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  • Writer: OTW
    OTW
  • Jun 3
  • 2 min read

Stephen Symons was born in Cape Town in 1966. He has published poetry and short fiction in local and international journals, magazines and anthologies. Symons’s debut collection, Questions for the Sea (uHlanga, 2016), received an honourable mention for the 2017 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry and was shortlisted for the 2017 Ingrid Jonker Prize.

His unpublished collection Spioenkop was a semi-finalist for the Hudson Prize for Poetry (USA) in 2015. His second collection, Landscapes of Light and Loss (Dryad Press), was published in 2018, and his third collection, For Everything that is Pointless and Perfect (Karavan Press), in 2020. Small Souls: New & Collected Poems (Karavan Press) was published in 2022 and includes the winning poem of the 2021 The Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Competition, “Small souls”. The collection was also longlisted for

the 2024 National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences Awards and shortlisted for a 2024 South African Literary Award. AFTERBURN: War Stories, a collection of short stories related to war and the effects of human conflict, was published by Tattoo Press in 2023. His fifth collection, The Algebra of Insignificance, was published by Karavan Press in 2024, and longlisted for a 2025 National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences Award.

His new collection of short stories, of salt, dust & love, was published by Karavan Press in 2025, to be followed by his debut novel, later in the year.

Symons holds a PhD in History (University of Pretoria) and an MA in Creative Writing (University of Cape Town). He lives with his family in Oranjezicht, Cape Town, where he runs a graphic design studio.


Host: Stuart Payne

Meeting ID: 899 5506 5083

Passcode: 4ucS3b

  • Writer: OTW
    OTW
  • May 27
  • 1 min read

Manthipe Moila is a poet from Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a BA Hons. in English Literature. She has been published in various online and offline publications including New Contrast, Tupelo Quarterly, Agbowó, and A Long House with work forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal. A Best of the Net Nominee, she is also a Charles Simic Poetry Contest finalist (Hole in the Head Review) as well as a Prufer Poetry Prize finalist (Pleiades). She is currently based in Seoul, South Korea, surrounded by far too many houseplants.


Host: Zizipho Bam

Meeting ID: 899 5506 5083

Passcode: 4ucS3b

  • Writer: OTW
    OTW
  • May 13
  • 1 min read

Updated: May 14

Lethube Hellen Phaladi was born in Ga-Seroka in Sekhukhune. A poet and aspiring novelist, her poem ‘Shai, Isaac Shai’ was awarded first prize in the AVBOB Poetry Competition in 2022 in the English Category. She has been published in Stanzas and New Coin poetry magazines. Lethube has recorded six videos in both Sepedi and English, performing some of her poems on Facebook under the name Hellen L Idiory, and is currently working on a project called ‘Makete’, a short story about GBV and young women. 




Host: Julia Smuts Louw

Meeting ID: 899 5506 5083

Passcode: 4ucS3b

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