Sindiwe Magona, an accomplished South African writer, storyteller, speaker, and activist, celebrates turning 80 this year. Through her diverse collection of novels, autobiographies, short stories, poems, children’s books, and essays, Magona has captured the hearts and minds of her readers. Even more impressive, she earned a PhD in creative writing in 2022, an extraordinary achievement for someone who was once a domestic worker. Her latest book, I Write the Yawning Void, is a collection of essays that explores her experiences as a writer in a country still struggling with a violent past and persistent social and economic inequality.