Mongane Wally Serote (1944-) is a South African poet and writer. He was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg and went to school in Alexandra, Lesotho and Soweto. He was arrested by the apartheid government under the Terrorism Act in June 1969 and spend nine months in solitary confinement, before being released without charge. He went to study in New York, obtaining a Fine Arts degree at the University of Columbia, before going to work in Gaborone, Botswana and later London for the African National Congress in their Arts and Culture Department.

In 1993, he won the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.

He is currently chair of the parliamentary select committee for arts and culture.

Table of contents
1 Poetry
2 Novels
3 Essays

Poetry

  • Yakhal'inkomo (1972)
  • Tsetlo (1974)
  • No baby must weep (1975)
  • Behold Mama, Flowers (1978)
  • The Night Keeps Winking (1982)
  • A tough tale (1987)
  • Third world express (1992)
  • Come and Hope With Me (1994)
  • Freedom Lament and Song (1997)

Novels

  • To every Birth its Blood (1981)
  • Gods of Our Time (1999)

Essays

  • On the Horizon (1990)