Now is the Time for Running

Now Is the Time for Running is a middle-grade novel by Michael Williams. Originally published in South Africa in 2009 as The Billion Dollar Soccer Ball, it was republished internationally with its current title in 2011. Williams, a South African author who also runs an opera house, was inspired to write the novel after a series of xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2008. During that time, around 45,000 refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom were from Zimbabwe, were displaced from townships and other communities. Many were injured, and at least 62 people were killed, according to a United Nations news report from 2009 (“Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa Draw Condemnation From UN Agency.” United Nations, 20 Nov. 2009). Williams believed that xenophobic violence and prejudice might become less common if people understood the hardships that refugees faced to get to South Africa in the first place.

This guide uses the 2011 eBook edition of the novel, published by Little, Brown, and Company. Pagination may vary in other editions. 

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide feature graphic discussions of political and xenophobic violence, murder, sexual assault, substance abuse, addiction, and the results of violent attacks by wild animals.