Dr Athambile Masola received her PhD from Rhodes University. Her dissertation was an exploration of black women’s life writing with a particular focus on Noni Jabavu and Sisonke Msimang’s memoirs. Her primary research focuses on black women’s life writing and historiography. Her research is also informed by the early 20th century newspaper archive in South Africa (particularly written in isiXhosa). She is primarily concerned with the nature of erasure and the ways in which multiple forms of reading a variety of texts can inform archival research.
Her debut poetry collection, Ilifa, was published in 2021. Together with Makhosazana Xaba, she introduces Noni Jabavu: A Stranger At Home (published through Tafelberg in 2023), and co-authored the Imbokodo: Women Who Shape Us series with Xolisa Guzula.
