South Africa’s uHlanga Press to Release Poetry Collections by Two Brittle Paper-Published Writers

Founded in 2014 by South African-British writer Nick Mulgrew, uHlanga Press had a remarkable 2017 when poetry collections they published made waves: Francine Simon’s Thungachi, Douglas Reid Skinner’s Liminal, and, most notably, Koleka Putuma’s Collective Amnesia. uHlanga also published poetry anthologies collecting writing by local South African poets: Cutting Carrots the Wrong Way and Imbewu Yesini.

In 2017, we published a poem by Megan Ross, “Hauntings.” Ross’ short story, “Farang,” won the 2017 Brittle Paper Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Prize. She has further received the 2016 Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award as well as nominations for the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship and the Writivism Prize. Milk Fever will be her debut collection of poetry.

In 2014, we published a nonfiction piece by Saaleha Idrees Bamjee, “An Act of Faith.” Bamjee has an MA in Creative Writing and won the 2014 Writivism Short Story Prize. Her poetry has appeared in New Contrast, New Coin, Ons Klyntji, Aerodrome and the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry anthologies, as well as in the special South African issue of Illuminations. She was the Writivism Emerging African Writers resident at Stellenbosch University in October 2016.

Both writers are joined, on uHlanga Press’ publication schedule, by P.R. Anderson—author of Litany Bird and Foundling’s Island and lecturer in English at the University of Cape Town—whose manuscript has already been hailed by J.M. Coetzee as “destined to be a landmark in South African poetry.” And Siphokazi Jonas, runner-up for the 2016 Sol Plaatje Poetry Award and lecturer in isiXhosa poetry at the University of Cape Town.

There are no specific dates yet for the releases.