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South African poetry since 2014
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Kopano Maroga

Photo by Louis Kerckhof

akono Verlag acquires German rights for Kopano Maroga's Jesus Thesis and Other Critical Fabulations

May 19, 2022

uHlanga and akono Verlag are proud to announce the upcoming translation of Kopano Maroga’s Jesus Thesis and Other Critical Fabulations into German.

Maroga’s debut will be translated by Berlin-based writer, speaker and actor Ralph Tharayil, supported by the German Translator’s Fund, and will be published by akono, based in Leipzig.

Since its publication in the hard-lockdown days of November 2020, Jesus Thesis has attracted rave reviews. South Africa’s News24 praised Maroga’s debut as both “harrowing” and “tender”, adding that “Jesus Thesis invites readers to investigate their preconceptions by making empathy coexist alongside sorrow while combining the erotic with grief and alienation.”

Similarly, U.S magazine MAYDAY praised Maroga’s imagining of “Jesus’s “lost years” as full of queer erotic bliss and newly vibrant prayers”, with poems that “revolt against convention” and praise “the holy black queer self”.

Akono’s director Jona Elisa Krützfeld is delighted with the collaboration, which has come about in the midst of the pandemic and across four countries. “I am so happy and grateful that through this project we can expand Kopano Maroga's and uHlanga’s creative network – and especially that the German-speaking audience will be introduced to Maroga’s extraordinary and courageous work. We hope to be touring through Germany with readings and performances of Jesus Thesis in 2023.”

“This deal is wonderful news,” says uHlanga’s director Nick Mulgrew. “It always struck me as a cruel irony that a book by one of South Africa’s great young performance artists came out at a time when they could not perform in public, due to the Covid pandemic. This marks a resurrection, not just for an excellent book by an excellent writer, but for our collective hopes as literary workers. Thank you to akono Verlag for making this dream a reality.”

← Jacques Coetzee shortlisted for the 2022 Ingrid Jonker PrizeAnnouncing A Short Treatise on Mortality by Douglas Reid Skinner →

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.


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“But sickness, like the toilet, swallows sweepingly,
with little to no carre when I whinge that it’s just so unfair
as if this was the only time loss and living would meet;
as if worse things weren’t happening mere metres
down the s
“But sickness, like the toilet, swallows sweepingly, with little to no carre when I whinge that it’s just so unfair as if this was the only time loss and living would meet; as if worse things weren’t happening mere metres down the street.” – Genna Gardini ‘Matric Rage’ is Genna Gardini’s reckoning with youth, womanhood and mortality. With hyper-literate, humorous and often heartbreaking poems, Gardini signalled a wind change in South African poetry – where the personal is not just political, but polemical, too. In sickness and sex, misogyny and manners, this is a collection that, above all, showcased – when it was published in 2015 – and still showcases, a powerful writer coming unapologetically into her own. ⚘ Commended for the 2016 Ingrid Jonker Prize 📗 Make it yours at our link in bio. #uHlanga #poetry #poemspoemspoems #GennaGardini #poet #MatricRagePoems
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
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
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

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