Dear Miss Taylor,

Thanks very much for your very nice and encouraging letter.

I conveyed to Mr Sehloho your best wishes and we are both all anxiety to attend the rehearsal on the 22nd June and help during the performances – this will certainly earn us invaluable and thrilling experience.

I am glad that you appreciate my feeble effort at essay-writing and it gives me renewed courage to hear that I have good descriptive powers. I did once try short-story writing at college and won some first prizes, and I have been turning over in my mind the possibilities of success in this line.

Two outstanding difficulties at once became evident: tuition – especially, who would undertake the task of teaching me, even if only the rudiments of the art; secondly, the commercial aspect of the art. The latter problem is made all the more acute because there is limited scope of short-story-writing (if any) in our weekly papers and what European magazines there are do not entertain publication of an African's efforts! There is undoubtedly quantities of material in African life for story-writing or play-writing, as you know, but, however much I crave to be able to put into writing, with all the passion of one who desires to tell a story, I feel my efforts crippled by the above factors – a grim situation, isn't it? I shall always welcome any advice from you.

I was reading the other day a dramatisation by Virginia Church of Tolstoi's story, which I found immensely interesting, but I shall not hesitate to read Miles Malleson's play when you have found it. I shall also be trying (scour) the bookshelves for it.

I am glad to inform you that a collection of plays has arrived at our library from the Public Library and so we have much to keep us busy.

The verse will reach you under separate cover.

Again thanking you,

I am,

Yours sincerely

Ezekiel Mphahlele