Brian Walter

19.30, Mon 25 Nov: Brian Walter (born 1956) taught at Chapman High School in Gelvandale, Gqeberha, and at the University of Fort Hare, Alice. 

His books include Groundwork: An Introduction to Reading and Writing about Poetry (1997), which he wrote with Felicity Wood. His poetry collections are Tracks (1999) Lovedale, Baakens (2000) Lovedale, Otherwise and Other Poems (2014) Echoing Green Press, Poems Packed for Travel (2016) Poetree, Allegories of the Everyday (2019) Dryad Press. He has recently published Down the Baakens Underworld, (2024) Botsotso, a revised version of his Lovedale books. He has won the 1999 Thomas Pringle Award for poetry published in journals and the 2000 Ingrid Jonker Prize for Tracks, as well as National and Provincial awards.

Frank Meintjies

Monday 18 Nov, 19:30: Frank Meintjies will be speaking about his new book, A Place To Night In, released by Botsotso. In this poetry collection, he navigates, to quote one of the poems, "the land, the land, the land" and engages with issues of dislocation, diverse landscapes, nature, attachments to place, and community. 

Frank has worked in the field of social development over many decades. He participates in public readings and facilitates poetry workshops. Frank’s creative writing has been included in publications such as New Coin, Ons Klyntji and Absolute Africa. His poetry collections include Lockdown Poems, Unfettered Days, Connexions and My Rainbow. He has also written several children’s stories and short stories. Join on Zoom!

Harry Owen

Monday Nov 11, 19.30: Originally from UK, where he was the inaugural Poet Laureate for Cheshire, Harry Owen moved to South Africa in 2008.

Outspoken in his commitment to the natural world and a passionate advocate of poetry, he is the author of ten collections, most recently Thicket: shades from the Eastern Cape, and for….

He has edited three anthologies – I Write Who I Am: an anthology of Upstart poetry; For Rhino in a Shrinking World; and Coming Home: poems of the Grahamstown diaspora.

For many years Harry hosted Reddits Poetry in Grahamstown. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing and lives near Stellenbosch. Join on Zoom!