Performance to print and print to performance: Plays, adaptations and book reading on South African radio

Abstract

A significant number of IsiZulu literary titles have been developed from radio plays. This does not mean that no literary titles have been made into radio plays. Indeed, as I will argue, there has been a dialectic between radio drama and literary developments, a dialectic that has been mutually beneficial to the development of both art forms. Despite this dialectic, however, there has been a notable silence, where research is concerned, on the role of radio, and media generally, in the development and promotion of African-language literatures. The corollary also applies: not much has been written on the contribution of these literatures to the development and promotion of radio drama. What we have had instead are expressions of resentment ‐ often overstated ‐ of what on the surface appears to be the media's indifference to literature. This paper, then, hopes partly to provide a corrective to this perception by arguing that radio has played a role in the development and promotion of African-language literature. Discussion and analysis of radio plays, adaptations and book-reading programmes form the basis for this argument.