so it shines a light on the humanity we all share.” From the Foreword by Rachel Edwards
When Nomandla is awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious Cameron House for Girls in Durban, she thinks her life will improve. Instead it falls apart. Growing up in Ziyabuya township, Nomandla battles poverty, racism, and her own mental health. She is pursued by visions which result in her being hospitalised, and is then made to accompany her father on Saturdays to his gardening job at the home of the Smith family. It is here that she first encounters Casey, a girl who will play a significant role in turning her life upside down, destroying her hope of a better future. Meanwhile, at Cameron House, Nomandla learns that, as a scholarship girl, she is expected to showcase gratitude as well as her culture, being regarded as little more than a display of transformation, unity and acceptance. Unfortunately, the reality is very different.
Andile Cele’s beautiful debut novel considers the complexities around identity, its ties to shame, grief, and to South Africa’s painful history. Braids & Migraines follows Nomandla as she comes to a place of personal understanding and acceptance, without compromise.
South African distribution partner: Karavan Press
Publisher: Holland House Books, UK
Publication date: 17 April 2025
ISBN: 978-1-7391047-6-4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANDILE CELE is a writer and communications specialist, born and raised in Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal. She was born in 1986, when apartheid was nearing its end – to a mother who has worked as a domestic worker all her adult life. She has three siblings; one of them, a brother, is autistic and nonverbal. Andile’s advocacy for mental health awareness stems from the experiences they faced as a family – with a member who was and still is, for the most part, misunderstood. Andile has a degree in Journalism from the Tshwane University of Technology, and a Creative Writing and Theory of Literature degree from the University of South Africa. She is an MA candidate at Stellenbosch University, where she is examining the depiction of intergenerational trauma in selected South African women’s writing. She is the current holder of the Gwen Knowles-Williams Bursary, administered by the English Academy of Southern Africa. She dedicates her writing to her mother. Her short fiction has been published in Botsotso and Short.Sharp.Stories.
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