UKZN Press congratulates its author, Mxolisi Nyezwa, who was announced as the winner of the English Academy’s Thomas Pringle Award for poetry earlier this week.
Nyezwa is author of the collection New Country, published by the Press earlier this year. You can read a sample from New Country here.
More from the Daily Dispatch and The Herald (plus: watch a video of Nyezwa reading at the second link):
MXOLISI Nyezwa, of New Brighton in Port Elizabeth, won the 2009 Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry.
The announcement was made by Pringle Award chief adjudicator Dr Amitabh Mitra, of the East London Hospital Complex, at the Book SA Ban’quet last Saturday.
Nyezwa, author of New Country, was awarded R2 000.
“I am very grateful for the recognition of my work,” said Nyezwa, who also received an award from Rhodes University this year.
The interior of his tidy office in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth contrasts sharply with its appearance from the outside – a blue container among the shacks which dominate the area.
“From here I am fighting for the preservation of black poetry”, said Nyezwa, who has devoted his life to poetry, writing and teaching other people how to do so.
“Writing is a way to come to terms with contradictions people experience in every day life,” he said, pointing to the children playing with refuse bags outside.
Book details
Thanks to Amitabh Mitra, chair of the Thomas Pringle Award for poetry, for the helpful links
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November 20th, 2009 @10:52 #
People, watch that video. Mxolisi's words blending with the background noises and voices -- incredibly moving.
And did anyone else spot these soul-destroying words? Grrrrrrr.
'Until recently, Nyezwa was an editor of the multilingual literary magazine Kotaz. “Unfortunately, we were forced to shut down the publication after the National Lottery cut off its funding.”'