South African poetry since 2014

Athambile Masola wins NIHSS Award for Poetry, Kopano Maroga shortlisted

April 1, 2022

We’re proud to announce that Athambile Masola’s debut collection of poems in isiXhosa, Ilifa, has won the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences award for Best Fiction (Poetry). An amazing result for poetry in isiXhosa!

In addition, Kopano Maroga’s collection, Jesus Thesis and Other Critical Fabulations, was named on the shortlist.

The awards were announced at a ceremony on 31 March 2022 at the Javett-UP Arts Centre. Thank you to the judges and organisers, and congratulations to the other winners.

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. Our distributors are Protea Distribution in Cape Town and can be reached at +2721 001 7618.

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

On social media

“With new dawn’s energy I must strengthen my sinews For I have seen creatures stampede And build icebergs in Liberty’s path But volcanic tides will charge Making love to our own ploughs Which must furrow for life” -from “Soweto wishes” by Lindiwe Mabuza In the late 1970s, Lindiwe Mabuza, a.k.a. Sono Molefe, sent out a call for poems written by women in anc camps and offices throughout Africa and the world. The book that resulted, published and distributed in Europe in the early 1980s, was banned by the apartheid regime. Half-forgotten, it had never appeared in a South African edition. With a preface by Uhuru Phalafala and a new introduction by Makhosazana Xaba, and featuring a lost artwork by Dumile Feni, 📗 buy ‘MALIBONGWE: Poems from the Struggle by ANC Women’ now via our link in bio. #uHlanga #poetry #poemspoemspoems #SonoMolefe #poet #MalibongwePoems #LindiweMabuza

From crafting the cover for @megan_ross_’s ‘Milk Fever’ to, most recently, @mantipoetry’s ‘Rootbound’, @loveleorajoy is no stranger to uHlanga. We had the quickest of catch-ups with the talented cover artist, who gave us a little peek into her process, her studio, and wondrous life in Taipei ✄ 📚Swipe now! 📷: Leora Joy Jones at home (2025) | (photo by Sara Cusack) #uHlanga #BookCoverDesign #LeoraJoyJones #artist #RootboundPoems #MilkFeverPoems

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