The Art of Waiting for Tales Found Poetry from Grace -a novel-, by Makhosazana Xaba

The Art of Waiting for Tales is the first of its kind in South Africa. Here, 71 poems found in 22 chapters of Barbara Boswell’s award-winning debut novel Grace, tell the stories of the characters through poetic chunks in intriguingly revealing scenes, dialogue and prose. Poetic devices and imagination, writerly dexterity and scholarly creativity fuse, resulting in a unique text; redefining literature. These poems tell stories of families and the challenges they face, starting with Grace and her parents, Mary and Patrick. The southeaster and the landscape of the Western Cape continue to hold Grace as she transitions into adulthood, recreating her life. This use of found poetry from a single source charts a new trajectory in literature: it widens the boundaries of found poetry while bridging the gap between genres. Process notes - descriptive and intricate - include examples to demonstrate the method of this kind of creativity.

AUTHOR BIO

Makhosazana is an award winning South African anthologist, essayist, poet, short story writer and editor. She has published three poetry collections: These hands, Tongues of their Mothers and The Alkalinity of Bottled Water. Her poetry has been translated into six languages and is anthologised internationally and taught at South African universities. In 2014 her debut collection, Running and Other Stories, was a co-winner of the SALA Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award. She edited Like the untouchable wind: an anthology of poems in 2016 which was translated into Spanish. In 2019 she edited Our Words, Our Worlds: Writing on Black South African Women Poets, 2000 – 2018 which was the co-winner of the NIHSS Award for Best Non-Fiction 2021. Xaba has also been appointed as Associate Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Humanities by the University of Johannesburg. She was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Rhodes University in April 2022.