Es’kia Mphahlele , original name Ezekiel Mphahlele (born Dec. 17, 1919, Marabastad, S.Af.—died Oct. 27, 2008, Lebowakgomo), novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and teacher whose autobiography, Down Second Avenue (1959), is a South African classic. It combines the story of a young man’s growth