Quote by Miriam Tlali: “We have lived in silence long enough. It's time to speak.”

This powerful directive calls for an end to enforced suppression and self-censorship, urging individuals to reclaim their voices and narratives. It symbolizes a collective breaking of silence, demanding recognition and justice after prolonged periods of oppression.

Tlali's writing emerged during a period when black narratives were systematically suppressed in South Africa. Her work and words urged black people, especially women, to break the enforced silence and reclaim their stories.

South African novelist who was the first Black South African woman to have a novel published in her home country. Her 1975 novel Muriel at Metropolitan, drawn from her experience working at a white-owned furniture store in Johannesburg, was banned by the apartheid government. She was a founding member of the Staffrider literary movement.