“I, for one, have always been interested in telling African stories. And from there, I became obsessed with Africans owning African stories” – @Vangi22 from @impephop said in a recent interview with PEN SA.
Read more here: http://bit.ly/2WAedph
vangile gantsho’s riot
red cotton is a poetic canvas made out of a collection of experiences that define the lives of black women trying to survive what activist Wanelisa Xaba calls “post apartheid – apartheid” or the angst of being free only in words. Very little has changed in South Africa and it is black women who often bear the brunt.
A girl, a large plate,
Seven children each with spoons
Only she is left hungry.
Source: TheJournalist.org
http://www.thejournalist.org.za/books/vangile-gantshos-riot#.XKFCUGbUxxc.twitter
Wombwell Rainbow compliments red cotton
Wombwell Rainbow says, “I admire so many poets, so it’s difficult to narrow that down. I’m going to take this space to recommend someone your readers might not have heard of. Her name is Vangile Gantsho, I met her in South Africa a few years ago, she is a phenomenal poet and has also co-founded a new pan-African feminist press called impepho press.” Order red cotton at AfricanBooksCollective.com or getinfo@impephopress.co.za
Books Live ~ Interviewing Vangile Gantsho
Carla Lever: It’s hard to break into South Africa’s very small publishing industry. You’ve proven that going it alone can be a great solution, by self-publishing your own very successful book of poetry. Can you tell us a little about what that involves?
Vangile Gantsho: My debut poetry collection, Undressing in front of the window (2015), taught me that no one will willingly open doors for you. You have to knock, or break the doors down yourself. And in order to do that, you must always be willing to learn. Self-publishing requires more than just raising funds. You still need a good team. And it’s not an easy process. It’s difficult, expensive work…but fortunately also deeply rewarding!
Judy Seidman did a sketch of vangile gantsho
“I stayed under water for sixty days before I met my mother
in a burning hut on the mountain
She could enter only to fetch me and put me down
Was allowed only to feed me
then return me to the fire”
(red cotton by vangile gantsho)
Sketch of vangile gantsho by Judy Seidman done at a
Feminist Women’s Art Network reading and writing event
organised by the @1in9_Campaign, a South African collective of orgs and individuals motivated by feminist principles & the desire to live in a society where womxn are agents of their own lives.
Babalwa Magqwanti of the Queenstown Express writes ‘Komani Women make Top 200 Young South Africans list’
Celebrated in local and national news! vangile gantsho, co-founder of impepho press, poet, and author.
Lethabo Mailula’s review ‘Forging self-love from trauma’ of ‘red cotton’ and ‘feeling & ugly’
The Mail & Guardian’s Lethabo Mailula, an LLM candidate and gender activist working at University of Pretoria, wrote a review on danai mupotsa’s feeling & ugly and vangile gantsho’s red cotton ~ African, feminist, poetry collections.
Mail & Guardian #SliceOfLife review of ‘red cotton’ and ‘feeling & ugly’
The Mail & Guardian’s Zaza Hlalethwa spoke to
Lethabo Mailula, an LLM candidate and gender activist working at University of Pretoria. Photo by Oupa Nkosi
Mail & Guardian’s review by Zaza Hlalethwa of ‘red cotton’ and ‘feeling & ugly’
The Mail & Guardian’s Zaza Hlalethwa reviewed
our first two published books,
feeling & ugly by danai mupotsa and
red cotton by vangile gantsho.
Photo by Boipelo Khunou.
Click here to read the review on the Mail & Guardian website.
