Koleka Putuma

(Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 1993) 

Her first collection of poems, Amnesia Colectiva (Flores Raras, 2019; in English, Collective Amnesia), has been widely acclaimed internationally. Her work focuses on the decolonial struggle and the legacy of apartheid, bodies of black women, and queer identity. She has received several international prizes and awards: national champion in Poetry Slam in South Africa (2014), the PEN South Africa literary prize for students (2016), the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry (2018), the Imbewu Trust Scribe for Dramaturgy (2018), and she was also winner of Distell National Playwright Competition (2019). Notable among her plays are UHM (2014), Woza Sarafina (2016), Mbuzeni (2017), and the recent No Easter Sunday for Queers (2019).