During secondary school, most of us are exposed to romantic nature poets under the spell of picturesque surroundings. We will probably also be required to read a few explicitly political poems that protest and speak truth to power. There are ways to do both these things at the same time: describe be...

We South Africans have good reason to be proud of our cultural diversity and traditions, together with our hard-won freedom to celebrate them. Sometimes, however, it takes a poet to remind us what it feels like to experience and embody those traditions with our senses as well as our minds.   As...

The 2027 AVBOB Poetry Competition opens its doors for entries in all of South Africa’s 11 official written languages on 1 August 2026. As before, generous cash prizes are available to winning entries.   Once again, South Africans from all walks of life are invited to find words of love an...