After Tears — 2011 ·

By Niq Mhlongo

“Niq Mhlongo is one of the most high-spirited and irreverent new voices of South Africa’s postapartheid literary scene.”

Rachel Donadio — New York Times

“A uniquely South African story, told in a fast, hip, and happening style that is synonymous with Soweto, where the author’s witty, dodgy, plain and simple characters play out their daily drama.”

Lucas Ledwaba — City Press

Bafana Kuzwayo is a young man with a weight on his shoulders. After flunking his law studies at the University of Cape Town, he returns home to Soweto, where he must decide how to break the news to his family. But before he can confess, he is greeted as a hero by family and friends. His uncle calls him “Advo,” short for Advocate, and his mother wastes no time recruiting him to solve their legal problems. In a community that thrives on imagined realities, Bafana decides that it’s easiest to create a lie that allows him to put off the truth indefinitely. Soon he’s in business with Yomi, a Nigerian friend who promises to help him solve all his problems by purchasing a fake graduation document. One lie leads to another as Bafana navigates through a world that readers will find both funny and grim.

Niq Mhlongo was born in 1973 in Soweto. He is the author of Dog Eat Dog, forthcoming in the Modern African Writing Series in spring 2012. After Tears is his second novel. Mhlongo lives in Soweto, South Africa.