In African countries, small and independent publishers are coming under increasing strain. The impact of changes in the global marketplace, including the increasing importance of the digital space and ongoing economic struggles intensified by the Covid-19 lockdown, have combined with… Read More ›
Search results for ‘Tom Penfold’
In other Words… AiW news and November’s wrap
As we move through the changed circumstances, timelines and spaces of now, we catch up on our monthly round-up of ‘other words’ we haven’t had out already on the site – news on AiW’s radar, collated from across our social… Read More ›
The Fragile Beauty of Mangaliso Buzani’s “A Naked Bone”
In 2019, Mangaliso Buzani’s A Naked Bone won the African Poetry Book Fund’s Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry. In a subsequent interview published in Africa in Dialogue, Buzani recalls how, upon hearing the news, he quicky phoned fellow poet and New Brighton resident, Mxolisi Nyezwa. This phone call is one that is particularly apt because when you read A Naked Bone there is, hidden within Buzani’s remarkable and dreamlike poetry, a touch of Nyezwa. There is a fragile sort of beauty that poignantly captures a deeply personal suffering.
Celebrating ‘The Decade Project’ with Brittle Paper: 10 AiW African Literary Cultural Faves
Literary blog and archiving platform Brittle Paper turns 10 this year! Happy birthday BP! This month we take up their invitation to join their celebrations in their #DecadeProject with a post marking the last ten years as a significant decade… Read More ›
Review: Physicality and Distortion in Dolla Sapeta’s ‘Skeptical Erections’
Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta is perhaps best known for his work as an artist and sculptor. In 2019, he made his literary debut with his first collection of poems, Skeptical Erections, published by Deep South. Reading Skeptical Erections makes it quickly… Read More ›
Q&A:Words on the Times – Terry Kurgan
Kurgan has achieved something rare in this book: a truly dynamic fusion of text and image. She brings a deep knowledge of craft to everyday images, whether she’s teasing fugitive meanings from a creased pre-war snapshot or taking the pulse… Read More ›
Q&A: Deep South’s Robert Berold on Poetry and Publishing in South Africa
Robert Berold is a South African poet and editor, author of four books of poetry and four books of non-fiction. Between 1989 and 1999 he edited the poetry journal New Coin and went on to edit a selection of New… Read More ›
In other Words… AiW news and quarterly wrap (Jan-March 2020)
A round-up of other words – our top posts & quarterly news – on AiW’s radar, collated from across our platforms, January through March (with an added wish for safety and health for you and yours as we head on… Read More ›
Words on… Februarys past and present: digital spaces and archive connections
A dip in and through our site archives and some Februarys past and present… Because Heroes and Scholars are everywhere (see here for the AiW Q&A of that title, between AiW Guest Aurelie Journo and Abu Amirah, founder of writers’… Read More ›
Review: Moving Futures, Moving Bodies – “Acts of Transgression”
AiW note: We are particularly grateful for permission from Wits University Press to publish on Africa in Words, alongside this review of the volume, two excerpts from Acts of Transgression: Contemporary Live Art in South Africa (2019), edited by Jay… Read More ›
Excerpt: Sarah Nuttall, ‘Upsurge’, Acts of Transgression (2019).
(To reconnect with our Africa in Words review of the text, by Tom Penfold, please click here.) ‘Upsurge’ is one of two previews, excerpted, with the kind permission of the publisher, from Acts of Transgression: Contemporary Live Art in South… Read More ›
Excerpt: Mwenya Kabwe, ‘Astronautus Afrikanus: Performing African Futurism’ – Acts of Transgression (2019)
(To reconnect with our Africa in Words review of the text, by Tom Penfold, please click here.) ‘Astronautus Afrikanus: Performing African Futurism’ is one of two previews, excerpted, with the kind permission of the publisher, from Acts of Transgression: Contemporary… Read More ›
Festive Favourites: Season’s Reading from Africa in Words
It is that time of year again when the holiday spirit begins to grow. For some, it is a time to spend with family and get away from it all. For others, the holidays might just be a good chance… Read More ›
Read Up and Wind Down: Season’s Reading from Africa in Words
As 2018 winds down, Africa in Words is taking a small break over the holiday period to gear up for a new year full of exciting plans. As a new Associate Reviews Editor myself, I can vouch for the efforts… Read More ›
Review: Angifi Dladla’s Lament for Kofifi Macu
“It won’t work, it won’t work. This resurrection thing” After fifteen years since the release of his debut collection The Girl Who Then Feared to Sleep & Other Poems, Angifi Dladla is back. The forty poems that comprise Lament for… Read More ›
Words From Our Team…
…our Authors and Guests Follow this link for Words from our Guest Authors, who join and broaden AiW’s conversations. For more info, bios and links about each of our AiW Guests, scroll to the foot of their individual posts. If… Read More ›
Review: poetry from Modjaji Books – ‘Now the World Takes These Breaths’ by Joan Metelerkamp and ‘The Attribute of Poetry’ by Elisa Galgut
AiW Guest: Tom Penfold. Now the World Takes These Breaths by Joan Metelerkamp Joan Metelerkamp is one of the most consistent and articulate poets of South Africa’s post-apartheid literary landscape. Alongside other contributors to the New Coin journal that she… Read More ›
Review: Mxolisi Nyezwa’s ‘Malikhanye’ – Are there words?
AiW Guest: Tom Penfold. ‘Malikhanye’: Are there words? i cannot understand why man exists and why things happen Mxolisi Nyezwa is a South African poet and Malikhanye (2011),[1] published by Deep South Press, is his third collection of poetry… No…. Read More ›
Words From…
…our Editorial Team Editors: Rebecca Jones – Rebecca Jones is a Lecturer in the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham. Rebecca is currently writing a book on Yoruba- and English-language travel writing in Nigeria from the… Read More ›
Review: Imraan Coovadia’s ‘The Institute for Taxi Poetry’
AiW Guest Tom Penfold. Imraan Coovadia’s The Institute of Taxi Poetry (Umuzi, 2012) is an appeal to the imagination – the reader’s and South Africa’s. Set through a week in the life of Adam Ravens as he tries to make sense of… Read More ›
