South African poetry
Encyclopedia
The poetry
of South Africa
covers a broad range of themes
, forms and styles. This article discusses the context that contemporary poets have come from and identifies the major poets of South Africa, their works and influence.
The South African literary landscape from the 19th century to present day has been fundamentally shaped by the social and political evolution of the country, particularly the trajectory from a colonial trading station to an apartheid state and finally toward a democracy. Primary forces of population growth and economic change which have propelled urban development have also impacted on what themes, forms and styles of literature and poetry in particular have emerged from the country over time. South Africa has had a rich history of literary output. Fiction and poetry specifically has been written in all of South Africa's eleven official languages.
Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo
’s iconic works preached a "return to the source" or the wisdom of finding traditional ways of dealing with modern problems. His works included several plays and the long poem The Valley of a Thousand Hills (1941). Poets such as BW Vilakazi gave new literary life to their aboriginal languages, combining the traditional influence of Zulu oral praise poetry (izibongo
) with that of the influence of English poets such as Keats, Shelley
, Dunbar
, Cotter
, Gray and Goldsmith
] (some of whose poetry he translated into Zulu). Herman Charles Bosman
, is best known for his Unto Dust and In the Withaak's Shade capturing a portrait of Afrikaner storytelling skills and social attitudes. Bosman also wrote poetry, with a predominantly satirical tone.
’s world renowned and highly poetic novel Cry, The Beloved Country, came into publication, just four months after the separatist National Party came to power in South Africa. Although most prolific in other literary genre, poetry was a form that interested him throughout his life as documented in his biography by Peter Alexander.
Some of the most well known poets of this violently oppressive and politically turbulent period of South African history from 1948 to 1990 include Dennis Brutus
, Ingrid Jonker
, Mazisi Kunene
, Nicolaas Petrus van Wyk (N.P.) Louw, William Ewart Gladstone (W.E.G.) Louw
, James Matthews
, Mzwakhe Mbuli
, Oswald (Mbuyiseni) Mtshali, and Diederik Johannes (D.J) Opperman.
Antjie Krog
’s first volume of poetry Dogter van Jefta, published in 1970 when she was just 17 years old, caused a stir in the Afrikaans community specifically for her then controversial poem My mooi land(My beautiful land). To date she has published ten volumes of poetry as well as three volumes of children’s verse in Afrikaans, with her later works becoming increasingly politicised and gender–sensitising.
Black female authors of the time, the late Bessie Head
and Sindiwe Magona
going into exile in Botswana and USA respectively, are better known as novelists but in fact did write poetry too. Women writing Africa: the southern region by Margaret J. Daymond embodies the poetry and writing of several black South African women poets who, as in this case, were writing and performing poetry during this struggle era but like many others were only published outside of the country or in grassroots South African literary magazines, COSAW (Congress of South African Writers
) publications and the Staffrider
.
Many of these poets, particularly the anti-apartheid writers all suffered personally in forms ranging from exile, house arrest, detention and torture to the banning of their literature or right to public speaking. This because they questioned and opposed apartheid law, as well as raised national and international awareness of the injustices committed in the country during a long period of media censorship, state propaganda, cultural boycott, mass detentions and killings of freedoms struggle activists besides ordinary black citizens.
The Drum writers of the 1950s reflected a new generation of black writers talking about the conditions of their lives, using the popular Drum magazine
as their forum to depict a vibrant urban black culture for the first time.
Notable poets of the period associated Drum were Peter Clarke
, Richard Rive
and James Matthews
, an incendiary poet fittingly entitled his first published collection of poetry Cry Rage in 1972, co-authored with Gladys Thomas which was banned by the Apartheid authorities.
The Afrikaans literary scene in the 1960’s also flourished with the emergence of Jan Rabie
, Etienne Leroux
, Andre Brink
and the highly acclaimed, exiled author and poet Breyten Breytenbach
. All publishing first in Afrikaans these writers were increasingly politicised by the situation in South Africa and their contrasting experiences overseas, with Breytenbach beginning as one of the most linguistically radical new poets in Afrikaans. A new generation of white South African poets writing in English in the 60’s include greats such as Douglas Livingstone
, Sidney Clouts, Ruth Miller
, Lionel Abrahams
and Stephen Gray.
Political or protest poetry with the rise of the Black Consciousness (BC) movement, lead by martyred Bantu Steve Biko
and the Soweto Uprisings 1976, became a vehicles used for their their immediacy of impact. South African protest poets and poets took the platform at underground rallies, political, religious and other cultural events across the country. The most notable writers from this period are Keorapetse William Kgositsile, Mongane (Wally) Serote, Sipho Sepamla
, James Matthews, Oswald Joseph Mbuyiseni Mtshali, Christopher van Wyk
, Mafika Gwala
and Don Mattera
. These rousing works, embedded with resistance slogans and ideals were intended to mobilise the masses into action against the oppressive regime. Popular orators such as Mzwakhe Mbuli
achieved celebrity status at this time even though some felt the need for ‘a move away from rhetoric and toward the depiction of ordinary’ in order to reflect a more well-rounded reflection of humanity, as expressed by academic and poet Njabulo Ndebele
, in his 1986 essay, The Rediscovery of the Ordinary. Simon Lewis, in his review of Ten South African Poets highlights that some of the strongest voices of the 1980’s were also ‘worker poets’, the innovative trade union praise-songs of the poets of Black Mamba Rising.
in 1990, many observed that South African writers were confronted with the challenge of what most pertinent to write about now, even though the after-effects of this history evidently still live on in the society. The ‘new South Africa’ democratic era was characterized by what literary critic Stephane Serge Ibinga in her article Post-Apartheid Literature Beyond Race describes as ‘honeymoon literature’ or ‘the literature of celebration’ epitomised by Zakes Mda
, who was active as a playwright and poet long before publishing his first novel in 1995. Poets of this relatively stable transition period in South African history were also more irreverent voices like Lesego Rampolokeng
, Sandile Dikeni and Lefifi Tladi, founder of the Dashiki performance poetry movement in the late 1960’s. Another prevalent theme of ‘post-apartheid’ poetry is the focus on nation-building, with many poets and other writers re-evaluating past identities and embracing notions of reconciliation in order to authentically reflect an inclusive concept of South Africa as a nation, a diverse people united in a commitment to heal the past and collectively address current imbalances.
or lithoko as well as the combined influence of ‘protest poets’ of the 1970’s through to the 1990’s who often collaborated with or were musicians themselves and American hip-hop culture and rap music of coming to popularity across the country in the 1980’s.
Poets such as Lesego Rampolokeng
, Lebogang Mashile, Kgafela oa Magogodi, Blaq Pearl, Jessica Mbangeni and Mak Manaka are household names in the genre. A number of performance poetry collectives have come to the fore over the past decade such as WEAVE (Women's Education & Artistic Voice Expression), And The Word Was Woman Ensemble (initiated by performance poet Malika Ndlovu), Basadzi Voices and poetry quartet Feelah Sista. The staging of professional performances, exposure via national and international poetry and spoken word festivals such as Urban Voices, Poetry Africa
, Badilisha Poetry X-Change
and more recently badilishapoetry.com
podcasting platform have cultivated an appreciation of South African poetry within the country and around the world.
The emergence of several independent publishers and self-publishing avenues, along with new literary magazines, e-zines, arts–related blogs and websites such as Poetry International - SA, Book SA, and Litnet
via the internet, have all dramatically impacted on South Africa’s literary landscape. Established mainstream publishers, local and international university presses have also opened channels for new and diverse South African poetic voices, notably Random Struik’s Umuzi, NB Publishers’ Kwela Books, Jacana Media, new feminist press Modjaji Books
and South Africa’s oldest literary journal New Contrast.
Gert Vlok Nel (1963)is a poet, singer, song writer, troubadour. He has published one collection of poems, Om te lewe is onnatuurlik (To live is unnatural), for which he received the Ingrid Jonker Prize.
Lionel Abrahams (1928 - May 30, 2004) was a poet, novel
ist, editor, essay
ist, and publisher
. Abrahams's work is largely philosophical
, praising integrity
and compassion
. His poems are characterized by free verse
with emotion
al strength.
Although born in Egypt
, Tatamkulu Afrika (December 7, 1920 - December 23, 2002) went to South Africa at an early age. His first volume of poetry, Nine Lives was published in 1991. Afrika's poetry is rich in natural image
ry, and the mood of his poems differ, from simple and innocent to lonely and frightened.
Gabeba Baderoon is the 2005 recipient of the DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Poetry.
She was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on February 21, 1969. She currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa and Pennsylvania, USA.
In 1989 she received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cape Town in English and Psychology. In 1991 she received her Honours Degree in English (awarded in the First Class) from the University of Cape Town BA Honours program. She attained her Master of Arts in English with Distinction at the University of Cape Town in Postmodernist Television (Media Studies) and in 2004 completed her doctoral studies in Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, the same year spending time at the University of Sheffield, UK, as a Visiting Scholar. She also completed her dissertation entitled, "Oblique Figures: Representations of Islam in South African Media and Culture."
The son of writer Jack Cope
, Michael Cope (1952 - ) is a jeweller and novelist as well as a poet. Cope's first volume of poetry, Scenes and Visions, was published in 1990. His works detail people, their stories, and environment
al imagery. Much of his poetry also quietly offers Cope's views on world-wide issues, such as business and poverty
. Cope's second volume, GHAAP: Sonnets from the Northern Cape (Kwela and Snailpress) deals with human origins. His poetry is available online at http://www.cope.co.za/poetry.htm
Also by Michael Cope: Goldin: A Tale - iUniverse (2005) - A literary novel dealing with the mythic and Intricacy: A Meditation on Memory - Double Storey (2005) - A memoir investigating memory.
Patrick Cullinan (1932 - ) has published 50000 volumes of poetry, an anthology on the work of Lionel Abrahams, a biography
of Robert Jacob Gordon
, and a novel, Matrix. Born in Pretoria
, he was educated in Johannesburg
and Europe
. Cullinan's poetic style is dreamy and full of imagery, with a recurring theme of love
. He was given the title cavaliere in 2003 by the government of Italy
for his work translating much of his poetry into Italian
.
and overseas. First published by Harold Pinter
in 1993 (Assault and the Moth (Greville, 1993)), and paired with Norman Corwin
(The Poetry of Norman Corwin and Gail Dendy (California: Shirim, 2002)), her work displays immense originality, meticulous craftsmanship and, despite focusing primarily on relationships, a large variety of themes.http://www.davidkrutpublishing.com/dkp/bookstore/2007/05/the-lady-missionary/ She has attained recognition as a writer with the Herman Charles Bosman Award (2008) and in being shortlisted for the Thomas Pringle Award (2010).
Born in Durban
she later moved to Johannesburg
where for many years she performed Contemporary Dance with Robyn Orlin, being nominated for the inaugural AA Vita Award for Best Performer. She holds various university degrees and currently works as a researcher, archivist and librarian for a large international corporate-law firm.
Mzi Mahola was born on 12 February 1949 as Mzikayise Winston Mahola. Mzi Mahola is his nom de plume. He started writing while he was at school. The Special Branch confiscated his first poetry manuscript in 1976 and he lost interest in writing for twelve years. After this period he started writing again, submitting work successfully to national and international journals, magazines and publications. His work has been published in more than eight anthologies.
geheim van die dag (2005, Protea). The first received the Ingrid Jonker Prize in 1997. The second was awarded the M-Net Prize for Afrikaans Poetry in 2005 and the recently instituted Protea Prize, in the same year.
In 1999 the then Dutch poet laureate, Gerrit Komrij, invited him along with four other Afrikaans poets to do a reading tour of The Netherlands and Belgium. Translations of his poems have since appeared in numerous Dutch and Belgian literary magazines. In 2000 Poetry International (Rotterdam) presented a translation project of his work.
Recently the Turkish poet/translator Ilyas Tunc published some of Naudé's poems in a Turkish translation.
Naudé's English poetry volume, Against the light, is due out early in 2007.
He grew up in East London. Being a useless dreamer, he is the Africa correspondent for Middle Earth and has served other mythical locations as well, based in Johannesburg. (Source: Southern Rain Poetry, used with permission.)
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
covers a broad range of themes
Theme (literature)
A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...
, forms and styles. This article discusses the context that contemporary poets have come from and identifies the major poets of South Africa, their works and influence.
The South African literary landscape from the 19th century to present day has been fundamentally shaped by the social and political evolution of the country, particularly the trajectory from a colonial trading station to an apartheid state and finally toward a democracy. Primary forces of population growth and economic change which have propelled urban development have also impacted on what themes, forms and styles of literature and poetry in particular have emerged from the country over time. South Africa has had a rich history of literary output. Fiction and poetry specifically has been written in all of South Africa's eleven official languages.
Black Poets in the Colonial Era
While it has been recorded that literature by black South Africans only emerged in the 20th century, this is only a reflection of published works at the time, not of the reality that black South Africans were writing and reciting in oral forms. The first generation of mission-educated African writers sought to restore dignity to Africans by invoking and reconstructing a heroic African past.Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo
Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo
Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo is one of the major founding figures of South African literature and perhaps the first prolific African creative writer in English. His elder brother was the famous artist R.R.R. Dhlomo, and the great Zulu composer, R.T. Caluza, is a near relative...
’s iconic works preached a "return to the source" or the wisdom of finding traditional ways of dealing with modern problems. His works included several plays and the long poem The Valley of a Thousand Hills (1941). Poets such as BW Vilakazi gave new literary life to their aboriginal languages, combining the traditional influence of Zulu oral praise poetry (izibongo
Isibongo
In Zulu culture, "isibongo" is a clan name or "praise name". The term is derived from the verb "-bonga" meaning "to praise", "to thank", "to worship" or "to call by a clan name". The plural form "izibongo" refers to praise poetry, a typical Zulu art form where the fame of a person is extolled....
) with that of the influence of English poets such as Keats, Shelley
Shelley
-Meaning:In many baby name books, Shelley is listed as meaning "From the meadow on the ledge" or "clearing on a bank". It is Old English in origin. As with many other names , Shelley is today a name given almost exclusively to girls after historically being male...
, Dunbar
Dunbar
Dunbar is a town in East Lothian on the southeast coast of Scotland, approximately 28 miles east of Edinburgh and 28 miles from the English Border at Berwick-upon-Tweed....
, Cotter
Cotter
-People:*Cotter , an English, Irish and Americanized-German surname*Cotter , a medieval villein-Places:*Cotter, Arkansas, United States*Cotter, Iowa, United States*The Cotter River in the Australian Capital Territory-Other meanings:...
, Gray and Goldsmith
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
] (some of whose poetry he translated into Zulu). Herman Charles Bosman
Herman Charles Bosman
Herman Charles Bosman is the South African writer widely regarded as South Africa's greatest short story writer. He studied the works of Edgar Alan Poe and Mark Twain, and developed a style emphasizing the use of irony...
, is best known for his Unto Dust and In the Withaak's Shade capturing a portrait of Afrikaner storytelling skills and social attitudes. Bosman also wrote poetry, with a predominantly satirical tone.
Writing Against Apartheid
Alan PatonAlan Paton
Alan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...
’s world renowned and highly poetic novel Cry, The Beloved Country, came into publication, just four months after the separatist National Party came to power in South Africa. Although most prolific in other literary genre, poetry was a form that interested him throughout his life as documented in his biography by Peter Alexander.
Some of the most well known poets of this violently oppressive and politically turbulent period of South African history from 1948 to 1990 include Dennis Brutus
Dennis Brutus
Dennis Vincent Brutus was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have apartheid South Africa banned from the Olympic Games.-Life and work:...
, Ingrid Jonker
Ingrid Jonker
Ingrid Jonker , was a South African poet. Although she wrote in Afrikaans, her poems have been widely translated into other languages...
, Mazisi Kunene
Mazisi Kunene
Mazisi Kunene was a South African poet best known for his poem Emperor Shaka the Great. While in exile from South Africa's apartheid regime, Kunene was an active supporter and organizer of the anti-apartheid movement in Europe and Africa...
, Nicolaas Petrus van Wyk (N.P.) Louw, William Ewart Gladstone (W.E.G.) Louw
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, James Matthews
James Matthews (writer)
James Matthews is a South African poet, writer and publisher.He was detained by the apartheid government in 1976, and was denied a passport for 23 years....
, Mzwakhe Mbuli
Mzwakhe Mbuli
Mzwakhe Mbuli, a devout former Deacon at Apostolic Faith Mission Church in Naledi Soweto South Africa, known as "The People's Poet, Tall man, Mbulism", is a popular poet and mbaqanga singer in South Africa...
, Oswald (Mbuyiseni) Mtshali, and Diederik Johannes (D.J) Opperman.
Antjie Krog
Antjie Krog
Antjie Krog, born October 23, 1952 in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, is a prominent South African poet, academic and writer. In 2004 she joined the Arts faculty of the University of the Western Cape.- Early life :...
’s first volume of poetry Dogter van Jefta, published in 1970 when she was just 17 years old, caused a stir in the Afrikaans community specifically for her then controversial poem My mooi land(My beautiful land). To date she has published ten volumes of poetry as well as three volumes of children’s verse in Afrikaans, with her later works becoming increasingly politicised and gender–sensitising.
Black female authors of the time, the late Bessie Head
Bessie Head
Bessie Emery Head is usually considered Botswana's most influential writer.-Biography:Bessie Emery Head was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the child of a wealthy white South African woman and a black servant when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa...
and Sindiwe Magona
Sindiwe Magona
-Early life and education:A native of the Transkei, she grew up in a township near Cape Town, where she worked as a domestic and completed her secondary education by correspondence. Magona later graduated from the University of South Africa and earned a graduate degree from Columbia...
going into exile in Botswana and USA respectively, are better known as novelists but in fact did write poetry too. Women writing Africa: the southern region by Margaret J. Daymond embodies the poetry and writing of several black South African women poets who, as in this case, were writing and performing poetry during this struggle era but like many others were only published outside of the country or in grassroots South African literary magazines, COSAW (Congress of South African Writers
Congress of South African Writers
The Congress of South African Writers is a South African grassroots writer’s organisation.Launched in July 1987, its initial aims were to promote literature and redress the imbalances of apartheid education...
) publications and the Staffrider
Staffrider
Staffrider was a South African literary magazine.Staffrider was first published in 1977, and took its name from slang for people hanging outside or on the roof of overcrowded, racially segregated trains....
.
Many of these poets, particularly the anti-apartheid writers all suffered personally in forms ranging from exile, house arrest, detention and torture to the banning of their literature or right to public speaking. This because they questioned and opposed apartheid law, as well as raised national and international awareness of the injustices committed in the country during a long period of media censorship, state propaganda, cultural boycott, mass detentions and killings of freedoms struggle activists besides ordinary black citizens.
The Drum writers of the 1950s reflected a new generation of black writers talking about the conditions of their lives, using the popular Drum magazine
Drum magazine
A drum magazine is a type of firearms magazine that is cylindrical in shape, similar to a drum. Instead of rounds being stored flat, as in a more common box magazine, rounds in a drum magazine are stored in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel.There are...
as their forum to depict a vibrant urban black culture for the first time.
Notable poets of the period associated Drum were Peter Clarke
Peter Clarke
Peter Clarke may refer to:Peter J. Clarke Born 1946, Owns and operates Clarke Gallery, Newburyport, Ma. www.clarkegallery.com*Peter Clarke , child welfare activist in Wales...
, Richard Rive
Richard Rive
-Biography:Rive was born on 1 March 1931 in Caledon Street in the working-class coloured District Six of Cape Town.His father was African, and his mother was coloured, and Rive was given the latter classification under apartheid...
and James Matthews
James Matthews (writer)
James Matthews is a South African poet, writer and publisher.He was detained by the apartheid government in 1976, and was denied a passport for 23 years....
, an incendiary poet fittingly entitled his first published collection of poetry Cry Rage in 1972, co-authored with Gladys Thomas which was banned by the Apartheid authorities.
The Afrikaans literary scene in the 1960’s also flourished with the emergence of Jan Rabie
Jan Rabie
Jan Sebastian Rabie was an Afrikaans writer of short stories, novels and other literary works. He was born in George, and was the writer of twenty-one works...
, Etienne Leroux
Etienne Leroux
Etienne Leroux was an influential Afrikaans author and a key member of the South African Sestigers literary movement. He was born on June 13 as Stephanus Petrus Daniël le Roux, son of S.P. Le Roux, a South African Minister of Agriculture....
, Andre Brink
André Brink
André Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
and the highly acclaimed, exiled author and poet Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach
Breyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
. All publishing first in Afrikaans these writers were increasingly politicised by the situation in South Africa and their contrasting experiences overseas, with Breytenbach beginning as one of the most linguistically radical new poets in Afrikaans. A new generation of white South African poets writing in English in the 60’s include greats such as Douglas Livingstone
Douglas Livingstone
Douglas Livingstone may refer to* Douglas Livingstone , South African poet born in Malaya * Douglas Livingstone , English actor and writer for television*Doug Livingstone, Scottish footballer and manager...
, Sidney Clouts, Ruth Miller
Ruth Miller
Ruth Blanchard Miller was an American artist.Miller was born to Kempster Blanchard Miller and Antha Miller in Chicago, Illinois...
, Lionel Abrahams
Lionel Abrahams
Lionel Abrahams was a South African novelist, poet, editor, critic, essayist and publisher. He was born in Johannesburg, where he lived his entire life...
and Stephen Gray.
Political or protest poetry with the rise of the Black Consciousness (BC) movement, lead by martyred Bantu Steve Biko
Steve Biko
Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
and the Soweto Uprisings 1976, became a vehicles used for their their immediacy of impact. South African protest poets and poets took the platform at underground rallies, political, religious and other cultural events across the country. The most notable writers from this period are Keorapetse William Kgositsile, Mongane (Wally) Serote, Sipho Sepamla
Sipho Sepamla
Sydney Sipho Sepamla was a contemporary South African poet and novelist.Born in a township near Krugersdorp, Sipho Sepamla lived most of his life in Soweto. He studied teaching at Pretoria Normal College and published his first volume of poetry, Hurry Up to It!, in 1975...
, James Matthews, Oswald Joseph Mbuyiseni Mtshali, Christopher van Wyk
Christopher van Wyk
Christopher van Wyk is a South African children’s book author, novelist and poet.Van Wyk was educated at Riverlea High School in Riverlea, Johannesburg, where he lived until 2005. He worked as a clerk for the independent South African Committee for Higher Education as an educational writer of...
, Mafika Gwala
Mafika Gwala
Mafika Pascal Gwala is a contemporary South African poet and editor, writing in English and Zulu.Mafika Gwala was born and grew up in [Verulam] North of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He spent most of his adult life in Mpumalanga Township, west of Durban...
and Don Mattera
Don Mattera
Donato Francisco Mattera , better known as Don Mattera, is a South African poet and author.- Overview :...
. These rousing works, embedded with resistance slogans and ideals were intended to mobilise the masses into action against the oppressive regime. Popular orators such as Mzwakhe Mbuli
Mzwakhe Mbuli
Mzwakhe Mbuli, a devout former Deacon at Apostolic Faith Mission Church in Naledi Soweto South Africa, known as "The People's Poet, Tall man, Mbulism", is a popular poet and mbaqanga singer in South Africa...
achieved celebrity status at this time even though some felt the need for ‘a move away from rhetoric and toward the depiction of ordinary’ in order to reflect a more well-rounded reflection of humanity, as expressed by academic and poet Njabulo Ndebele
Njabulo Ndebele
Professor Njabulo Simakahle Ndebele , an academic, a literary and a writer of fiction, is the former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Cape Town.- Life and career :...
, in his 1986 essay, The Rediscovery of the Ordinary. Simon Lewis, in his review of Ten South African Poets highlights that some of the strongest voices of the 1980’s were also ‘worker poets’, the innovative trade union praise-songs of the poets of Black Mamba Rising.
Post Apartheid
The demise of Apartheid Law and the release of Nelson MandelaNelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
in 1990, many observed that South African writers were confronted with the challenge of what most pertinent to write about now, even though the after-effects of this history evidently still live on in the society. The ‘new South Africa’ democratic era was characterized by what literary critic Stephane Serge Ibinga in her article Post-Apartheid Literature Beyond Race describes as ‘honeymoon literature’ or ‘the literature of celebration’ epitomised by Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda , legally Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda , is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays.-Early life and education:...
, who was active as a playwright and poet long before publishing his first novel in 1995. Poets of this relatively stable transition period in South African history were also more irreverent voices like Lesego Rampolokeng
Lesego Rampolokeng
Lesego Rampolokeng is a South African writer, playwright and performance poet.- Early life and education :Lesego Rampolokeng was born in 1965 in Orlando West, Soweto, Johannesburg. He studied law at the University of the North in South Africa. .- Works :Lesego Rampolokeng prominence happened in...
, Sandile Dikeni and Lefifi Tladi, founder of the Dashiki performance poetry movement in the late 1960’s. Another prevalent theme of ‘post-apartheid’ poetry is the focus on nation-building, with many poets and other writers re-evaluating past identities and embracing notions of reconciliation in order to authentically reflect an inclusive concept of South Africa as a nation, a diverse people united in a commitment to heal the past and collectively address current imbalances.
Contemporary Poetry
The genre of performance poetry in present day South Africa, encompassing the ‘pop culture’ form of the spoken word genre evidently has its roots in the indigenous praise poetry traditions of izibongoIsibongo
In Zulu culture, "isibongo" is a clan name or "praise name". The term is derived from the verb "-bonga" meaning "to praise", "to thank", "to worship" or "to call by a clan name". The plural form "izibongo" refers to praise poetry, a typical Zulu art form where the fame of a person is extolled....
or lithoko as well as the combined influence of ‘protest poets’ of the 1970’s through to the 1990’s who often collaborated with or were musicians themselves and American hip-hop culture and rap music of coming to popularity across the country in the 1980’s.
Poets such as Lesego Rampolokeng
Lesego Rampolokeng
Lesego Rampolokeng is a South African writer, playwright and performance poet.- Early life and education :Lesego Rampolokeng was born in 1965 in Orlando West, Soweto, Johannesburg. He studied law at the University of the North in South Africa. .- Works :Lesego Rampolokeng prominence happened in...
, Lebogang Mashile, Kgafela oa Magogodi, Blaq Pearl, Jessica Mbangeni and Mak Manaka are household names in the genre. A number of performance poetry collectives have come to the fore over the past decade such as WEAVE (Women's Education & Artistic Voice Expression), And The Word Was Woman Ensemble (initiated by performance poet Malika Ndlovu), Basadzi Voices and poetry quartet Feelah Sista. The staging of professional performances, exposure via national and international poetry and spoken word festivals such as Urban Voices, Poetry Africa
Poetry Africa
Poetry Africa is an international poetry festival held annually in Durban, South Africa.More than twenty poets, predominantly from South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent, participate in the 7–10 day Poetry Africa, an international poetry festival that is based mostly in Durban, South...
, Badilisha Poetry X-Change
Badilisha Poetry X-Change
Badilisha Poetry X-Change is a platform dedicated to showcasing poetry from Africa and the Diaspora. The project came out of recognizing the lack of documentation of African poets, on the African continent and in the rest of the world. Its aims are to fill this void as well as create a...
and more recently badilishapoetry.com
Badilisha Poetry Radio
A project of the Badilisha Poetry X-Change Badilisha Poetry Radio is an online platform created to appreciate, celebrate and discover contemporary Pan-African poetry. Badilisha Poetry Radio focuses on weekly podcasts featuring poets from the African Continent and its Diaspora...
podcasting platform have cultivated an appreciation of South African poetry within the country and around the world.
The emergence of several independent publishers and self-publishing avenues, along with new literary magazines, e-zines, arts–related blogs and websites such as Poetry International - SA, Book SA, and Litnet
LITNET
LITNET is an Academic and Research Network in Lithuania. It was established in 1991 and had X.25 satellite connectivity to University of Oslo.LITNET NOC is located in Kaunas University of Technology ....
via the internet, have all dramatically impacted on South Africa’s literary landscape. Established mainstream publishers, local and international university presses have also opened channels for new and diverse South African poetic voices, notably Random Struik’s Umuzi, NB Publishers’ Kwela Books, Jacana Media, new feminist press Modjaji Books
Modjaji Books
Modjaji Books is a South African small-scale independent publisher.Modjaji Books is based in Cape Town, publishing books written exclusively by Southern African women. Currently, Modjaji publishes short stories, memoir, novels, poetry, and creative non-fiction.The Modjaji Books blog is frequently...
and South Africa’s oldest literary journal New Contrast.
Some poets
The following are some poets in South Africa. The list is incomplete, and inadequately captures the breadth and vibrancy of the poetry landscape in the country. A more comprehensive list with links sits on Wikipedia at List of South African poets.Gert Vlok Nel
Main article: Gert Vlok NelGert Vlok Nel
Gert Vlok Nel is a South African poet. He studied English, Afrikaans and history at Stellenbosch University and worked as a guide, a bartender and a watchman. He has published one collection of poems, Om te lewe is onnatuurlik , for which he received the Ingrid Jonker Prize...
Gert Vlok Nel (1963)is a poet, singer, song writer, troubadour. He has published one collection of poems, Om te lewe is onnatuurlik (To live is unnatural), for which he received the Ingrid Jonker Prize.
Lionel Abrahams
Main article: Lionel AbrahamsLionel Abrahams
Lionel Abrahams was a South African novelist, poet, editor, critic, essayist and publisher. He was born in Johannesburg, where he lived his entire life...
Lionel Abrahams (1928 - May 30, 2004) was a poet, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, editor, essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
ist, and publisher
Publication
To publish is to make content available to the public. While specific use of the term may vary among countries, it is usually applied to text, images, or other audio-visual content on any medium, including paper or electronic publishing forms such as websites, e-books, Compact Discs and MP3s...
. Abrahams's work is largely philosophical
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, praising integrity
Integrity
Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions...
and compassion
Compassion
Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.There is an aspect of...
. His poems are characterized by free verse
Free verse
Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form...
with emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
al strength.
Tatamkulu Afrika
Main article: Tatamkulu AfrikaTatamkulu Afrika
Tatamkulu Afrika was a South African poet and writer.-Writing:...
Although born in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Tatamkulu Afrika (December 7, 1920 - December 23, 2002) went to South Africa at an early age. His first volume of poetry, Nine Lives was published in 1991. Afrika's poetry is rich in natural image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
ry, and the mood of his poems differ, from simple and innocent to lonely and frightened.
Gabeba Baderoon
Main article: Gabeba BaderoonGabeba Baderoon
Gabeba Baderoon is the 2005 recipient of the DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Poetry.She was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on February 21, 1969. She currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa and Pennsylvania, USA....
Gabeba Baderoon is the 2005 recipient of the DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Poetry.
She was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on February 21, 1969. She currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa and Pennsylvania, USA.
In 1989 she received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cape Town in English and Psychology. In 1991 she received her Honours Degree in English (awarded in the First Class) from the University of Cape Town BA Honours program. She attained her Master of Arts in English with Distinction at the University of Cape Town in Postmodernist Television (Media Studies) and in 2004 completed her doctoral studies in Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, the same year spending time at the University of Sheffield, UK, as a Visiting Scholar. She also completed her dissertation entitled, "Oblique Figures: Representations of Islam in South African Media and Culture."
Michael Cope
Main article: Michael CopeThe son of writer Jack Cope
Jack Cope
Jack Cope was a South African novelist, short story writer, poet, and editor.Jack Cope was born in Natal, South Africa and attended boarding school in Durban, afterwards becoming a journalist on the Natal Mercury and then a political correspondent in London for South African newspapers...
, Michael Cope (1952 - ) is a jeweller and novelist as well as a poet. Cope's first volume of poetry, Scenes and Visions, was published in 1990. His works detail people, their stories, and environment
Environment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
al imagery. Much of his poetry also quietly offers Cope's views on world-wide issues, such as business and poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
. Cope's second volume, GHAAP: Sonnets from the Northern Cape (Kwela and Snailpress) deals with human origins. His poetry is available online at http://www.cope.co.za/poetry.htm
Also by Michael Cope: Goldin: A Tale - iUniverse (2005) - A literary novel dealing with the mythic and Intricacy: A Meditation on Memory - Double Storey (2005) - A memoir investigating memory.
Patrick Cullinan
Main article: Patrick CullinanPatrick Cullinan
Patrick Roland Cullinan was a South African poet and biographer.He was born in Pretoria into a significant diamond-mining family and attended Charterhouse School and Oxford University in England...
Patrick Cullinan (1932 - ) has published 50000 volumes of poetry, an anthology on the work of Lionel Abrahams, a biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Robert Jacob Gordon
Robert Jacob Gordon
Robert Jacob Gordon , was a Dutch explorer, soldier, artist, naturalist and linguist of Scottish descent.-Life:...
, and a novel, Matrix. Born in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, he was educated in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Cullinan's poetic style is dreamy and full of imagery, with a recurring theme of love
Love
Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
. He was given the title cavaliere in 2003 by the government of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
for his work translating much of his poetry into Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Gail Dendy
Gail Dendy (1957 - ) has published seven collections of poetry (in the UK, USA and the Republic of SA), the most recent ("Closer Than That") having appeared in September 2011 from Dye Hard Press. Her work appears in journals and anthologies in her native South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and overseas. First published by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
in 1993 (Assault and the Moth (Greville, 1993)), and paired with Norman Corwin
Norman Corwin
Norman Lewis Corwin was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing...
(The Poetry of Norman Corwin and Gail Dendy (California: Shirim, 2002)), her work displays immense originality, meticulous craftsmanship and, despite focusing primarily on relationships, a large variety of themes.http://www.davidkrutpublishing.com/dkp/bookstore/2007/05/the-lady-missionary/ She has attained recognition as a writer with the Herman Charles Bosman Award (2008) and in being shortlisted for the Thomas Pringle Award (2010).
Born in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
she later moved to Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
where for many years she performed Contemporary Dance with Robyn Orlin, being nominated for the inaugural AA Vita Award for Best Performer. She holds various university degrees and currently works as a researcher, archivist and librarian for a large international corporate-law firm.
Mzi Mahola
Main article: Mzi MaholaMzi Mahola
Mzi Mahola was born on 12 February 1949 as Mzikayise Winston Mahola.Mzi Mahola is his nom de plume. He is a South African writer and poet.-Biography:...
Mzi Mahola was born on 12 February 1949 as Mzikayise Winston Mahola. Mzi Mahola is his nom de plume. He started writing while he was at school. The Special Branch confiscated his first poetry manuscript in 1976 and he lost interest in writing for twelve years. After this period he started writing again, submitting work successfully to national and international journals, magazines and publications. His work has been published in more than eight anthologies.
Charle-Pierre Naudé
Charl-Pierre Naudé has had two volumes of Afrikaans poetry published: Die Nomadiese Oomblik (Tafelberg, 1995) and In diegeheim van die dag (2005, Protea). The first received the Ingrid Jonker Prize in 1997. The second was awarded the M-Net Prize for Afrikaans Poetry in 2005 and the recently instituted Protea Prize, in the same year.
In 1999 the then Dutch poet laureate, Gerrit Komrij, invited him along with four other Afrikaans poets to do a reading tour of The Netherlands and Belgium. Translations of his poems have since appeared in numerous Dutch and Belgian literary magazines. In 2000 Poetry International (Rotterdam) presented a translation project of his work.
Recently the Turkish poet/translator Ilyas Tunc published some of Naudé's poems in a Turkish translation.
Naudé's English poetry volume, Against the light, is due out early in 2007.
He grew up in East London. Being a useless dreamer, he is the Africa correspondent for Middle Earth and has served other mythical locations as well, based in Johannesburg. (Source: Southern Rain Poetry, used with permission.)
Others
- Robert BeroldRobert BeroldRobert Berold is a South African poet, editor and authorBerold was born in Johannesburg, but currently lives in the Eastern Cape. He matriculated from Hilton College at the age of 16, and went on to study Chemical Engineering and English Literature at the University of Witwatersrand, and later at...
- Vonani BilaVonani BilaVonani Bila is a South African author and poet. He is the founder and editor of the poetry journal Timbila and directs the Timbila Poetry Project in Limpopo Province. He works as the co-ordinator of the Limpopo NGO Coalition and edits the newspaper Community Gazette. He has written eight story...
- Herman Charles BosmanHerman Charles BosmanHerman Charles Bosman is the South African writer widely regarded as South Africa's greatest short story writer. He studied the works of Edgar Alan Poe and Mark Twain, and developed a style emphasizing the use of irony...
- The Botsotso Jesters
- Breyten BreytenbachBreyten BreytenbachBreyten Breytenbach is a South African writer and painter with French citizenship.-Biography:Breyten Breytenbach was born in Bonnievale, Western Cape, approximately 180 km from Cape Town and 100 km from the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas...
- Andre BrinkAndré BrinkAndré Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
- Jan F. E. CelliersJan F. E. CelliersJan Francois Elias Celliers, almost universally known as Jan F.E. Celliers, but occasionally as Jan F.E. Cilliers was an Afrikaans-language poet, essayist, dramatist and reviewer....
- Jeremy CroninJeremy CroninJeremy Cronin is a South African writer, author, and noted poet. A longtime activist in politics, Cronin is a member of the South African Communist Party is a member of the National Executive Committee member of the African National Congress...
- Sandile Dikeni
- Isobel DixonIsobel Dixon- Life :Born and raised in South Africa and living now in Cambridge, Isobel Dixon works in London as a literary agent, She has published several anthologies. In 2000 she won the South African SANLAM Award for Poetry. In 2004 she won the Olive Schreiner Prize and the Oxfam Poems for a Better Future...
- Finuala DowlingFinuala DowlingFinuala Dowling is a South African poet and writer.The seventh of eight children born to radio broadcasters Eve van der Byl and Paddy Dowling, Finuala Dowling obtained an MA in English from the University of Cape Town before lecturing in English at the University of South Africa for eight years...
- I. D. du PlessisI. D. du PlessisIzak David du Plessis, who published under the name I.D. du Plessis , is an Afrikaans-language writer. A successful writer in many genres, he is included among the Dertigers.1...
- Kingsley FairbridgeKingsley FairbridgeKingsley Ogilvie Fairbridge was the founder of a child emigration scheme to British colonies and the Fairbridge Schools...
(1885-1924), editor of a 1909 anthology of poetry titled Veld Verse and Other Lines - Alan Finlay
- Zandu Flinker
- Keith GottschalkKeith GottschalkKeith Gottschalk is a South African poet, known for his anti-apartheid poetry. He was born on the 14 March 1946 in Cape Town, where he still lives...
- Joan HambidgeJoan HambidgeJoan Helene Hambidge is an Afrikaans poet, literary theorist and academic . She is without a doubt the most prolific poet in Afrikaans, controversial as a public figure and critic and notorious for her out-of-the-closet style of writing...
- Peter HornPeter HornPeter Rudolf Gisela Horn, born 7 December 1934 in Teplice Czechoslovakia . He is a well-known South African poet, who made his mark especially with his anti-Apartheid poetry. At the end of World War II he had to flee from his home and settled with his parents first in Bavaria and later in...
- Liesl JobsonLiesl JobsonLiesl Jobson is a South African poet and musician.She received first prize in the Inglis House Poetry Contest 2003 and her poetry was performed at the "Art of Survival" exhibition of the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Women's Art Group. She was the Focus Poet for Timbila 2005 and her poetry...
- Sarah JohnsonSarah Johnson (poet)Sarah Johnson , is an award-winning South African poet.Sarah Johnson was born in Cape Town, and has lived there her entire life. She completed her MA in Creative Writing at the University of Cape Town, and published her first work, a collection of poetry, in 2004...
- Keorapetse KgositsileKeorapetse KgositsileKeorapetse William Kgositsile is a South African poet and political activist, and was an influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960s and 1970s. He lived in exile in the United States from 1962 until 1975, the peak of his literary career...
- Ronelda Kamfer (FR Wikipedia)
- Antjie KrogAntjie KrogAntjie Krog, born October 23, 1952 in Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa, is a prominent South African poet, academic and writer. In 2004 she joined the Arts faculty of the University of the Western Cape.- Early life :...
- C. J. Langenhoven (1873 - 1932) author of Die Stem van Suid-AfrikaDie Stem van Suid-AfrikaDie Stem van Suid-Afrika was the national anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994, and shared national anthem status with Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika until 1997, when a new hybrid anthem was adopted. It was also the anthem for South-West Africa under South African mandate until 1990.- Background :In...
; produced the first version of the Rubaiyat of Omar KhayyamRubaiyat of Omar KhayyamThe Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his translation of a selection of poems, originally written in Persian and of which there are about a thousand, attributed to Omar Khayyám , a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer...
in AfrikaansAfrikaansAfrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
. - Douglas LivingstoneDouglas Livingstone (poet)Douglas Livingstone was a South African poet.He was born in Kuala Lumpur, but his family moved to Natal after his father was taken prisoner during the Japanese invasion of Malaya. He attended Kearsney College and in 1964, he started work as a marine biologist in Durban...
- W. E. G. LouwW. E. G. LouwWilliam Ewart Gladstone van Wyk Louw, who published as W.E.G. Louw, was an Afrikaans-language poet. He is the younger brother of the poet N.P...
- Mzwake Mbuli
- Michelle McGraneMichelle McGraneMichelle McGrane is a poet born in Zimbabwe in 1974. Her poetry has been published in local literary journals and internationally in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States....
- Kobus MoolmanKobus MoolmanKobus Moolman is a South African poet.He has published four volumes of poetry, a collection of radio plays, and teaches creative writing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban...
- Croc E. Moses
- Seitlhamo MotsapiSeitlhamo MotsapiSeitlhamo Motsapi, a South African poet whose works have been published in many anthologies and international journals, was born in 1966 in Bela Bela, Limpopo....
- Malika Ndlovu
- Mxolisi Nyezwa
- Donald Parenzee
- Karen PressKaren PressKaren Press is a South African poet.She was born in Cape Town, and currently lives in Sea Point. She is a full-time writer and editor, having published eight collections of poetry, a film script, short stories, as well as educational material and textbooks in the fields of science, mathematics,...
- Lesego RampolokengLesego RampolokengLesego Rampolokeng is a South African writer, playwright and performance poet.- Early life and education :Lesego Rampolokeng was born in 1965 in Orlando West, Soweto, Johannesburg. He studied law at the University of the North in South Africa. .- Works :Lesego Rampolokeng prominence happened in...
- Margot Saffer
- Mongane Wally SeroteMongane Wally SeroteMongane Wally Serote is a South African poet and writer. He was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg and went to school in Alexandra, Lesotho and Soweto. He first became involved in Black Consciousness when he was finishing high school in Soweto...
- Tracey Splinter
- Wilma Stockenström
- Sjaka SeptembirSjaka SeptembirSjaka Septembir is a South African poet, writer, performer and director.He is the married to the vocalist Melanie Basson.His work is influenced by Punk, Dada, Abject Art and the Beats...
- Totius
- C. M. van den HeeverC. M. van den HeeverChristiaan Maurits van den Heever, almost universally known C.M. van den Heever , was an Afrikaans-language novelist, poet, essayist, and biographer.Counted among the Dertigers, van den Heever is noted for his most famous novels: Somer...
- N. P. van Wyk LouwN. P. van Wyk LouwNicolaas Petrus van Wyk Louw , almost universally known as N.P. van Wyk Louw, was an Afrikaans-language poet, playwright, and scholar. He is the older brother of Afrikaans-language poet W.E.G. Louw.One of the Dertigers, or "Writers of the Thirties," N.P...
- Stephen WatsonStephen WatsonStephen Watson was a South African poet.Most of his poetry is about the city of Cape Town, where he lived most of his life. He was a professor in English at the University of Cape Town...
- Zanele Mthethwa
See also
- DertigersDertigersThe Dertigers, or "writers of the thirities," are a group of Afrikaans-language South African poets who achieved new heights of eloquence in the young language's early decades of the 20th century....
- Hertzog PrizeHertzog PrizeThe Hertzog Prize or is an annual award given to Afrikaans-language writers by the South African Academy for the Sciences and Arts , formerly the South African Academy for Language, Literature and Arts...
- List of South African poets
- List of South African writers
- South African literature
- Tweede AsemTweede AsemThe Tweede Asem is a phase within Afrikaans-language poetry that came in the wake of the zenith of Afrikaans poetry that described the sufferings of the Anglo-Boer War. The term also encompasses the work of the so-called Twintigers .The giants of the war era, such as such as Totius, Jan F. E....
External links
- Badilisha Poetry X-Change and Badilisha Poetry Radio
- Poetry Africa - International Festival of Poetry
- Welcome to South African poetry - Poetry International Web
- sweetmagazine Flash fiction, essays, poetry, reviews and other unheard of desires!
- Woes.co.za - Poetry in Afrikaans
- Africa Centre
- Urban Voices