My name is Nosicelo Dongwana but most people call me Darly. I was born and grew up in Grahamstown (Makhhanda). Later I moved with my family to Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha).

I have written ten stories for Nal’ibali, out of which two were selected and are going to be published and used by Nal’ibali on different platforms. I’m excited that my stories will be translated into different African languages, thus reaching many children in their own language.

I am an isiXhosa language teacher by profession, and I have always started my lessons with stories. My learners enjoy these stories and quickly grasped that the language taught at school is not something from outer space but is part of our daily lives. But books in African languages are very few and they are mostly school books.

When writing children’s stories, many writers want to write in “children’s language”. But children learn everyday language in their daily interaction with other people, so children’s writers must write in everyday language so that when these books are published, they reflect our daily lives.

I am happy that Nal’ibali will publish some of my stories because Nal’ibali stories are easily available to those who cannot buy their own books. This means that stories can reach a very large number of children. This also means that many language teachers who are without resources can easily get Nal’ibali stories through different media platforms. Publishing with Nal’ibali may also open opportunities for me with other publishing houses to write not only for children, but also for the wider isiXhosa community.

You can create your African children's stories and get published by Nal'ibali too. Click here for more info.