We are delighted to share the news that Saaleha Idrees Bamjee is the winner of the 2020 Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry for her collection, Zikr.
Zikr was shortlisted along with All the Places by Musawenkosi Khanyile, Everything is a Deathly Flower by Maneo Mohale and Skeptical Erections by Mxolisi Dolla Sapeta.
The prize, one of South Africa’s most prestigious literary awards, is alternately awarded on an annual basis to a debut volume of poetry in Afrikaans or English, the two languages in which Ingrid Jonker herself wrote. This year’s award is for volumes published in English in 2018 and 2019.
According to the rules of the prize the judges have to be published poets, since it is a prize from poets to poets. This year the judges were Vonani Bila, Wendy Woodward and Sindiswa Busuku.
Nick Mulgrew, founder of uHlanga, says: ‘I’m very proud of Saaleha. Her collection came to me during uHlanga’s open submissions period in 2017, and I was immediately impressed by the texture of her poems, her photographer’s instinct for image, and her composure in writing about heart-wrenching experiences.
‘Zikr is a testament to poetic restraint, steady hands, and gentle eyes – three rare and powerful things in these times.’