The seven poets selected for Praxis Magazine’s 2019-20 chapbook series.

Praxis magazine has selected seven poetry chapbooks for its 2019-20 publication series. The announcement, made on its website, included submissions from South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, and Australia. The selections were made by the Nigerian poet JK Anowe, Praxis’ Chapbook Series editor.

Launched in March 2016, authors published in the series—the first two of which were JK Anowe’s The Ikemefuna Tributaries and Romeo Oriogun’s Burnt Men—have gone on to impact the direction of contemporary Nigerian poetry. After Burnt Men, the first poetry chapbook focusing on the lives of gay Nigerians, Oriogun went on to win the Brunel International African Poetry Prize in 2017. And after The Ikemefuna Tributaries, JK Anowe went on to receive the Brittle Paper Award for Poetry in 2017 and spearhead a new sub-tradition of Self-centric, subversive poetry. Other chapbooks in the series include Stanley Princewill McDaniels’ Entrapment and Kanyinsola Olorunninsola’s In My Country, We’re All Crossdressers.

Here are the selected chapbooks and poets for 2019-20:

  • The Heart Is a Caged Animal by Nkateko Masinga (South Africa)
  • Bipolar Sunshine by Rotimi Robert (Nigeria)
  • Dear South Africa by Salimah Valiani (Canada / South Africa)
  • Earth Music by Neil Creighton (Australia)
  • The Book of the Missing by Heidi Grunebaum (South Africa)
  • Twilight People by Jarred Thompson (South Africa)
  • The Anatomy of Melancholy by Abigail George (South Africa)

Honourable Mentions:

  • This Is Why You Want to Be Heard by Joshua Omena (Nigeria)
  • Over and Out by Kamcilla Pillay (South Africa)
  • 12 Things You Failed at as a Man Today by Loic Ekinga (DR Congo / South Africa)

Congratulations to the listed poets.

Find out more about them on Praxis.