Zukiswa Wanner is the author of five novels, which include the award-winning London Cape Town Joburg, which was adapted for stage and performed at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda. In addition to novels, Ms. Wanner has authored four children’s books, a travel memoir, a satirical nonfiction and a long-form essay on Palestine, Vignettes of a People in an Apartheid State.
She has translated the children’s anthology Story Story Story Come from English to Shona and her own writing has been translated into Portuguese, French, Spanish, Kiswahili, Russian, German, Shona and Arabic. In 2020, she became the first African woman to be awarded the Goethe Medal for her contribution to culture by the German government alongside Bolivian artist Elvira Espejo Ayca and British writer Ian McEwan. Ms. Wanner returned that award to the German government in 2024, protesting their complicity in the ongoing Palestinian genocide and their silencing of pro-Palestinian artistic voices.
She has twice been selected by the pan- African publication New African among 100 Most Influential Africans – in 2020 in the Arts category and in 2025 among Thinkers and Opinion Shapers. Her latest works are Flotilla: A Journey of Conscience, her personal account of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s attempt to break the Gazan siege in 2025 and Sunshine City, a translation of Pauline Chirata- Mukondiwa’s Shona novel, Zvinobvinza. Since 2015, Ms. Wanner has been on the Advisory Board of Ake Festival in Nigeria and has facilitated panels annually when in attendance. She recently guest-presented on talk radio Salaamedia.
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