Halala Madiba -Nelson Mandela in Poetry

Description

96 poems for 25 countries, featuring Seamus Heaney, Wole Soyinka, LKJ, Benjamin Zephaniah, Wally Mongane Serote, Jeremy Cronin, Tupac Shakur, Andrew Motin, Ntozake Shange, Dennis Brutus, Breyten Breytenbach.

From the day the cell door closed on Nelson Mandela 40 years ago, poets took up the fight for freedom – not just his freedom, but that of an entire people. This book brings together almost 100 poets who turned their pens into political weapons without sacrificing their ability to arouse anger and give shape to dreams.

The collection is inspired by the life of the world’s most famous political prisoner – but it tells the story of a country and those who joined its struggle for justice. Through gestures of passionate creativity, it records how the African freedom fighter incarcerated in Robben Island prison became the embodiment of all political prisoners, an icon in the struggle against apartheid and a symbol of hope itself.

We need books like this generous one, to take in our hands and return to.