Poetry Award

Patricia Schonstein Poetry in McGregor Award

Poetry in McGregor is an annual festival anchored at Temenos in the village of McGregor. This is nestled between the Riviersonderend and Langeberg mountains of the Western Cape. It is the only festival in South Africa devoted solely to poetry and is the vision of Billy Kennedy, the Gardener in the Garden of the Beloved at Temenos.

Each of the festivals is celebrated by a dedicated anthology. It is with pleasure that I give my name to the Award and Acclaim associated with the festival’s annual anthology. The Award is granted for an outstanding poem published in each festival’s dedicated Anthology. The Acclaim is granted to a poet for lifetime achievement or for their service in enhancing this important genre.

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2023


Winner

  • Theresa Carstens for her poem Drive-by

Acclaim

  • Billy Kennedy for visioning the Poetry in McGregor Festival, for bringing that vision to fruition, and for hosting a festival in his Garden of the Beloved at Temenos Retreat each year from 2013 onwards, so as to honour the curative worth of poetry in all our lives
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2022


Joint Winners

  • Sindiswa Busuku for her poem After the Burning Years
  • Annette Snyckers for her poem Missing
  • Diana Ferrus for her poem My rivier

Acclaim

  • Michèle Betty for promoting and publishing South African poetry through her independent Dryad Press, which she founded in 2016 in order to foreground established poets, unlock new voices, and nurture upcoming poets.
  • Harry Owen for his long service to poetry, for esablishing a strong tradition of open mic readings in Grahamstown, for anthologising poems that might otherwise be lost to a broader readership, and for generously hosting Poetry in McGregor Festival’s open mic events.
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2021


Joint Winners

  • Michael Alfred for his poem Stars, my love.
  • Lies Hoogendoorn for her poem Eers het ek jou veroordeel.

Acclaim

  • Robin Malan: For a lifetime of service to poetry through his compilation of numerous poetry anthologies for use in schools. These anthologies continue to introduce youngsters to a far-reaching range of poets and instil in them a love of verse, inspiring many to take up the pen themselves.
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2020


Joint Winners

  • Chris Mann for his poem A Farewell in Advance of Death.
  • Ilze Olckers for her renderings into Afrikaans of Rumi’s Zero Sirkel, and Rainer Maria Rilke’s Liewe Verdonkerende Grond.

Acclaim

  • Presented to Lionel Abrahams (1928-2004) for publishing, during the height of apartheid, the poetry of Oswald Mtshali and Mongane Wally Serote, through his Renoster Press, thus heralding the emergence of black poetry in South Africa; and also for his own contribution to the South African canon.
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2019


Joint Winners

  • Lynthia Julius for her poem Die huis hoor nie.
  • Chris Mann for his poem Granadillas.

Acclaim

  • Presented to Lara Kirsten for her dynamic, innovative and bilingual performances – incorporative of poetry, music and drama – at the Poetry in McGregor Festivals, and for her ongoing support of its initiative.
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2018


Joint Winners

  • Jacques Coetzee for his poem Table of Elements.
  • Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa for her poem Song.
  • Eduard Burle for his poem Listen.
  • Susan Woodward for her poem I thought it was you.

Acclaim

  • Presented posthumously to Stephen Watson (1954-2011) for his poetic versions of the /Xam oral testaments collated by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd; and for his contribution to the South African canon as a poet and essayist.
  • Presented to Colleen Higgs for publishing collections by forty-one southern African women poets between 2007 and 2018 under her imprint Modjaji Books.
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2017


Winner

  • Presented to Nondwe Mpuma for her poem Home.

Acclaim

  • Presented posthumously to Adam Small (1936-2016) for his defence and promotion of Kaaps as a valid literary medium and for his poetry.
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2016


Winner

  • Presented to Gaireyah Fredericks for her poem Dronk verdriet.

Acclaim

  • Presented posthumously to Anne Schuster (1947-2017) for her contribution to poetry through generous mentorship of writers.
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2015


Winner

  • Presented to Margaret Clough for her poem Reconciled to the Dark.

Acclaim

  • Presented to Hugh Hodge for his support and contribution to poetry in the Western Cape through his Off-the-Wall events.
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2014


Winner

  • Presented to Justin Fox for his poem Roading 1994.

Acclaim

  • Presented to James Matthews for a lifetime achievement in poetry.
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2013


Winner

  • Presented to Graham Dukas for his poem An Olympian effort at the Mugg & Bean.