Launch of poetry anthology

Masindi Netshakhuma will perform a reading at the launch of Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry.

Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry will be launched on Sunday March 21.

The anthology, which gathers 30 poems from poets under the age of 30, was produced through the continued poetry partnership between the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and impepho press.

“We invited young poets from South Africa to submit their original, unpublished poems, inspired by the theme ‘Archiving of Imaginary Stories’,” says Selen Daver, Cultural attaché of the French Embassy.

“We received almost 400 entries and were delighted to announce the thirty poems at last year’s Poetry Africa festival organised by the Centre for Creative Arts.”

The selection panel included Tshefhiwa Mukwevho, Nakanjani Sibiya, Toni Giselle Stuart and Vangile Gantsho.

The anthology features work in five South African languages – English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa and Venda – and each poem is presented in English as well as its original language.

The launch of Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry will include live readings from Mazwi Shazi and Masindi Netshakhuma. There will be a discussion between literary vlogger Linda Kaoma, translator Sabelo Soko and publisher Vangile Gantsho about the process of putting the anthology together, and a word from Toni Giselle Stuart.

The launch of Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry will be streamed live on Sunday March 21, from 3pm to 4.30pm on the Time of the Writer Facebook page, Twitter (@timeofthewriter) or YouTube. The event will also be streamed on the IFAS and Impepho Press Facebook pages.

Copies of Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry can be bought at Exclusive Books or directly from Impepho Press for R180.