Conversation with South African poets
I recently came across this article by Nick Mulgrew in which he reports on Uhlanga Press's first open submissions period in 2017. He has some interesting things to say, one of which is not so surprising to me: he bemoans the failure of local poets to read other local poets. Of course, he is right to strongly recommend that local writers buy and read one another's books. How can one write in one's own context if one only reads work written elsewhere in the world? If english South African poetry is to be distinct from all the rest of the writing out there, then its writers need to know each other's work.
But I would argue that the fault is a systemic one, and not so easy for the individual writer to rectify. We grow up with the books available to us at home and in libraries and school curriculum. By the time we are old enough to make a considered choice about our reading matter, our thinking has already been influenced. And even then, many of us simply don't have the cash to buy new books. So we are left reading what we can find second hand or for free, and this is just not often contemporary South African writing.
I am no exception. I love the library, I download free books and books that are out of copyright, I buy books as gifts for others. My local library has one shelf of poetry, and most of these are anthologies produced elsewhere in the world.
Nonetheless, I have decided to take up the challenge. I want to get in touch with what people are writing around the corner from me, and I want to do so with the means available to me while at home with a baby during a pandemic. I plan to hunt through any and every bit of local poetry I can get my hands on, and then I plan to join the conversation.
In the series of posts linked below (updated regularly), I will be posting my responses. You are invited to join the conversation by adding your own response in the comments sections.
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