Dreaming in Colour
As students at university in Makhanda during the #RUReferenceList campaign, Langa and her lover Khwezi have a passionate and complex relationship. Puzzling gaps in her memory haunt Langa, yet her dreams are vivid with colours and symbols that hint at a nightmare of forgotten violations and losses. So many secrets — and Langa has had enough of secrets and silences. Who can she turn to? Her mother? Her grandmother? Khwezi? Or herself?
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Dreaming in Colour
In her debut novel, Dreaming in Colour, Uvile Ximba explores with subtlety, humour and probing insight the connections between the joyful reclaiming of pleasure and the healing of buried traumas.
As students at university in Makhanda during the #RUReferenceList campaign, Langa and her lover Khwezi have a passionate and complex relationship. Puzzling gaps in her memory haunt Langa, yet her dreams are vivid with colours and symbols that hint at a nightmare of forgotten violations and losses. So many secrets — and Langa has had enough of secrets and silences. Who can she turn to? Her mother? Her grandmother? Khwezi? Or herself?
Dreaming In Colour is Langa’s story of coming out to herself, of discerning the history behind the closed door of conscious memory.
Uvile Memory Samkelisiwe Ximba is a theatre-maker, writer and creative practitioner. She completed her Bachelor of Arts Honours in Politics and International Relations and Dramatic Arts. She is an ASSITEJ South Africa ‘In The Works’ 2020 playwright, and works as an intern at Sonke Gender Justice. Her research interests lie in issues affecting black LGBTQIA+ women in South Africa; her Honours thesis was on creative approaches as dialogue for LGBTQIA+ Intimate Partner Violence. Uvile is the co-founder of multimedia production, Thamba Creatives, premised on telling women’s stories in South Africa. When it comes to her creativity, she prioritises interdisciplinary praxis and her stance is, “Why wait?”
“An elegantly expressed coming-of-age /coming-of-queer treat that tackles the questions: How does one explain gayness to their immediate community, if at all? More importantly, how does one explain to their own guilt-ridden subconscious that these feelings of love and desire are just as legitimate as any other, that it is ok to live in one’s truth?… Dreaming in Colour does not answer these questions for us but rather exposes the reader, through its protagonist, to the bedraggled yet colourful magic of queer life. A pertinent and necessary contribution to current literature.” Chwayita Ngamlana (author of If I Stay Right Here)
“This story is a cornucopia of queer experiences that looks at navigating the confusion that is intimacy, sex and identity. A thoughtful take on a timeless story of love, belonging and a search for self.” – Tiffany Kagure Mugo, author of Quirky Quick Guide to Having Great Sex and curator of Touch: Sex, Sexuality and Sensuality
“This debut novel is all kinds of beautiful. It is a coming-of-age story written with prose of unfolding delight. But it isn’t flowery. The writing is tight, with little treasures of description nested inside. […] A short read, written with fierce beauty.” – Tiah Marie Beautement, author of This Day
