The Cheeky Natives is a literary platform directed by Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele, an experienced doctor with a demonstrated history of working in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane, a practising advocate and part-time in-counsel at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Cheeky Natives began as a literary podcast but has since evolved into a broader platform for the critical appraisal of Black literature. It’s important that we emphasise Black literature because our aim is to create a canon of critical engagement with Black work that exists outside of the gaze that reduces Black people’s worth.