

Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2026 Special Series: Episode 91: Sisonke Msimang
In our third special series at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, Irma chats with Sisonke Msimang about growing up surrounded by South African freedom fighters, her first experience of racism as a child and how it has helped her navigate it as an adult, how she made difficult decisions about what to include and what to leave out in her biography of Winnie Mandela, why she chose to write the biography in the 2nd person and how she managed to pull it off, why she never thought of herself as a writer and how Yale University changed that, why trying to write a novel has been so hard, and the lessons she learned as director of the Perth Writers Festival. ABOUT SISONKE Sisonke Msimang is the author of two books, Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home, and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela: A Biography of Survival. She has written a number of essays and articles for the New York Times, Al Jazeera and the Guardian. She was previously the director of the Perth Writers Festival and she lives in Boorloo/Perth. SHOW NOTES Sisonke Msimang: https://www.sisonkemsimang.com/ Find out more about Irma and Karen Visit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook Visit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook Follow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook


















