Modjaji Books is turning 19 this year, and they are marking the milestone with poetry. The Woordeloos anthology, funded and initiated by Liliana Risi, was conceived as both a celebration of the press’s nearly two decades of work and a gathering of the literary energies alive across the region right now. Over 240 poets submitted from all over southern Africa, and the editors were moved by the inventive use of language, the humour, the interplay between languages, the truth-telling, the range of subjects, and the attention to specific detail that emerged from the poems. After rounds of reading, long-listing, and shortlisting, the final 19 have been named.

Risi, reflecting on the process, said: “My heart is overflowing that so many people chose and decided to make the effort, to find the time, to find the energy, to find the courage, to send us their poems. I have been so moved by your commitment.” The anthology is already shaped by that spirit of mutual care between writer and reader.

The 19 poets selected are:

  1. Danille Arendse (Bester) – Kom haal os, Os wo huistoe ko (Come Fetch us, We Want to Come Home)
  2. Diane Awerbuck – Supergiant
  3. Rutendo Chichaya – Gathered Seams
  4. Yvonne Fontyn – Broccoli
  5. Vangile Gantsho – Makhulu
  6. Abigail George – Why does a woman write
  7. Nosipho Gumede – Dear Gold, rush me to Johannesburg
  8. Carri Kuhn – The Skull
  9. Tsholofelo Lebese – Mothusi Street
  10. Olga Leonard – slaapliedjie vir ’n stilgeboorte
  11. Skye Ayla Mallac – The bones of it all
  12. Sethunya Hlobisa Matsie – Little Girl
  13. Marthé McLoud – Grief
  14. Asante Mtenje – Petition
  15. Tshifhiwa Hellen Munyai – A Corpse On My shoulder
  16. Emma Paulet – What I miss about Queenswood
  17. Neema Rabannye – OUR MOTHERS BEAT SELLOANE’S HUSBAND WITH A WOODEN SPOON AFTER HE TOOK HALF OF HER FACE OFF AND WE SANG
  18. Patricia Schonstein – To My Husband of Fifty-one Years
  19. Luto Skweyiya – uQongqothwane

The poem titles alone — from Makhulu to OUR MOTHERS BEAT SELLOANE’S HUSBAND WITH A WOODEN SPOON AFTER HE TOOK HALF OF HER FACE OFF AND WE SANG to slaapliedjie vir ‘n stilgeboorte — tell you this will be a collection of range, rawness, and linguistic plurality.

This is Modjaji doing what it has always done best: creating a container capacious enough to hold the many ways southern African women make meaning through language. Congratulations to all 19 selected poets. Full details about the anthology and the selection process are available at modjajibooks.co.za.