Colour Me Yellow by Thuli Nhlapo

‘I hated being pregnant with you. I used to cry the whole day. I hated carrying you in my stomach.’ 

Thuli Nhlapo grew up constantly hearing these words from her mother. She was seven years old when she realised that no one called her by name. Known as "Yellow”, she was bullied at home and at school.  Fearing that she had a terrible disease, she withdrew into herself.

Years later, Thuli is still haunted by her childhood experiences. She confronts her mother about her real father and real surname. Getting no answers, Thuli embarks on years of searching for the truth. In the process, she uncovers unsettling family secrets that irrevocably change all their lives.

Whilst exposing and exploding the impact of family secrets on people’s sense of identity and well-being, it is also a celebration of one woman’s determination to live her life to the fullest. – Mmatshilo Motsei

A meditation on a South African childhood, and a chronicle of a family whose fault lines were fractured because of apartheid. - Khadija Magardie