A History of Disappearance - Softcover

Lubala, Sarah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1990922600 ISBN 13: 9781990922602

Publisher: Botsotso Publishing, 2022

Synopsis

Sarah Lubala's debut collection of poetry, A History of Disappearance, centres on the experiences of those living on the margins, particularly girls and women. The opening poem, "6 Errant Thoughts on Being a Refugee," for which Lubala was shortlisted for the prestigious Gerald Kraak Award, sets the tone for this important collection.

The 56 poems span themes such as forced migration, gender-violence, xenophobia, race, mental illness, love, and belonging. The notion of disappearance runs like a thread through each of them, not only as an event, but, as Lubala describes it in an interview with OkayAfrica, also "as a structure of experience." Lubala writes in taut, bare sentences, potent in their lyrical beauty. Every word is exact and necessary, none are superfluous. Many of her poems read like prayers, and indeed this is a word that returns again and again in the collection. In spite of the adversity her speakers face, they refuse to remain silent. Each of their voices shines through the language, loud with resistance. Her poems navigate the pain of displacement, loss, absence, and grief with empathy and care.

Lublala has said of her work that she hopes to expand the "moral imagination" of her readers. She achieves just this, confronting the reader with the human face, obliging us to look and imagine beyond the margins of our own experience.

About this title

About the Author

Sarah Lubala is a Congolese-born poet. Her family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo two decades ago admidst political unrest as militant factions tried to overthrow the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Her family relocated first to Cape Town, South Africa, then Abidjan - the capital of the Ivory Coast - before returning to South Africa and settling in Johannesburg. She has since spent her life in various parts of Africa, Asia and Europe and believes herself to be from here, there, everywhere and nowhere. She currently lives in Johannesburg with her husband and cat. Sarah has been twice shortlisted for the Gerald Kraak Award, and once for The Brittle Paper Poetry Award as well as longlisted for the Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Award. She is also the winner of the Castello Di Duino XIV prize.

Edition details

• Publisher: Botsotso Publishing
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1990922600
• ISBN 13: 9781990922602
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 58