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BOTSOTSO

an anthology of contemporary South African poetry
edited by Allan Kolski Horwitz & Ken Edwards

Reality Street is pleased to announce that an exciting anthology of contemporary multi-lingual, multi-cultural poetry from post-apartheid South Africa, long in the pipeline, is to be published on 1 September.

The book showcases a dozen poets from all cultural backgrounds who have come to prominence since 1994. The language is mainly English, but also in (and in translation from) Afrikaans and various native southern African languages.

The contributors are: Donald Parenzee, Makhosazana Xaba, Bongekile Mbanjwa, Vonani Bila, Kobus Moolman, Anet Kemp, Allan Kolski Horwitz, Ike Mboneni Muila, Lisemelo Tlale, Clinton du Plessis, Sumeera Dawood, Siphiwe ka Ngwenya.

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September 2009, 978-1-874400-42-4, 238pp , price £12.50

Wendy Mulford:
THE LAND BETWEEN

Wendy Mulford co-founded Reality Street, but this is her first collection to be published by the press – and her first collection since her Selected Poems, and suddenly, supposing (2002).

The Land Between shows Wendy Mulford at work in familiar, experimental and visually arresting mode in I CHINA AM, a response to her experience of South East Asia. The second section registers and attempts to make sense of sudden bereavement. The poems strive to grasp a hold in a world felt to be meaningless and almost unbearably harsh. The third section brings together
poems of differing kinds from the previous seven years, writing which is characterised too by the spirit of opening, learning and unmaking the world.

Peter Jaeger:
RAPID EYE MOVEMENT

Rapid Eye Movement follows a strict constraint: two bands of text run continuously throughout the book. The top band consists entirely of fragmented dream narratives recorded by historical and contemporary dreamers, while the lower band juxtaposes found material which includes the word “dream.” No two sentences taken from the same source follow each other. As an investigation of the sign “dream” across a number of social discourses, including literature, psychoanalysis, advertising, popular culture, song lyrics, philosophy and religious literature, Rapid Eye Movement presents a record of our culture dreaming.

Paul Griffiths: LET ME TELL YOU

So: now I come to speak. At last. I will tell you all I know.... These are the words of Ophelia at the beginning of this short novel: literally her words, in that her narrative is composed entirely of the vocabulary she is allotted in Hamlet. Within these meagre resources, she manages to express herself on topics including her love for her father (Polonius), her care for her younger brother (Laertes), her puzzlement in the face of the Prince himself, and her increasing sense that she must escape the fate awaiting her in the play....

David Bromige, 1933-2009

David Bromige, poet, writer, and friend of Reality Street, passed away on 3 June, surrounded by his wife, Cecelia, and his children Margaret & Chris.

Reality Street has already planned to co-publish David's Collected Poems with New Star Books, Vancouver. Editing will start shortly and we hope to make the book available by late next year.

His family has posted this website where friends & fans can share stories and learn more.

Readings by Reality Street poets...

Sunday 21 June - Jeff Hilson & Johan de Wit (with Ian McLachlan, music) at Café OTO, London (details here)

Tuesday 23 June - Jim Goar (with Giles Goodland & John Phillips) at the Blue Bus, London (email for more information)

Friday 10 July - Jim Goar at SoundEye, Cork, Ireland (email for more information)

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