How one SA Writers’ College student became a publisher, filmmaker and advocate working to restore indigenous languages to South African childhood.
When Siya Masuku enrolled in the SA Writers’ College Basic Creative Writing Course in 2017, he already had a year’s worth of momentum behind him. The previous year, he had successfully crowdfunded his own publishing platform at 113% of his target and had released his first book, Siyafunda: isiZulu. That initial success made him hungry to sharpen his craft, so he signed up for a writing course.
Nearly a decade later, Siya stands as a distinctive voice in children’s and young adult literature, a graphic novelist, illustrator, publisher, filmmaker and advocate who has done more than most to put isiZulu, Setswana, isiXhosa, Sotho and Swazi on children’s bookshelves and screens.
A publishing gap and the guts to fill it
Siya is Soweto-born and Johannesburg-based. Growing up, he saw that isiNgisi (English) was prized above all else. Children in township schools were often discouraged from speaking their mother tongues. It is a wound many South Africans recognise. What makes Siya different is what he decided to do about it.
In 2016, he launched Siyafunda Online, an independent publishing platform specifically designed to bring picture books and stories in indigenous languages, too long underrepresented in print. His motto, which greets visitors to his website, says it plainly: No guts, no story.
Where SA Writers’ College came in
In 2017, Siya completed our Basic Creative Writing Course. That same year, he was recognised with the David Koloane Arts Writing Award. He also lectured at the University of Johannesburg and North-West University on topics ranging from book arts in South Africa to identity and cultural preservation.
He later returned to the SA Writers’ College for the Advanced Creative Writing Course in 2020, proving that even accomplished, award-winning writers understand the value of continued learning and craft development.
Over 20 publications and counting
Siya has now authored, illustrated and published more than 20 works. His output spans children’s picture books and young adult graphic novels, and his illustration techniques range from lino print to digital painting to watercolour, each technique chosen deliberately to suit the world he is building on the page.
His most ambitious series, Inhlansi (2022) and ZULOSOFI (2025), are young adult graphic novels published under his pen name KHULZULU, written in isiZulu and English. The foreword to Inhlansi was written by celebrated author Gcina Mhlophe; the foreword to ZULOSOFI by Sindiwe Magona, two of South Africa’s revered literary voices, lending their names to his work.
In 2020, Siya extended his storytelling into film with the KwaNhliziyo-Ngise Short Animation Film, an adaptation of his children’s comic that premiered at The Bioscope Independent Cinema in Johannesburg, a remarkable creative leap from page to screen.
An advocate, not just an artist
What distinguishes Siya from many creative entrepreneurs is his commitment to the ecosystem around him. He has volunteered with Book Dash South Africa, reviewed and designed for the Puku Children’s Literature Foundation, illustrated for Ethnikids, and contributed research to Rising Voices, an international initiative on digital language activism.
He joined the IBBY SA board in 2021, the International Board on Books for Young People’s South African section and served as its Chairperson until 2025. In 2024, he joined the board of The National Library of South Africa, where he currently chairs the Core Programmes and Finances Committee. He has also spoken at the Gothenburg Book Fair (2022 and 2023) and delivered the keynote at the 3rd Biennial Reading Summit in 2025.
What Siya’s story tells us
We’re proud of every student who passes through SA Writers’ College, but every now and then, one goes on to do something that reframes what’s possible. Siya Masuku is one of those students.
He took a writing course and used it as one more tool in his well-stocked toolkit. He has built a publishing house, a marketing agency, an advocacy platform and a body of literature that will outlast any single award or accolade.
Explore Siya’s work at siyamasuku.co.za and his publishing platform at siyafundaonline.co.za.
If you’ve been sitting on a story that deserves to be told, let Siya’s journey be your nudge. The guts come from you. We’ll help with the rest. Contact us to chat about your writing project: admin@sawriterscollege.co.za.
