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.

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In 2014, uHlanga was born as a small poetry magazine from KwaZulu-Natal. There were too few places that celebrated South African poetry, especially that of writers just starting out. We began publishing books in 2015. Ten years later, we’ve published both debut writers and established voices. We’ve seen our books win national and international prizes, live on in syllabuses, and be pressed into the hands of new readers who whisper, “This one changed me.” We’ve spent a decade building a home for South African poetry that is bold, quiet, strange, familiar, brave and yes, beautiful. To everyone who has submitted, published, read, stocked, reviewed, taught, shared, or loved an uHlanga book — thank you. Here’s to ten years of poems. And to whatever comes next 📚 #uHlanga #TenYearsOfUhlanga #poetry #poemspoemspoems

“In summer, a time of plenty, I spread leaves like puzzle pieces. I want to create an Eden forever green. Recreate that moment between man and serpent. The breeze is disobedient, and the leaves fleet away like dust.” With exquisite clarity and poise, @nondwe’s debut collection guides us through dreamscapes of ritual, harvest and destitution – of tornado-stricken villages, mythical beings, and the eternally evanescent promise of love. Born in 1995, in Lubaleko, emaXesibeni, on the rural plains of the Eastern Cape, Mpuma was a a Mellon Mays Fellow during her undergraduate studies. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of the Western Cape, and is currently a lecturer at the same institution. ⚘ 2017 Patricia Schonstein Poetry in McGregor Award ⚘ Shortlisted for the 2023 NIHSS Award for Best Poetry 📗 Buy it now at @booklounge Author 📸 by the author #uHlanga #poetry #poemspoemspoems #NondweMpuma #poet #PeachCountryPoems

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