2021 Poets

ADRE MARSHALL

Adré Marshall has taught English at various universities. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals, including Carapace, New Contrast, English Academy Review and Stanzas, and the anthologies Absolute Africa!, Earth Africa!, and Coming Home: Poems of the Grahamstown Diaspora. She has appeared as guest poet at the McGregor Poetry Festival and other events and is the author of a book on Henry James.

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Andrew Renard

After spending 4 decades teaching teenagers, I have found it difficult to ever grow up! Teaching high school English has huge time demands, but I have managed to write some poetry and my poems have been anthologised in For Rhino in a Shrinking World, Coming Home and Tippermuir Books in Scotland. Mathematicians play Sudoku; I prefer to play with word patterns and rhythms and create sonnets and villanelles. The combination of precision and creativity is a challenge I relish

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Andrew Stuart-Watson

Andrew Stuart-Watson is the author of The Last Lark and The Analogue Pyramid. He has also recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing through Rhodes University and works as an English teacher at St Andrew’s College in Makhanda. He writes across a range of formats and when he is not writing or reading he is giving it all a lot of thought. He lives with his wife, son and cat in the rolling hills of the Eastern Cape. The cat runs the show.

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ANGELA HOUGH

Angela Hough is a qualified psychologist, working in private practice, consulting to NGO’s and teaching at South African College of Applied psychology (SACAP). She is a visual artist and mother. She values holding space for deep authentic dialogue, for people to engage with self, other and the context we are living in – using art, wilderness, embodiment and written word.

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ALISON WESTWOOD

Alison Westwood is a travel writer and photographer living in Cape Town. Although she has enjoyed reading and writing nonsense poems from an early age, it took Covid and some very kind friends to convince her that this might be something she could do to cheer other people up, too.

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ARCHIE SWANSON

Archie Swanson’s poetry has been widely anthologised both in South Africa and overseas. He has published three collections of poetry, the stretching of my sky, the shores of years and beyond a distant edge, which is being launched for the first time at McGregor 2021. He serves on the Board of the South African literary Journal which publishes New Contrast. Instagram: @poetarchie

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Ashley Dowds

Ashley Dowds is an actor and a poet who explores multi-disciplinary platforms for performance.

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BENJAMIN MMARI

Ben Mmari is a Tanzanian software developer who completed his studies at the University of Cape Town. Among many other things, he is an entrepreneur, philosopher, writer and a poet. He has been writing poetry from a very young age and is about to release his first poetry book: Philosophical Suicide.

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BRIAN WALTER

Brian Walter taught literature at the University of Fort Hare for 19 years and later worked in educational and community development projects. He currently mentors the Helenvale Poets based in a troubled area in Port Elizabeth. He also works with the informal Ecca group of poets. He holds a doctorate from Rhodes University and has published several collections of poetry including his most recent collection Allegories of the Everyday (Dryad Press, 2019). He was awarded the 1999 Thomas Pringle Award for poetry published in journals, as well as the 2000 Ingrid Jonker Prize for his collection Tracks.

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CARRI KUHN

Carri Kuhn has been writing poetry on and off for as long as she can remember, and more intentionally for a number of years. Over the last year and a half, writing has become a way to tether herself in the midst of loss and the uncertainty of our times. She has found herself drawn to writing poems that celebrate the simple beauty of beloved places.

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CHRIS AHRENDS

Chris Ahrends is a recently retired Anglican priest - entering stage three of life - what in the Hindu tradition is called the Stage of the Forest Dweller in which one has to find one’s own path and live in the glorious but scary uncertainty of shadow and light. He is married to Jacqui and as soon as they can (Covid notwithstanding) they are heading to South East Asia for two years of backpacking.

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CHRISTINE COATS

Christine Coates is a poet and writer from Cape Town. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. Her poems and stories have been published in various literary journals. She has three collection ns of poetry. Her debut poetry collection Homegrown, published in 2014, by Modjaji Books, received an honourable mention from the Glenna Luschei Prize. Her short stories have been highly commended.

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CHURCHIL NAUDÉ

Churchil Naudé recently published his first collection of poems and lyrics, Drol innie drinkwater (Naledi, 2020). He is best known as a rapper with an incredible flow and incisive lyrics which address social injustices. He has released two highly acclaimed albums (Kroeskop Vol Geraas, and Kroesifaaid) and is part of the Wasgoedlyn collective.

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CLARE MANICOM

Clare Manicom first found poetry as a teenager, and returned to this creative world later in adulthood, as a healing following burnout. She enjoys writing with a group of Cape Town based poets, which has previously presented work at Poetry in McGregor. Open spaces, natural environments and travel experiences provide material for Clare’s poetry.

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Conny Mater

Conny Mater is a Waldorf teacher who has worked with the youth of McGregor in a variety of projects and is passionate about giving them a platform to shine.

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CURTLEY JONES

Curtley Jones (aka Pikkie Jones) is an artist from Paarl. He loves hip hop, poetry and music in general. He believes that, with his art, he can touch and change the life of at least one kid in the ghetto. He writes about his reality, and his truth.”

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DANIE MARAIS

Danie Marais is a poet, freelance journalist, radio presenter and media officer for the Woordfees. For his first volume of poems, In die buitenste ruimte (2006), he received the Ingrid Jonker, Eugène Marais and UJ Debut prizes. His second volume, Al is die maan ’n misverstand, won the South African Literary Award (SALA) for Afrikaans poetry in 2010. A third volume of poetry, Solank verlange die sweep swaai, was published in 2014.

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DAWN GARISCH

Dawn Garisch is an author, medical doctor and founding member of the Life Righting Collective https://www.liferighting.com/, running writing courses. She has had seven novels, two collections of poetry, a non-fiction work and a memoir published. Her poem Blood Delta won the DALRO prize (2007) and Miracle won the EU Sol Plaatjie Poetry Award (2011). Her novel Breaking Milk has been short-listed for the CNA Sunday Times award (2021). Her second collection of poetry Disturbance came out in 2020.

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Diana Ferrus

Diana Ferrus is a writer, poet and storyteller. She retired from The University of the Western Cape after working there for 25 years. She has published in various journals and collections and has 3 publications to her name: Ons Komvandaan (2006), I’ve come to take you home (2010) and Die vrede kom later (2019). Diana is best known for the poem she wrote for the indigenous Khoi woman Sarah Baartman, I’ve come to take you home, which was instrumental in bringing the remains of Sarah home after 192 years. She currently offers writing workshops and performs on different occasions.

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DIMAKATSO SEDITE

Dimakatso Sedite was born in Bloemfontein. Her poems have appeared in Teesta Review, Brittle Paper, New Coin, Kalahari Review, BKO, Best New African Poets, Botsotso, Aerodrome, Poéfrika, Stanzas and elsewhere. She is the joint winner of the 2019 DALRO Prize and has been shortlisted for the 2020/2021 Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Award and the 2018 Poetry in McGregor Poetry Competition. She is the author of ‘Yellow Shade’ (Deep South Publishers, 2021). She holds an M.A. in Psychology from Wits University.

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Dorian Haarhof

Dorian Haarhof is a story-teller, poet, speaker and a writing mentor. A former Prof of English (Namibia) he now facilitates writing and story-telling wordshops. He has frequently led writing retreats at Temenos. His wordshops are based on his The Writer’s Voice. A Workbook for Writer’s in Africa. Dorian is an enthusiastic fan of the Poetry Festival.

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Eduard Burle

Eduard Burle lives in Cape Town. His poems have appeared in various local literary journals and anthologies.

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ELISA GALGUT

Elisa Galgut teaches in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from UCT. Her poetry has appeared in local literary journals and anthologies, and her first collection of poetry, The Attribute of Poetry, was published by Modjaji Press. The collection received judges’ commendation in the 2016 Ingrid Jonker Prize.

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Liz Trew

Elizabeth Trew was born in Cape Town and has taught in adult education colleges in London and Johannesburg. She is published in England and in South African poetry journals and anthologies; in Prodigal Daughters: stories of South African women in exile (UKZN), and ISISx (Botsotso). She gives writing workshops for People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) and volunteers at a shelter for girls in Cape Town.

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Galeo Saintz

Galeo is an independent biodiversity conservationist, an international trail development advisor and mountain wilderness guide. Founder and co-founder of conservation and trails related non-profit initiatives, he has conceptualised and led expeditions to raise awareness for human-wildlife conflict and linked produced media and documentaries. He is a nature poet and regularly gives public readings of his works.

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GEOFF HARESNAPE

Geoff Haresnape has taught at Rhodes and Wits Universities and was a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at UCT until his retirement. He has published creative writing and literary criticism throughout his career and has five collections of poetry to date, with his Selected Poems published in 1996. His novel Testimony (1992) received a Heinemann/Weekly Mail award. In 2017 he received a Thomas Pringle Award from the English Academy of Southern Africa for Ad hoc Reviews and Review articles.

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HARRY OWEN

Harry Owen is a familiar face at McGregor and in numerous other venues and festivals across the country, Harry Owen has published eight poetry collections and edited three anthologies. Having moved recently from Grahamstown, where he founded and for more than twelve years hosted the popular open-floor event called Reddits Poetry, he is ready to launch the e-book edition of his latest collection: Thicket: shades from the Eastern Cape, the print version of which will be launched in 2022.

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HEIDI VAN ROOYEN

Heidi van Rooyen is a research professor, qualified psychologist and certified life coach who balances the demands of leadership, with mindfulness, poetry and walking. She has been writing poetry for more than a decade and is particularly excited about the use of poetry in research. Her poems explore issues of gender, sexuality, race and identity. Her poems have been published in national and international publications

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Ilze Olckers

Ilze Olckers has been working as a justice and organisational development facilitator since our transition to democracy. She spent a decade as part of the movement known as the Womens Writing Workshops convened and led by Anne Shuster. Her poetry has been published in Writing the Self(2008) and Stanza(2020). Her translations are her hobby, a mother tongue healing practice, and in the case of Mary Oliver – a memorial for both the poet and the planet during this time of Climate Crisis and Collapse.

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JACQUES COETZEE

Jacques Coetzee matriculated from the Pioneer School for the Blind in 1991. He has released albums of original songs with his band, Red Earth & Rust. In 2018 he and Barbara Fairhead published a joint collection of love poems, entitled The Love Sheet. His first solo collection, An Illuminated Darkness, was published by uHlanga Press in 2020.

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JADRICK PEDRO-KOOPMAN

Jadrick Pedro-Koopman is 'n selfpubliserende digter van Ceres. Hy het reeds twee bundels gepubliseer. Sy werk was oor die jare ook in verskeie gesaamentlike bundels opgeneem. Hy skryf vreesloos oor die lewe en hoop dat sy skrywe vir ander genesing en hoop sal bring.

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JANA VAN NIEKERK

Jana van Niekerk writes poetry, short stories, children’s books and romance novellas – the latter two as Dr Zizz and Eden Walker respectively. She’s a clinical psychologist who practices as Dr Jana Lazarus. During lockdown she wrote her first novel, in press. She’d like to thank Hugh Hodge who was her first publisher and her mentor. She believes writing is an act of love.

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JANE DE SOUSA

Jane De Sousa is an organisational development consultant, trainer and yoga practitioner. Her poetry is a way of reflecting on and processing her life experience – from the mundane to the overwhelming.

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JENNIFER PAPE

Jennifer Pape lives in Cape Town and is the web designer for New Contrast literary magazine and Dryad Press Poetry Publishers. A bookworm and lover of words at heart, she has a background in geology and loves to collect plastic dinosaurs. She is the founder of the Stomme Jonge Poetry Klub in Stellenbosch.

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JOHN MAYTHAM

John Maytham loves poetry. He is exceptionally bad at writing it, but enjoys reading aloud the words of those who can, and do, write soaring verse.

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Julia Casciola

I am a mother living in Cape Town, inspired by the forgotten earth wisdom of the rosary and its mysteries. I don’t consider myself a poet, but when in nature words sometimes overflow in wonder and prayers write themselves.

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JULI JANA

Juli Jana is a poet and artist living In Cape Town where she has read and exhibited. She has a MA Creative Research degree from Rhoehampton University in London and was the co-presenter of More Poetry in London for over 10 years. She also held a number of workshops in London.

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JUSTIN FOX

Justin Fox Justin Fox is an author, travel journalist, photographer and former editor of Getaway magazine. His recent books include The Marginal Safari, Whoever Fears the Sea, The Impossible Five, The Cape Raider and Beat Routes. Justin was long-listed for the 2011 Alan Paton Award for non-fiction, the 2012 Olive Schreiner Prize for Literature and the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature, and he won the 2014 'Poetry in McGregor' Award.

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KATHRYN HOUNSELL

Kathryn Hounsell has worked as a freelance writer and her love of writing poetry began in more recent years. She grew up surrounded by two parents who loved poetry and are great romantics, with her father writing poetry for her mother. She enjoys writing amusing poetry and, in contrast, poetry from a very deep angle. Her poetry holds great contrasts of a deep nature and then quite the opposite of a very light humorous nature.

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Kath Higgens

Kath is an ardent poet, especially of the mystical and contemplative. She presently lives in McGregor. She would like to open discussion with other poets, which could become an on-going forum, especially for poetry as soul-work.

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KEITH GOTTSCHALK

Keith Gottschalk serves on Off-the-Wall Poetry, the Lansdowne Local Writers Group, New Contrast literary magazine, and the National Writers Association of South Africa, (NWASA). He has published over hundred and fifty poems. including his prison and protest poems in Emergency Poems (1992). His latest collection is Cosmonauts do it in Heaven, which has a short video on YouTube, and will be launched at MacGregor.

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Kris Marais

Kris Marais’ work has been included in several anthologies and journals. He has read at most of the McGregor Poetry Festivals to date and with regular collaborators Maura Talbot and Tauriq Jenkins presented ‘State Property: The Conscripts of Apartheid’ at the NAF in Grahamstown (now Makhanda) in 2017. He lives in Observatory, Cape Town and serves on the committee which manages the Off The Wall poetry reading and open mic in Observatory.

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KOBUS MOOLMAN

Kobus Moolman is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the UWC. He has published seven collections of poetry, two plays, and edited a collection of poetry, prose and art by South African writers living with disabilities. His most recent poetry collection is The Mountain Behind the House (Dryad Press, 2020). Moolman has won numerous local and international awards for his work, including, most recently, the 2015 Glenna Luschei Award for African Poetry for his collection, A Book of Rooms.

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LANA HUNNEYBALL

Lana grew up Johannesburg, did a BA in English and Psychology at UCT, married young, and now has two amazing grown-up daughters. For many years she ran her own business designing workplace training and communication materials and indulged in her obsessions: words, being creative, and trying to make a difference. She currently lives mostly in the UK where she works as a live-in carer, forging her path as a writer.

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LARA KIRSTEN

Lara Kirsten is a well-travelled pianist, piano teacher and performance poet. Her poetry has been published in New Contrast, Ons Klyntji, the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology, the Ecca poets’ yearly publications and on her blog. She has compiled and edited three poetry books: Poetry @Steampunk Coffee (2017) and Poetry next to the railway (2018 & 2019). In 2019 Lara received the Patricia Schonstein Acclaim award.

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LAVERNE SCHWIMMBACHER

Laverne Schwimmbacher has been writing poetry most of her life but especially since 2010 when, at the age of 52 I lost my husband to cancer. Writing poetry became a way to connect with grief, healing and with others and with memories. I began sharing through a late-night radio station and realised how many people enjoyed and appreciated my shared words which led me to writing and self-publishing 2 ‘life inspired’ poetry books with not only my own but others experiences. My passion continues.

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Lerato Sibanda

Lerato Sibanda is a Pretoria-born singer, academic and podcast presenter of Tswana descent. Her pen is cryptic, simplistic and passionate touching on themes of love, relationships, identity and restoration.

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LESLEY MILES

Lesley Miles is a psychotherapist, feminist, poet, memoirist, and travel and thought blogger, with an MA in English Literature on the novels of Alice Walker. She lives with one dog, one cat and some frogs. The impulses that drive her are usually to do with opening into further meanings, connectedness, and the body. She has recently discovered freediving, and the opening to the ocean feels like a profound coming into aliveness and awe.

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LISE DAY

Lise Day retired to Hout Bay after forty years of teaching English, most recently at Nelson Mandela University. She assists students with English at the Scalabrini Foundation. She is a member of the “Pleached Poetry” writing circle. Her short stories have been published in English National text books and in periodicals and books. She has had poems published in various journals and anthologies and is an enthusiastic participant in the McGregor poetry festivals.

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LYNTHIA JULIUS

Lynthia Julius was born in Springbok. She graduated with a BA Honours Degree in Philosophy from the University of the Free State. Uit die Kroes (Kwela,2020) is her debut anthology. She is currently a masters student in Creative Writing at the University of the Free State.

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LOIS HENDERSON

Lois Henderson is a freelance copy editor and book indexer who has lived on the banks of the Berg River in De Plaadt, Velddrif for the last two decades, along with a host of animals (both indoor and outdoor), principally of the feline and canine variety, but extending to the reptilian as well. With a few self-published books to her credit, she started writing haiku this year, and has so far published Poems of a West Coast Pariah: Modern Haiku 1.

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MALIKA NDLOVU

Malika Ndlovu‘s words have appeared on pages and stages across South Africa and the globe. Her contribution to South African arts, culture and poetry specifically, spans over 25 years. Having published five poetry collections and two plays, curated numerous poetry events, this trans-disciplinary artist holds “healing through creativity” as her mantra, thriving on collaboration. She features prominently in Our Words, Our Worlds: Writing on Black South African Women Poets, 2000 – 2018 edited by Makhosazana Xaba (UKZN Press, 2019). She is also a member of the Arts in Psychosocial Support national network of arts therapists and applied artists practitioners and TADA (Theatre And Dance Alliance).

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MARK CHIPPS

Mark Chipps is a filmmaker based in McGregor. He has been mentoring youth in the village to become filmmakers and photographers. The latest film they produced was “The ability to suffer”.

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Margaret Clough

Margaret Clough is a retired Soil Chemist and Physical Science teacher who started writing after retiring to Cape Town. She has written several short stories and children’s plays and has published four books of poetry, At Least the Duck Survived, The Last to leave, Portrait in Thread and A Pious Pachyderm. Her poems have been published in Carapace, New Contrast, Stanzas, Aerodrome, Type/cast, Absolute Africa and more than one Poetry in McGregor Anthology.

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MATT VEND

Matt Vend is a songwriter/poet/writer and photographer who tells his own story through the eyes of the people who inspire him. Although he is of European descent, he was born in a harbour and surf town on the East Coast of South Africa named Durban or Etekweni. Humanity, heartache, humour and sadness drive his narrative. He has released 7 albums of music and also has 1 book of poetry out through Micromega Publications.

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MCM ART & CULTURE SCHOOL

The students from the MCM Art & Culture school, led by Gaireyah Fredericks, are currently writing as a collaborative photo/poetry anthology as a group, due to be published in 2022. These students come from diverse backgrounds and attend the school to escape the harsh conditions in their area. The harsh realities they face include gangsterism and poverty as well as other challenges. • GAIREYAH FREDERICKS • RACHEL DAVIDS • DUANE MILLER • LAVERNE DAVEY

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MELISSA SUSSENS

Melissa Sussens is a queer veterinarian and poet. Her work has appeared in Stanzas, Horse Egg Literary and SFWP Quarterly, among others. She placed 2nd in the New Contrast National Poetry Prize and was selected as one of the winners in the ClemenGold Writing Competition in 2020 and as one of the shortlisted poets for the Time of the Writer: Poetry For Human Rights competition in 2021. Melissa lives in Cape Town with her partner and their two dogs. Find her on Instagram @melissasussens.

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MERLE DANHOUSE

Merle Danhouse is a member of Die Mengelmoes digters and has a great interest in families, how they connect with one another and the impact that societal problems have on these families. Her first poetry collection; Die Broodjie was published in 2019. Most of her work has been published in Anthologies and collaborative initiatives with other poets. She is currently investing in short story writing.

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MICHÈLE BETTY

Michèle Betty is the founder of Dryad Press (Pty) Ltd, an independent press dedicated to the promotion and publication of poetry in South Africa. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the UCT. Her poems have appeared in journals both in South Africa and abroad and have been anthologised in The Live Canon International Poetry Competition Anthology, The Sol Plaatjie European Union Anthology and most recently in The New Century of South African Poetry (Jonathan Ball, 2018). Her debut collection, Metaphysical Balm was published in 2017.

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MIKE ALFRED

Mike Alfred has been writing and publishing poetry since his midlife crisis 40 years ago.

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NAIDENE LOTTERING

Naidene Lottering was born in Elsies River, Cape Town , in 1991. She graduated from CPUT in 2013 with B.Ed degree and immediately started working as an educator. She writes poetry in Afrikaans and English, but mainly in Afrikaaps as it is an inextricable reflection of her Cape Flats roots. Writing has been her mainstay and refuge since her teenage years.

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NONDWE MPUMA

Nondwe Mpuma was born in Lubaleko in the Eastern Cape. She is a Lecturer, MA Creative Writing graduate and PhD candidate at the University of the Western Cape. She is a member of The Red Wheelbarrow poetry group in Cape Town and is one of the hosts for their weekly readings. Her poetry has been featured in journals in South Africa and the United States. She is working on her first collection of poetry.

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Pam Newham

Pamela Newham lives in Hout Bay. She has worked as a teacher and journalist. She has had two collections of poetry and four novels for young teenagers published. She gives writing workshops on Writing Children’s books and has lectured in journalism.

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Patricia Schonstein

Patricia Schonstein is a novelist, poet and curator of anthologies. She holds and MA in creative writing and has just completed a Memoir.

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Quentin Dibbley-Green

Quentin Dibbley-Green is a gardener and land artist who explores ambient sounds that are often developed into ‘sound journeys’. He met Ashley Dowds at an artists’ residency in the Tankwa Karoo.

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QUINNE BROWN HUFFMAN

Quinne is known as an actress in film, theatre and television and especially to South African audiences for her role in the SABC2 7delaan soap. Following her passion to support women in transition and parents preparing for parenthood, she has also practised as a birth-coach and doula for the past 10 years. Quinne has since self-published her first poetry anthology, Charaiveti-Keep Moving in November 2020 and is looking forward to connect with audiences through this new creative expression.

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Robin Winkel-Mellish

South African-born Robin Winckel-Mellish has lived in the Netherlands for many years and set up the Poetry Critique Group Amsterdam. She has published two poetry collections: ‘A Lioness at my Heels’ and ‘Messages from the Bees’ (Modjaji Books). Her poetry has been published in various South African and international journals.

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Sally Argent

Sally Argent is a former geographer and environmental planner. She is a published non-fiction writer, illustrator and poet. Her poems have appeared in various publications including Difficult to Explain, Carapace, Aerodrome, Stanzas, Creation’s Yes! She is part of Finuala Dowling’s poetry group and The Grail Writers.

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SANDRA HILL

Sandra Hill has a MA in Creative Writing UWC. She works as a free-lance writer, editor and writing facilitator. Her debut collection of short stories, UnSettled and other stories, won the SALA Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award in 2016. Her poetry has been published in New Contrast, Aerodrome, Harvest (UWC) and volumes 3 & 4 of The Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Anthology (Jacana). Her love of Mary Oliver’s poetry is deeply rooted in her love for solitude, the mountains and other wild open spaces.

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Sarah Rohde

Sarah Rohde is the daughter of poet Candy Rohde. She was born in Indonesia and spent her childhood in Haiti and India. She has lived in Cape Town since 2007 where she works as a public health researcher.

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SIMON VAN SCHALKWYK

Simon van Schalkwyk is a lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and is the academic editor for The Johannesburg Review of Books. He received The Philip Stein Prize for a single poem and the Mamphela Ramphele scholarship. He has BA Hons and PhD degrees in English literature and a MA in Modern and Contemporary Poetry. He has contributed occasional essays, interviews, critical reviews of novels and poetry to Aerodrome, The Conversation and The Johannesburg Review of Books. Transcontinental Delay (2021) is his debut poetry collection.

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SINDI BUSUKU

Sindiswa Busuku is an award-winning poet from Durban. She is a lecturer in the Department of English Literary Studies at the University of Cape Town. Her debut poetry collection, Loud and Yellow Laughter (Botsotso), won the 2018 Ingrid Jonker prize for poetry.

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STEPHANIE SAUNDERS

Stephanie Saunders writes mostly humorous poems. These have appeared in various publications. She has been writing poetry since her schooldays, but became immersed in it through a course with Finuala Dowling at UCT’s Summer School, her academic pursuits until then having been mainly in fine art, which she studied at Michaelis. She is also interested in hiking and other outdoor pursuits.

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Stephen Symons

Stephen Symons is an author of poetry and prose. His work has been published in journals, magazines and anthologies, locally and internationally. His debut collection of poetry, Questions for the Sea, received an honourable mention for the 2017 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry and was shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Prize. He is also the author of the poetry collections, Landscapes of Light and Loss and For Everything that is Perfect and Pointless.

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SUE WOODWARD

Sue Woodward was born and educated in Johannesburg but has lived in Cape Town for most of her life. She has been a teacher and a writer and editor of educational materials and now spends much of her time reading and writing, mainly poetry. This year her debut collection of poems ‘between the apple and the bite’ was published by Modjaji.

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THANDI SLIEPEN

Thandi Sliepen is a self taught painter, sculptor, poet and gardener living in Ladybrand in the Free state with her two children. She left South Africa in 1976 and eventually settled with her family in New Zealand, returning to South Africa in 1991. Recently Thandi has opened a small art gallery, hA dE dA gallery. Though involved in many art forms poetry was her first love. Her first collection the turtle dove told me won a SALA in 2014. Her second collection the stem of the moon will be released in 2021.

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THERESA CARSTENS

Theresa Carstens lives in Wellington, has been married for 26 years and has two sons. She is also a founding member of Die Mengelmoesdigters, mentored by Diana Ferrus. Her writing is based on her own life experiences and those of others. She has been published in several poetry collections:7DE REëNBOOG, n Versameling Gedigte (Die Mengelmoesdigters) and Hier`s my hart pa. She has read her poetry at different festivals.

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TOM DREYER

Tom Dreyer is a novelist and poet writing in Afrikaans and English. He has won the Eugène Marais Literary Prize and was shortlisted for the M-Net Prize, the UJ Prize and the KykNet/Rapport Prize. His latest novel, Long Wave (Afrikaans title: Dorado), appeared in 2016 and his next project will be on shelf soon.

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WILLEM FRANSMAN JR

Willem Fransman Jr is a retired scientist who now as a performance poet tries to amuse audiences. He has performed poetry and storytelling events at almost all the major art festivals in South Africa. He is also a published short story writer and award-winning radio drama scriptwriter.

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YVONNE SLIEP

Yvonne Sliep is a research fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Institute of Justice and Reconciliations. She uses poetry in various ways to collect, analyse or disseminate research results. Her poetry has formed part of several publications. She sees the world and relationships through a poetic lens where meaning is nurtured. Poems of the beloved find their way in Afrikaans before her brain gets in the way.

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ZAMA MADINANA

Zama Madinana is a Johannesburg-based performer, poet and writer. His work has appeared in Stanzas, Botsotso, Carapace, Poetry Potion, The Thinker, Sunday World, New Coin and other literary publications. His work focuses mainly on love, politics and social issues. In 2018, he was longlisted for Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Award. He holds a Bachelor of Accounting Sciences in Management Accounting & is now pursuing a degree in Creative Writing at the University of South Africa

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In Gratitude From Poetry In McGregor