This special issue considers networked cultural responses loosely figured as cultural solidarities in the Global South, on the understanding that mid-twentieth century struggles to end colonialism were addressed within a transnational domain. It takes apartheid South Africa as its point of departure, positioning literature from South Africa within a broadly anti-colonial commons. As they consider works by Alex La Guma, Nazim Hikmet Ran, Athol Fugard, and Todd Matshikiza, among others, our contributorsChristopher J. Lee, Gul Bilge Han, Ashleigh Harris and Andrea Thorpequestion the role of aesthetic forms in constructing long-distance solidarities in a Cold War setting. Mohammad Shabangu's assertion of the necessity of opacity as a counter to the recuperation of the African writer brings such questions into the present, intersecting contemporary debates on world literature. Finally, solidarity is framed in temporal rather than geographical terms in Andrew van der Vlies and Julia Willen's dialogue on reading for hope in the aftermath of failed revolutionary projects.