Literary Birthday – 16 April – Khaya Dlanga

Happy Birthday, Khaya Dlanga, born 16 April.

Quotes

1. I actually didn’t want to write a memoir, but my publishers kept on persisting. They have been asking me for almost two years. And I kept on saying no, no, no because I haven’t done anything special like cure cancer nor have I sorted out peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
2. I cannot be described in one sentence. Yes, that counts. And I am aware that it’s now three sentences.
3. Stand-up comedy really taught me to do the things that really scare me. Stand-up is terrifying. And the most terrifying moment is the few minutes before your name is announced, when it is being announced, after it’s been announced and as you are walking towards the mic, when the crowd is cheering as you approach the moment. At that moment, you are terrified that will be the biggest and only cheer you get.
4. I don’t act my age, I act my personality.
5. There is something futuristic about storytelling because stories happen in the past but they get carried into the future. That sounds super-fake deep, but I know what I mean and I just don’t know how to simplify it.
6. I don’t know if one gets into advertising because they see things differently or they see things differently because they are in advertising.
7. The attraction of the bling lifestyle has translated itself, not just into a state of apathy, but into a sense of not biting the hand that feeds me. That hand may harm the country in the future, but I’m being fed right now so I will not speak out. A message for us young people: Stand up for what you believe in, not what will make you popular. If what you believe makes you popular, bonus.

Khaya Dlanga is a South African advertiser and author. His awards include several Loeries and a Gold Cannes Lion. He is the author of  In My Arrogant Opinion and To Quote Myself: A Memoir.

Source for quotes: M&G and The Daily Maverick

 by Amanda Patterson

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