Lewis Nkosi first became prominent as a journalist for Drum magazine in the 1950s, when he worked alongside writers such as Bloke Modisane, Can Themba, Nat Nakasa, Todd Matshikiza, Ezekiel (later Es'kia) Mphahlele, and Casey Motsisi in Johannesburg. This period he later called the "fabulous decade," when Drum magazine was the major vehicle for black writing in South Africa. Drum was famous both for its daring exposés of apartheid conditions and for its colorful depictions of everyday life in Sophiatown and other black townships.

After leaving South Africa in 1961, Nkosi extended his expertise into the fields of criticism, fiction, and travel writing. During the 1960s he worked mainly in print and television journalism and became acclaimed as an essayist, playwright, literary critic, and authority on African, particularly southern African, affairs. From the 1970s he has followed an academic career, teaching at universities in California, Lusaka, Warsaw...