ISEA Publications

The Director, Ms Beverley Cummings-Penlington, Dr Carol Leff, Ms Nomangesi Kelemi.

Income from the electronic distribution and marketing of our periodicals continues to rise as their international presence registers more widely.

EnglishinAfrica 49.1 (April 2022). Ed. Sophy Kohler. pp. 99

EnglishinAfrica 49.2 (August 2022). Ed. Sophy Kohler. pp. 112

EnglishinAfrica 49.3 (November 2022). Ed. Sophy Kohler. pp. 137

New Coin 57.2 (December 2021). Ed. Kyle Allan. pp. 138

New Coin 58.1 (June 2022). Ed. Kyle Allan. pp. 127

New Coin 58.2 (December 2022)). Ed. Kyle Allan. (forthcoming)

ShakespeareinSouthernAfrica 35 (2022). Ed. Christopher Thurman. pp. 72

English in Africa

Report by Sophy Kohler, Editor. Throughout 2022, English in Africa focused on expanding its reach northwards from the journal’s base in South Africa into the rest of the African continent, both thematically and in terms of authorship. This resulted in Aghogho Akpome’s article on the depiction of African refugees in the play The Jungle as well as an article by Christine Grogan (University of Delaware) and Sarah Namulondo (Makerere University) on the novel Efuru by Nigerian author Flora Nwapa in our April 2022 issue (49.1). We continued this trajectory in the second issue of the year (49.2, August 2022), with Kimméra Pillay’s study of Ghanaian writer Amma Darko’s Not without Flowers and Joseph Kwanya’s focus on Ugandan Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu. At the same time, the year was firmly grounded in its more traditional historical focus, with contributions, for example, on Thomas Pringle and Sol Plaatje. The final issue of the year took us back to South Africa, with a global South perspective on reading the classics, including South Africacentred reflections on Horace, Antigone, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson and JRR Tolkien. We look forward to maintaining this dual focus in 2023 – being both forward-looking and historically centred, South African specialised but continentally poised – which will see the publication of two further special issues, reflecting an ongoing belief in English in Africa as a worthy platform for high-level scholarly publications.

English in Africa 49.1 ran articles by Aghogho Akpome on “Depicting the Black African Refugee in The Jungle by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson”; Karen Jennings and Neuda Alves do Lago on “‘My Version of it Matters Too’: Confession and Identity in Makhosazana Xaba's Short Story ‘Behind The Suit’”; Andrew Matthews on “The ‘Single S’: Desire for Subjectivity and Story in Zoe Wicomb's ‘When the Train Comes’”; Christine Grogan and Sarah Namulondo on “Opportunity Cost in Flora Nwapa's Efuru: Refinancing Efuru's Inherited Wealth through Uhamiri”. Concluding this issue, Sol T Plaatje: A Ufa in Letters, edited by Brian Willan and Sabata-mpho Mokae was reviewed by Tina Steiner.

English in Africa 49.2 carried articles by Andrew van der Vlies on “Constellated in a Flash: On the Dialectics of Seeing (beyond Stasis) in Zoë Wicomb’s Work; Joseph Kwanya on “‘There is Another Woman in the Story’: Counterfactuality and Re-mythification in Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu”; John Henning on “Bombs, Ghosts, Devils: Mhudi and the New Historicism”; Kimméra Pillay on “‘Driven by and Blinded by Our Desperation’: Religious Exploitation of Vulnerable Women in Amma Darko’s Not without Flowers”; and a review essay by Tony Voss on “Thomas Pringle: “the beginning of a future that has not arrived”.

EnglishinAfrica 49.3 was a special issue, edited by Cheryl-Ann Michael, entitled “Reading the Classics in South Africa”. The issue carried articles by Desiree Lewis on “Reading Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson: A Personal Essay”, P. R. Anderson on “‘What Exile Ever Fled his Own Mind?’ On Reading Horace in South Africa and Italy”, Miki Flockemann on “Antigone’s Return: When a Oncetold Story is Not Enough”, Grace A. Musila on “Reading Relations: Kenya and South Africa”, Michèle duPlessis-Hay on “‘There and Back Again’: Reading Tolkien’s Fantasy in South Africa”, Mphuthumi Ntabeni on “Reading Homer and the Nguni Novel”. Concluding this issue was a review of A South African Convivio with Dante: Born Frees’ Interpretations of the Commedia, edited by Sonia Fanucchi and Anita Virga, written by Mara Boccaccio.

Shakespeare in Southern Africa

Editor’s Report on ShakespeareinSouthernAfrica volume 35 (2022)

As I note in my editorial for volume 35, from which most of this report is taken, there has been very little in the way of ‘new’ Shakespeare on South African stages over the past two years. (This does not mean that there have been no new Shakespeare productions – merely that they have tended to be viewable on screens rather than stages.) Happily, however, at least one significant Covid-era South African Shakespeare receives ‘coverage’ in the current volume: a production of Macbeth at the Joburg Theatre that benefited from a brief window between Covid waves (and concomitant lockdowns / closures) in April 2021. This multilingual Macbeth was performed by the young cast of the Joburg Theatre’s actor training programme, with Jeremiah Mntonga, Michael Mazibuko and Sarah Roberts as director-facilitators. Volume 35 opens with an article by Roberts reflecting on the collaborative process through which this production developed, attending to “the interplay of spoken word and non-semantic avian and animal calls” – specifically, the ways in which the cast’s playfulness in generating birdcalls during the rehearsal process “was instrumental in building performers’ confidence in transposition and spontaneous translation” of the Shakespeare text into South African languages.

In a serendipitous coincidence, while Roberts’ article was undergoing the review process, a second article was submitted that also focuses on birds in Macbeth: Anya Heise-von der Lippe’s analysis of avian imagery in Joel Coen’s recent film version. The opportunity to place these articles ‘in conversation’ with one another could not, I felt, be passed up. So it was that we initiated a new format for Shakespeare in Southern Africa, twinning articles and inviting an interlocutor to facilitate a kind of roundtable-in-print. Here I must convey my sincere thanks to Anston Bosman, who engaged extensively with these two articles and whose questions – as you will agree upon reading the “Roundtable: Macbeth and birds, stage and screen” – elicit clarifying, complicating and gratifying answers from the authors. These are more than just prompts for further discussion; indeed, they may be considered an extension of the usual peer review process (suggesting future possibilities for hybrid ‘open’ and ‘blind’ forms of review).

The mutually-informing relationship between Shakespearean theatre and film is also a key aspect of Raphael d’Abdon’s article, which follows the Roundtable. Reassessing Carmelo Bene’s “misreadings” of Hamlet and Macbeth, d’Abdon emphasises Bene’s antagonistic response to Western theatre tradition and, in particular, his refining of idiosyncratic conceptual tools – as well as strategies or methods of performance – such as la scrittura di scena (scenic writing) and la macchina attoriale (the actorial machine). Sadly Bene remains relatively unknown in the Anglosphere despite his celebrated oeuvre, so it is fitting that d’Abdon should place the spotlight squarely upon him. Moreover, for Shakespeare scholars, teachers and creative practitioners wishing to explore decolonial practices, d’Abdon suggests that Bene’s work is a stimulating and simpatico point of reference.

In the fourth article in volume 35, Peter Titlestad returns us to the cultural, religious, political and material circumstances under which Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived, wrote and performed. Titlestad revisits Shakespeare’s literary-dramatic responses to Philip Sidney, reminding us of how Shakespeare “gave Sidney’s fruitful arguments unexpected expression” even as Sidney “gave Shakespeare fruitful irritation”. Crucially, the article also counters the conventional (mis)representation of the Puritans in scholarly and popular accounts of their connections – for better or for worse – to Shakespeare’s work. It turns out that there are no easy answers to the question, “Who were the Puritans?”

Volume 35 also carries two book reviews: Carel Nolte appraises Antjie Krog’s Afrikaans translation of Tom Lanoye’s Koningin Lear, and Linda Ritchie writes about Robin Malan’s A Sillie Shakspur Quizze. Nolte ponders the various “contributors” to (and the voices in) Krog’s palimpsestic text, recognising their collective challenge to various assumptions about how capitalism ‘works’, as well as about gender roles and linguistic propriety. Ritchie discusses the Quizze as a book that presents itself as edutainment – something for “the lounge” as well as “the classroom” – by embracing its silliness while keeping in mind its potential use to teachers and learners.

I cannot conclude this report without issuing my customary acknowledgements and thanks: firstly, to the reviewers and editorial advisers who ensure that Shakespeare in Southern Africa maintains rigorous scholarly standards; secondly, to Carol Leff, the secretary of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa, for attending to various practical considerations in pricing, printing and distributing the journal; thirdly, and most especially, to my partner-in-publishing-crime, Liz Gowans, for her expert ministrations as typesetter and designer.

New Coin Poetry Journal

by Kyle Allan, editor

For someone who believes in the ability of poetry to speak for all classes and communities, nothing could have brought me closer to contemporary SA poetry than editing New Coin. Editing eight issues over these last four years has allowed me to put together a steady gathering of poetic voices, from established to the newer voices.

A strong literary community has been forming, with an exciting exchange of poetic energies, diverse aesthetic approaches, and different explorations into the powers and limitations of language. New Coin enables poets to encounter other poets, and in this way stimulates nuanced and fresh perspectives on contemporary society. We have been able to publish poetry that reinvigorates language and effectively critiques the status quo, while not losing poetry’s lyrical impulses and imaginative potential. This is surely something to celebrate.

In the 2022 year we have finally been able to catch up with the time-lag that has existed for some years between the date on the covers (June and December) and the actual publication date. This has allowed me to turn my attention in raising New Coin’s visibility and public profile. We have already started on this via regional launches of every issue, which also physically brings together poets who have up to now only met on the page.

New Coin 57.2 carried the NEW COIN POETRY PRIZE 2020 Judge’s Report by Henk Rossouw, as well as the winning poems by Zizipho Bam – Learning to Swim; Phelelani Makhanya – The Consultant at First National Bank; and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers – Nevertheless. It also ran poems by Sibongakonke Mama, Luleka Mhlanzi, Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi, Shane van der Hoven, TeamHW SbonguJesu, Allan Kolski Horwitz, Lesego Rampolokeng, Siza Nkosi, Khulile Nxumalo, Lerato Sibanda, Nonkululeko Busisiwe Gwangqa, Thobeka Kenene, David wa Maahlamela, Jerel Williams, Garth Mason, Hlabathi Maapola-Thobejane, Eduard Burle, Zamokuhle Madinana, Melissa Gow, Rachel Chitofu, Elizabeth D.T. Taderera, Shari Maluleke, Zodwa Mtirara, Breindy Auerbach, Sello Huma, Africa Dlamini, Deirdre Byrne, Haidee Kotze, Zizipho Bam, Robert Berold, P.R. Anderson, and Unathi Slasha. Also in this issue was an Interview with Richard Fox by Kyle Allan. Reviews included Crystal Warren’s Predictive Text reviewed by Tariro Ndoro; Elizabeth Gowans’s butterfly bones reviewed by Alan Finlay; Mthunzikazi Mbungwana’s Unam Wena reviewed by Sibongakonke Mama; and Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry reviewed by Zodwa Mtirara.

New Coin 58.1 carried poems by Ayanda Billie, Shirley Marais, TeamHW SbonguJesu, Sihle Ntuli, Sean McGinty, Tiffany Thames Copeland, LLM Mbatha, Vonani Bila, Khulile Nxumalo, Zeenit Jacobs, Zizipho Bam, Marike Beyers, Shane van der Hoven, Monica Kagan, Robyn Bloch, Maletšema Ruth Emslie, Erica Livingston, Seitlhamo Thabo Motsapi, Sipho Banda, Warren Jeremy Rourke, Kalahari Marrakesh, Tariro Ndoro, Richard Fox, Abigail George, Douglas Gray, Eduard Burle, Sithembele Xhegwana, and Peter Anderson. Kyle Allan conducted an interview with Zodwa Mtirara, and Makhosazana Xaba held an interview with Mtunzikazi Mbongwana. There were three book reviews: Dimakatso Sedite’s Yellow Shade was reviewed by Malika Ndlovu; The cactus of a bright sky by Alan Finlay was reviewed by Robert Berold; and Luleka Mhlanzi’s Confiscated Identity was reviewed by Zizipho Bam.

Left: The cover of New Coin South African Poetry 58.1(June 2022) (Photo: Zodwa Mitirara)

Right: The editor of New Coin South African Poetry, Kyle Allan, talks about the value of poetry and introduces the journal and various poets. (Photo: Zongezile Matshoba)