Book Description

It All Begins is a collection of poems in English by over fifty South African poets (and some Zimbabweans), with several contemporary translations from /Xam, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Xitsonga and Zulu. All the poems were published in the poetry journal New Coin between 1989 and 1999. These poems were written over a period which included the brutal last years of apartheid, the release of Mandela, the country's first democratic elections, and the disturbing trends of the post-Mandela era. During this time the violence of previous decades continued, although in different forms, while the poor became poorer. For poets, it was a time of innovation. Music, street rhythms, and international influences were opening up the vocabulary. Groundbreaking poems were being written - many of them unnoticed when they were first published. Collected in this anthology, they demonstrate the aesthetic diversity and truth-telling power of South African poetry. Poets include Lionel Abrahams, Tatamkhulu Afrika, Lisa Combrinck, Michael Cope, Jeremy Cronin, Ingrid de Kok, Angifi Dladla, Antjie Krog, Mazisi Kunene, Don Maclennan, Joan Metelerkamp, Kobus Moolman, Khulile Nxumalo, Mxolisi Nyezwa, Andries Oliphant, Karen Press, Lesego Rampolokeng, Ari Sitas, Kelwyn Sole and Stephen Watson.