Du Toit draws on his childhood years in Botswana (the Bechuanaland Protectorate, as it was in those days) to examine questions of language identity and entitlement. He recalls confiding the secret of a magic trick to an itinerant Tswana man who in exchange taught him how to say a few words of the / Xam language; this proximity of language to the magical fashioning of reality still haunts him and has led to poems questioning our sense of belonging to social structures, sexual groupings and even to humanity itself.Paradoxically, a diverse ethnic background (with Dutch, French, German and Scottish forebears) works against Du Toit's sense of being welcomed into any single national group. Two directions of trans-national entitlement remain open - movement into an inner landscape of spiritual and artistic values, and an allegiance to the planet as an ecologically neutral, valued and threatened space of dwelling. Both of these manifestations of "home" feature prominently in Du Toit's work. A visionary linguistics binds these worlds together - foregrounding of the inner life as a source of values and home encourages a Kantian vision of a natural world created by the necessary structures of human consciousness, language being the force and locus of this creation. Du Toit's longed-for release from paid employment in 2011 allowed him to spend his mornings in Edinburgh University's Main Library; there, over the next ten years, basing himself on the Third Floor of the library (where the University's literature collections are housed), he composed a large body of poems, mainly free-verse sonnets, from which the poems of "Studies in Khoisan Verbs" are drawn.
"The stories comprising Once Removed are consistently excellent... I have not been this compelled by a collection of short fiction in a considerable time." - Dr Michael Titlestad The stories in Once Removed traverse the theatres, artist studios and archives that characterise the world of contemporary art and performance. But they also zero in on the homes, private lives, daily journeys and emotional interiorities of the various characters that inhabit them. While the stories in Once Removed draw from the undercurrents of the South African art world, their concerns and evocations are not limited to it."Once Removed is for readers who are familiar with the worlds of art and performance, and those for whom it is completely foreign. A reader doesn't need to be immersed in the world of artists, critics, exhibitors, gallerists or academics to access the collection, and to enjoy the imbalances, precarity, hilarity, and possibilities represented in it," explains Mann.Part ironic realism, part experimental surrealism, these stories will matter differently, but equally significantly, to those inside and outside the world they evoke and inhabit.
The same poet who observes that "everybody is a bridge/'' then asks in Zen-fashion, "Is it me, or is it you?/ are you reflection or projection / or the light that's shining through?'' can also note in a very down-to-earth way, that "If we hadn't robbed the car washers of their coin/they might not have turned so mean, you know? / Let them earn a little income, bra/ If we'd chiselled our hearts open, tried to see it from the middle/we'd have softened just a little." And so, while keeping the big picture of the difficulties before us unflinchingly, Anton imbues such philosophical and political statements with images of very real people and their struggle for survival. But this is one aspect of his writing. As importantly, through these 'poems, prose- poems, notes & fragments', runs a whimsical sense of his youth and later years as a white South African whose numerous relatives and friends make their appearance in the form of anecdotal history turned into poetic narrative. In this way, the collection is varied, and very personal and true to Anton's past and present, a very satisfying buffet that offers a unique taste of his Buddhistic soul.
u-Grand, Malume? (Zulu slang: are you ok, Uncle?) is dedicated to two uncles who were victims of the anti-apartheid struggle. The poems are my way of bringing Jabulani Maswanganye's spirit back home; he joined Umkhonto weSizwe, went to exile in 1977 and never returned. My other uncle, comrade Mandla Maswanganye, was shot dead in 1992 by the Washington DC police. In remembering them - the good and the bad - the poems update both my uncles as to what is currently going on in our black ghetto lives; I believe they can reach them because poems are like prayers.In this debut collection of 48 poems, Sizakele Nkosi reflects on her childhood and daily life and relationships in Soweto, the heartbeat of Black Jozi. Her parents, her own children and extended family provide a rich context for characters like gog' sis Phakama who, while flaunting her renewed, middle-aged sexuality, is the chief mourner at family burials, and her BEE mzala (cousin) who evokes reactions of envy and disapproval because of her nouveau riche lifestyle. Ever-present is the energy of the erotic life which charges the poet with the will to continue despite the restrictive hold of a strict Catholic upbringing, as well as a sense of profound disappointment with the rising social crises that afflict our society. Lastly, one should mention that Nkosi's free-flowing style and careful use of Zulu phrases root the work in kasi life and make it a remarkable record of our times.
A book of short stories, mainly about South Africans, that looks at some of the complexities of life faced by ordinary women living in a society of diverse cultures. Muthal Naidoo was born in Pietermaritzburg in 1935. She studied English and drama at the University of Natal and worked as a school teacher for 45 years in Marabastad, Pretoria and Giyani, Limpopo Province. She has written extensively for the theatre as well as works of social commentary.
I can, said the creator, I can / offer, he said, only a life. Just / the spark to the starter motor, / a puff, a squeak and I'm done. / Life is all I can give you. Haven't / you realised that I'm an experimenter, / not an insurance salesman? So you / see, survival, survival is up to you; / it's your adventure. I can't guarantee / silk stockings, an apartment in Manhattan, / or pure intentions. But here's a word of / advice: don't put too much store in the words of / politicianseconomistsparentsteachersbossesexpertsbureaucratsmarketers, / they're purveyors of an obscene accumulation of / useless cant...
We're on a journey / for the duration: / naked, / itching, / sinning, / playing, / freefalling, / hurt to the marrow / seeing elephants / in the passages.African poetry collection.
A collection of poems, photographs and mediations from South African writer abu bakr solomons.Abu Bakr Solomons is a retired teacher-principal who has worked in primary and high schools in the townships of Cape Town for 40 years. He was the Chairperson of the Congress of South African Writers in 1990-91. He was awarded a fellowship to pursue research in African literature at Northwestern University in Chicago in 1992. In 1993 he was invited to participate in the Salzburg Seminar in Austria. His work has been published in COSAW journals, a Botsotso publication and two Sol Plaatje-European Union anthologies.
Sarah Lubala is a Congolese-born poet. Her family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo two decades ago admidst political unrest as militant factions tried to overthrow the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
Short stories from a master of the form, this collection scrapes away superficial assumptions and brings to life a multitude of characters whose concerns have dominated post-1994 South Africa but are in many respects timeless; in particular, they probe the limitations of middle class norms and blinkered identities and grapple with the diverse experiences of the many millions living on the margins of privileged ghettoes.Mixing satire with brutal realism, Kolski Horwitz dissects South African society with a keen and insightful eye.
The ten stories in Un/common Ground do, indeed, cover the unusual and generally unwritten about in South Africa with respect to both themes and styles. They range from adult love entanglements to the difficulties of children caught in the dissolution of families; from white supremacist racial murders to utopian societies of the 26th century; from drug induced hallucinations and trade in human body parts to the problems of creating a new identity for anti-apartheid activists faced by a radically changed world order.
Makhosazana Xaba, with several collections and anthologies to her name, is at the forefront of a poetry that embraces penetrating socio-political insight with highly emotional responses to the love and pain that our country provides in such abundance.
The Botsotso literary journal started in 1996 as a monthly 4 page insert in the New Nation, an independent anti-apartheid South African weekly and reached over 80,000 people at a time - largely politisized black workers and youth - with a selection of poems, short stories and short essays that reflected the deep changes taking place in the country at that time. Since the closure of the New Nation in 1999, the journal has evolved into a stand-alone compilation featuring the same mix of genres, and with the addition of photo essays and reviews. The Botsotso editorial policy remains committed to creating a mix of voices which highlight the diverse spectrum of South African identities and languages, particularly those that are dedicated to radical expression and examinations of South Africa's complex society.With over seventy poets represented, this is a bumper edition of the journal and given the number of interesting and accomplished poems received (over the past two years since publication of Botsotso 17), we believed it worthwhile to break from tradition and dedicate this edition wholly to poetry.
The Botsotso literary journal started in 1996 as a monthly 4 page insert in the New Nation, an independent anti-apartheid South African weekly and reached over 80,000 people at a time - largely politisized black workers and youth - with a selection of poems, short stories and short essays that reflected the deep changes taking place in the country at that time. Since the closure of the New Nation in 1999, the journal has evolved into a stand-alone compilation featuring the same mix of genres, and with the addition of photo essays and reviews. The Botsotso editorial policy remains committed to creating a mix of voices which highlight the diverse spectrum of South African identities and languages, particularly those that are dedicated to radical expression and examinations of South Africa's complex society.
The Botsotso literary journal started in 1996 as a monthly 4 page insert in the New Nation, an independent anti-apartheid South African weekly and reached over 80,000 people at a time - largely politisized black workers and youth - with a selection of poems, short stories and short essays that reflected the deep changes taking place in the country at that time. Since the closure of the New Nation in 1999, the journal has evolved into a stand-alone compilation featuring the same mix of genres, and with the addition of photo essays and reviews. The Botsotso editorial policy remains committed to creating a mix of voices which highlight the diverse spectrum of South African identities and languages, particularly those that are dedicated to radical expression and examinations of South Africa's complex society.
The Botsotso literary journal started in 1996 as a monthly 4 page insert in the New Nation, an independent anti-apartheid South African weekly and reached over 80,000 people at a time - largely politisized black workers and youth - with a selection of poems, short stories and short essays that reflected the deep changes taking place in the country at that time. Since the closure of the New Nation in 1999, the journal has evolved into a stand-alone compilation featuring the same mix of genres, and with the addition of photo essays and reviews. The Botsotso editorial policy remains committed to creating a mix of voices which highlight the diverse spectrum of South African identities and languages, particularly those that are dedicated to radical expression and examinations of South Africa's complex society.Botsotso 20: Drama. The Dramas of Life is an anthology of eight South African plays drawn from the last decade (2008 -18) engages with personal dilemmas and social realities. The themes reflect the general unravelling of the 1994 political settlement as racism, poverty and inequality, patriarchy, violence against women and LGBT people, the failure to provide quality education and high levels of corruption expose widening fault lines. They display great energy and dramatic virtuosity in their exploration of these and other themes and create vivid characters who transcend the rhetorical. The plays included are "Isithunzi" by Sipho Zakwe, "Sleeping Dogs" by Simphiwe Vikilahle, "The Good Candidate" by Hans Pienaar, "Shoes and Coups" by Palesa Mazamisa, "Book Marks" by Allan Kolski Horwitz, "The Couch" by Sjaka Septembir, "Iziyalo Zikamama" by the Botsotso Ensemble and "Finding Me" by Moeketsi Kgotle.
The Botsotso literary journal started in 1996 as a monthly 4 page insert in the New Nation, an independent anti-apartheid South African weekly and reached over 80,000 people at a time - largely politisized black workers and youth - with a selection of poems, short stories and short essays that reflected the deep changes taking place in the country at that time. Since the closure of the New Nation in 1999, the journal has evolved into a stand-alone compilation featuring the same mix of genres, and with the addition of photo essays and reviews. The Botsotso editorial policy remains committed to creating a mix of voices which highlight the diverse spectrum of South African identities and languages, particularly those that are dedicated to radical expression and examinations of South Africa's complex society.Botsotso 19: Fiction. True, False and Fantastical includes thirty-one pieces by a wide range of southern African writers accompanied with photographs by Moshe Sekete Potswana. The edition focuses on fiction that covers a wide range of themes and situations: Thabisani Ndlovu's "Making a Woman" is about patriarchy and rising feminism in a Zimbabwean village, Mpumelelo Cilibe's "Keep the Ship Moving!" is set during the emergence of the first trade union at a Ford motor plant in the late 1970's in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and Muthal Naidoo's anthropomorphic satire "Stone Walls" is about exploitative friendships. Botsotso 19 displays the art of storytelling in many forms and styles and moves the reader through a wide range of emotions.
This anthology presents the work of twenty-four young Spoken Word poets from South Africa, with a sprinkling of guests from the United States, Britain and Australia.The experience of black youth in societies polarized by racism, inequality and gender violence whilst, at the same time, struggling to come to terms with love, sex and all the other basic needs of young people makes for fascinating reading. The inventive graphic layout is a fine addition to a stand out volume.Home is Where the Mic Is was conceived as a collaboration with 'Word n Sound', a popular Johannesburg Spoken Word platform. The intention was to give hitherto only 'stage' poets an opportunity to test their work on the 'page' and confound the Eurocentric critics of the new wave of performance poetry who decry its energy and breaking down of artificial definitions of poetry. This is South African poetry standing on it's own two feet!
How can poverty be erradicated? How can Africa be industrialised? How can corruption be fought? How armed conflicts be settled? Why are so many Africans maladjusted once back from western universities? How can religious fundamentalism and fanaticism be contained? Do we really fight xenophobia and tribalism? How deeply do we comprehend the principles of the social contract? How do we hold back and eradicate pandemic diseases? How do we contain bad citizenship and insecurity? The sole aim of these stories is to point out some of the daily behaviours Africans should rid ourselves of in the process of building better functioning societies.
Bongekile Joyce Mbanjwe's collection of poems in isiZulu, Izinhlungu Zomphefumulo, with accompanying English translations, is aimed at exposing pain, confusion and the different types of abuse that we face everyday of our lives and that suffering and pain must be followed by solutions.
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