NginguMabhengwane wakwaMbilaziyawucosha, kodwa ngesiNgisi nginguCullen wakwaMackenzie. Ngineminyaka engamashumi amathathu nesithupha. Ngakhulela eShowe, KwaZulu. IsiZulu ngulimi lwami lwebele, kanye nesiNgisi, kodwa ngafunda izilimi ezinhlanu esikoleni nasenyuvesi – isiZulu, isiNgisi, isiLatini, isiGiriki nesiFulentshi. Futhi-ke, emva kwenyuvesi ngaqala ukuzifundisa ngezinye – isArabiya, isiSuthu nesiShayina nezinye. Sengihlala eGoli, ngisebenzela iNGO esebenzisana nezikole zamaRoma, ngingumphathi wocwaningo wezinhlelo wakhona. Ngaphandle kwalowo msebenzi, ngifundisa abantu abahlukahlukene isiZulu, ngiphinde ngihumushe okubhalwe ngaso okunjengezincwadi namaqophelo. Kodwa engikuthandayo ngenhliziyo yami yonke wukubhala ngolukaPhunga noMageba – ikakhulukazi izinkondlo nezindatshana. Kade ngafisa ukubhala indaba yohlobo lwe-Science Fiction, ngoba yilolo hlobo engiluthanda kakhulu uma ngifunda ngesiNgisi. Ithemba lami ngukufunda ezinye ezinjengale ndaba engiyibhalile, kubhalwe ngesiZulu nangezinye izilimi zomdabu.
I am Mabhengwane of the household of Mbilaziyawucosha, but in English I am Cullen Mackenzie. I am thirty-six years old. I grew up in Eshowe in Zululand. IsiZulu is my mother-tongue, along with English, but I learned five languages at school and at university – isiZulu, English, Latin, Greek and French. Furthermore, after university I began teaching myself other languages – Arabic, seSotho, Mandarin and others. I now live in Johannesburg, and I work for an NGO that works with Catholic schools, as the Knowledge and Research Manager there. Apart from this work, I teach various people isiZulu, and I also translate written texts and audio recordings. But what I love with my whole heart is writing in the language of Phunga and Mageba – particularly poetry and short stories. I have long wished to write a story in the Science Fiction genre, because it is the genre that I love the most when reading in English. My hope is to read other works like mine, written in isiZulu and in other indigenous languages.