Mxolisi Nyezwa was born in 1967 in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. He runs a public-phones business from a steel container in Motherwell township. Mxolisi is the founder editor of the cultural magazine Kotaz, now in its 15th year. He has published three collections of poetry, Song Trials (2000), New Country (2008), and Malikhanye (2011). Mxolisi still lives in New Brighton township, close to where he was born at 4 Madala Street.