South African poetry since 2014

Book launches at Poetry in McGregor 2022

October 14, 2022

We’re having two book launches this year at Poetry in McGregor, deep in the (not-so-warm) bosom of the Western Cape. Come see Douglas Reid Skinner and Nondwe Mpuma read on the morning of Saturday 19 November. More information here.

About uHlanga

uHlanga is a small South African poetry press run by Nick Mulgrew.

Our books are available to order from all retail bookstores in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. From 1 October 2025, all of our books are represented to the trade by Blue Weaver and distributed by Booksite.

Outside of South Africa, many of our books are available print-on-demand through the African Books Collective.

On social media

uHlanga is proud to present ‘Kruiper-Crawler’, the debut poetry collection from Shane van der Hoven 📗🪲 “In this, their debut, @shanevdh explores both the sprawling Lowveld and the decaying South African city through the metaphor of the Biblical crawler – the grotesque, misunderstood and unfairly maligned creatures of the earth and scrubland. Besmet met ironie en literêre verwysings, mag Kruiper-Crawler se eksoskelet taai en stekelrig lyk. Maar, breek deur tot die sagte binneste en bevind jouself in ’n wêreld van selftwyfel en taalkundige onsekerheid, ’n diep liefde vir die onbekende, en, in die kern, ontdek ’n jong digter watter soort wese hulle moontlik is.” 🕷️ Available in December, you can read more about ‘Kruiper-Crawler’ now at our link in bio. 📷: Amandla Singqoto / Edition Events / LEGACY #uHlanga #KruiperCrawlerPoems #ShanevanderHoven #PoetryCollection #poetry #poet #poems #NewBook

From today, 1 October, uHlanga now distributes our books through Blue Weaver and Booksite. Trade customers in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana can now order through Blue Weaver, and soon all of our books in print will be available to purchase from mzansibooks.co.za 📚 #uHlanga

“I’ve always felt that my work resonated beyond an Afrikaans audience. Despite the contextual relevance of Afrikaans to my poetry, I’ve long harboured the desire to make my work accessible to more South Africans. These English translations make that larger conversation possible beyond the limitations of Afrikaans.” 🥀 Read our interview with ‘a corpse is also a garden’ author at our 🔗 in bio #uHlanga #uHlangaInterview #poetry #poemspoemspoems #PieterMadibusengOdendaal #poet #CorpsePoems