Koleka Putuma

Koleka Putuma (born in Port Elizabeth, 22 March 1993) is a South African queer poet and theatre-maker.[1] She was nominated one of Okay Africa's most influential women in 2019.[2]

Koleka Putuma

Biography

Putuma was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1993.[3] She studied for a BA in Theatre and Performance at the University of Cape Town.[4] In 2016 she was awarded the PEN student writing prize for her poem 'Water'.[5] This poem is used in schools as a reminder that access to water is political, historical and racialized.[6]

Recurrent themes in Putuma's work are love, queerness, decolonial struggle and the legacy of apartheid,[7] as well as the intersection of patriarchy with those ideas and identities.[8] She works as a theatre producer for Design Indaba[9] and lives in Cape Town.[10]

Collective Amnesia

Putuma first came to global attention with the publication of her poetry collection Collective Amnesia, published by the South African poetry press uHlanga in 2017.[11] It was released with complementary photography by Cape Town-based photographer Andy Mkosi.[12] Within three months of its release the book sold 2000 copies, had 17 launches across South Africa and was on the syllabus at two universities.[13] After eight months it had sold over 5000 copies and Putuma had given performances of it across three continents.[14] It was translated to Spanish by Lawrence Schimel and Arrate Hidalgo and was published in 2019.[15] Its Danish translation is due to be published in 2020. As of 2018, Putuma is the best-selling poet in South African history.[16]

Collective Amnesia is notable for its repeated use of the word womxn, which is intended to include nonwhite and transgender women.[17]

Reception

Reviewing Collective Amnesia, Bongani Madondo of the Johannesburg Review of Books hailed Putuma as a "genius".[18] Collective Amnesia has quickly become a key text to understanding postcolonial South Africa, particularly with its focus on black women's bodies and queer identities. Haith argues that the collection is as much a 'cultural object' of contemporary South Africa, as it is a text.[19] Burger's critique places Putuma's use of the water as a literary device within the context of other South African poets, such as Ronelda S Kamfer.[20] The poem 'Water' has become a key text for literary explorations of hydrocolonialism.[21] Pieterse emphasises Putuma's writing about black womanhood, alongside the poet Sindiswa Busuku-Mathese.[22]

Whilst it was Putuma's poetry that brought her to a global stage, her work for stage has also been received to critical acclaim, dealing with contemporary political issues. Her play No Easter Sunday for Queers brought attention to the violent discrimination that lesbians in South Africa can face.[23] Mbuzeni deals with the orphan crisis and is narrated by five young women, who whilst they play joke about death.[24] Boehmer considers Putuma within a broader canon of postcolonial poetry and short-story writing, which can feel for the reader like a "call to action".[25]

Works

Plays
  • SCOOP: kitchen play for carers and babes (2013) - the first South African play designed for babies up to 12 months old, with Magnet Theatre[26]
  • Ekhaya - written for 2-7 year olds[26]
  • UHM (2014)
  • Woza Sarafina (2016)
  • Mbuzeni’ (2018)
  • No Easter Sunday for Queers (2019) - a drama about religion and queerness based on one of Putuma's poems.[27]

Poetry
  • Imbebwu Yesini (2016, editor)[28]
  • Collective Amnesia (2017)[3]

Awards
  • National Poetry Slame Championship (2014)[10]
  • PEN South Africa Student Writing Prize (2016)[29]
  • Mbokodo Rising Light Award (2017)[30]
  • SCrIBE Scriptwriting Competition (2018)[31]
  • Forbes Africa 30 under 30 Honouree(2018)[32]
  • Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry (2018)[33]
  • Distell National Playwright Competition (2019)[34]

References
  1. Munro, Brenna (2018). "Pleasure in Queer African Studies: Screenshots of the Present". College Literature. 45 (4): 659–666. doi:10.1353/lit.2018.0040. ISSN 1542-4286. S2CID 149911691.
  2. "OKAYAFRICA - 100 WOMEN". OKAYAFRICA's 100 WOMEN. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  3. Putuma, Koleka (13 April 2017). Collective amnesia (First ed.). Cape Town, South Africa. ISBN 978-0-620-73508-7. OCLC 986218819.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. "Koleka Putuma | Badilisha Poetry – Pan-African Poets". badilishapoetry.com. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  5. Mulgrew, Nick. "Water by Koleka Putuma | PEN South Africa". Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  6. "Koleka Putuma: Water - Classroom - Art & Education". www.artandeducation.net. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  7. "PARSE". parsejournal.com. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  8. "Koleka Putuma Talks Poetry Post-Patriarchy and Black Joy". consent.yahoo.com. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  9. "Design Indaba appoints Koleka Putuma as theatre producer". www.bizcommunity.com. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  10. "Poetry On The Road | May 22 – 27 2019 Koleka Putuma". www.poetry-on-the-road.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  11. "Koleka Putuma, Collective Amnesia". uHlanga. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  12. "Koleka Putuma's poems of celebration, grief and rage". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  13. Mkhabela, Sabelo (22 July 2017). "Koleka Putuma Is the Groundbreaking New Voice of South African Poetry". Medium. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  14. Gantsho, Vangile (1 December 2017). "Collective Amnesia, Koleka Putuma: reviews". New Coin Poetry. 53 (2): 77–80. ISSN 0028-4459.
  15. Murua, James (19 November 2018). "Koleka Putuma poetry collection "Collective Amnesia" now in Spanish". James Murua's Literature Blog. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  16. d'Abdon, Raphael (3 July 2018). "'You Say "Performance Poet", I Hear "Dance Nigger, Dance"': Problematizing the Notion of Performance Poetry in South Africa". English Studies in Africa. 61 (2): 49–62. doi:10.1080/00138398.2018.1540154. ISSN 0013-8398. S2CID 165926816.
  17. Mathunjwa, Zimkhitha (12 June 2017). "Koleka Putuma's Collective Amnesia Insists On Visibility And Healing". consent.yahoo.com. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  18. "Portrait of the poet as a young genius: Bongani Madondo reviews Koleka Putuma's Collective Amnesia". The Johannesburg Review of Books. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  19. Haith, Chelsea (2 August 2018). ""I question why I understand what she has said" – Language and decolonial justice in Koleka Putuma's debut poetry collection 'Collective Amnesia'". MoveableType. 10: 45. doi:10.14324/111.1755-4527.081. ISSN 1755-4527.
  20. Burger, Bibi (18 December 2019). "'Our respect for water is what you have termed fear': The Ocean in the Poetry of Ronelda S. Kamfer and Koleka Putuma". Journal of Southern African Studies. 46: 23–38. doi:10.1080/03057070.2020.1697552. hdl:2263/75002. ISSN 0305-7070. S2CID 213424553.
  21. Hofmeyr, Isabel (1 April 2019). "Provisional Notes on Hydrocolonialism". English Language Notes. 57 (1): 11–20. doi:10.1215/00138282-7309644. ISSN 0013-8282. S2CID 167050340.
  22. Pieterse, Annel (2 January 2018). "Knowledge and Unlearning in the Poetry of Koleka Putuma and Sindiswa Busuku-Mathese". Scrutiny2. 23 (1): 35–46. doi:10.1080/18125441.2018.1505937. hdl:10566/7075. ISSN 1812-5441. S2CID 149735055.
  23. "Koleka Putuma's "No Easter Sunday for Queers"". The Theatre Times. 6 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  24. Hofer, Alison (20 November 2019). "Contemporary plays by African women". South African Theatre Journal. 32 (2): 186–190. doi:10.1080/10137548.2019.1676571. ISSN 1013-7548. S2CID 213325447.
  25. Boehmer, Elleke (2018). "The Transformative Force of the Postcolonial Line: Protest Poetry and the Global Short Story". In Boehmer, Elleke (ed.). Postcolonial Poetics. pp. 173–192. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90341-5_8. ISBN 978-3-319-90341-5. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  26. "ABOUT". Koleka Putuma. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  27. "Koleka Putuma's Christian/ queer collision – The Mail & Guardian". Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  28. Putuma, Koleka; Perez, Javier (2016). "Imbewu Yesini". Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  29. Mulgrew, Nick. "Announcing the PEN South Africa Student Writing Prize Winner | PEN South Africa". Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  30. "Koleka Putuma's Collective Amnesia Wins the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry, Nick Makoha & Dami Ajayi Shortlisted". Brittle Paper. 2 June 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  31. BWW News Desk. "Koleka Putuma Announced As Winner Of 2018 SCrIBE Scriptwriting Competition". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  32. Africa, Forbes (4 June 2018). "Under 30 Creatives". Forbes Africa. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  33. "Prizes". African Poetry Book Fund. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  34. "OPEN CALL: 2020 Distell National Playwright Competition". Between 10 and 5. 13 August 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
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