Mahlangu’s debut collection, written between 2015 and 2018, is undoing a house of silence. Her writing is too lived in to be naïve and somehow manages to remain untainted by the cynicism of growing up. If it is true that the artist is the child who survives, then this is the book that the journey spat out. Surviving Loss is a gentle-urgent fight for breath and voice.
Busisiwe Mahlangu is a writer and poet from Mamelodi, Pretoria. She is the winner of the Tshwane Speak Out Loud Youth Poetry Competition (2016/2017) and founder of Lwazilubanzi Project, an NPO aimed at using literature as a tool for learning, resistance and healing. Her poetry is a raw conversation around poverty, mental health, education, violence, healing and staying alive.
Surviving Loss is available in print at the Chimurenga Factory (157 Victoria Rd, Woodstock, Cape Town) or from our online store.
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