List of South African poets

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The poetry of South Africa covers a broad range of themes, forms, and styles, reflective of the diversity of its cultures and complex historical influences.

As with the rest of the African continent, the two primary traditions that have shaped the South African poetry landscape are the written / published word and the ancient oral traditions. These works are written and recited in English, Afrikaans and the range of indigenous South African languages, the mostly predominant of these being Zulu and Xhosa. Traditional indigenous literature includes oral poetry forms such as “izibongo” - praise poetry with the traditional role of the ‘imbongi’ or praise poet as social commentator and jester of the times, to a significant extent being taken up in the form of spoken word , by younger generations of poets living in an urban setting.

‘From the ritual songs and stories of the country's earliest inhabitants to the rousing calls to action by anti-apartheid artists, oral poetry has always been an integral part of South Africa's literary and cultural heritage’. Voicing the Text: South African Oral Poetry and Performance - Duncan Brown, 1999

National annual poetry festivals such as Poetry Africa , Urban Voices, WordFest (as part of the annual National Arts Festival), Badilisha Poetry X-Change, and now the online podcasting platform Badilisha Poetry Radio, as well as rapidly increasing access to the internet over the last two decades, has accelerated South African poets’ exposure to historical archives and current global trends in poetry. These have encouraged the growth, visibility and appreciation of this literary form within the country.

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List of South African poets

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