Isabella Motadinyane: Complete Poems

by Isabella Motadinyane, Lesego Rampolokeng (Translator)

Isabella Motadinyane was born in 1963 in Mofolo Central, Soweto, and died in 2003 in Orange Farm. She used English, Isicamtho, and Sesotho to create a powerful legacy of performance, poetry, and song. On the page, her poems were intense, funny, and painful, while her onstage delivery, whether speech or song, was electrifying in vitality and timing. Her elliptical associative poems mixed languages, and crossed rural and urban cultures. This book is Motadinyane's collected work of just over 30 poems. It was published as Bella in 2007 by Botsotso Publishing in an illustrated edition, and is republished by Deep South without illustrations. The six Sesotho poems and the Sesotho phrases in other poems have been newly translated by Lesego Rampolokeng. Isabella Motadinyane was an active member of the Botsotso Jesters poetry performance group; in fact, the group's name came from one of her poems. The touching tributes to her by other Botsotso members are reproduced in this edition. [ Poetry]

Genres: Poetry

58 pages, Paperback

Published June 14, 2016

Reviews

[Lauren]

Motadinyane was a performance poet, so reading these poems on a page puts the reader at a slight disadvantage. However, the word rhythm and syncopations do come across, and give a snapshot of the life of this extraordinary woman. Many of her poems combine English and Sesotho phrases. This collection includes the original Sesotho, with translations next to it.

Motadinyane died in 2003 and age 40. She was the founding member of a poetry performance group in Soweto, South Africa. This collection includes several memorial poems for Motadinyane - it's a very touching tribute.

After a bit of searching, I found one audio file of her poem "NONHLANLA" performed on Badilisha Poetry X-change, with some additional background on the poem's meaning and imagery.