In 1992, a gang leader was shot dead by an ANC member in Kroonstad. The murder weapon was then hidden on Antjie Krog’s stoep. In Begging to Be Black, Krog begins by exploring her position in this controversial case. From there the book ranges widely in scope, both in time - reaching back to the days of Basotho king Moshoeshoe - and in space - as we follow Krog’s experiences as a research fellow in Berlin, far from the Africa that produced her.
Begging to Be Black is a book of journeys - moral, historical, philosophical and geographical. These form strands that Krog interweaves and sets in conversation with each other, as she explores questions of change and becoming, coherency and connectedness, before drawing them closer together as the book approaches its powerful...
Antjie Krog was born in Kroonstad, South Africa. She has published eight volumes of poetry. Her first prose work, Account of a Murder, was published in 1995. She received the Pringle Award for excellence in journalism for her reporting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She is currently parliamentary editor for South African Broadcasting Company radio. She lives with her husband and four children in Cape Town.
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