Karen Press Explained
Karen Press (born 1956) is a South African poet and translator.[1]
She was born in Cape Town, and lives in Sea Point. Press is a full-time writer and editor, having published ten collections of poetry,[2] a film script, short stories, as well as educational material and textbooks in the fields of science, mathematics, English and economics.[3] She also translated poetry from Afrikaans, primarily work by Antjie Krog.[2]
In 1987 she co-founded the publishing collective Buchu Books.[3]
Antjie Krog described her poems in The Museum of Working Life as "a haunting museum constructed in Press's delicate tone and vivid poetic intelligence."
Poetry
- Emergency Declarations (found poems, co-produced with Ingrid de Kok, 1985)
- This Winter Coming (Cinnamon Crocodile, 1986)
- Bird Heart Stoning the Sea (Buchu Books, 1990)[4]
- History is the dispossession of the heart (Cinnamon Crocodile, 1992)
- The Coffee Shop Poems (Snailpress, 1993)
- Echo Location - a guide to Sea Point for residents and visitors (Gecko Books, 1998)[5] [6]
- Home (Carcanet, 2000)[4]
- The Little Museum of Working Life (Deep South, 2004)
- The Canary’s Songbook (Carcanet, 2005)
- Slowly, As If (Carcanet, 2012)
Awards
Press received the Literary Translators Award in the 2015 South African Literary Awards for translation of Mede-wete and Synapse by Antjie Krog.[7]
References
- Web site: Press . Karen . Poetry Journals in South Africa, 1994 . New Coin . December 1994 . 2008-08-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050529075449/http://www.ru.ac.za/institutes/isea/NewCoin/docs/94/R94dec.htm . 2005-05-29 . dead .
- Web site: Karen Press . S. A. Literary Awards.
- Web site: Karen Press . Poetry International . Poetry International Foundation . 7 October 2019.
- Sole . Kelwyn . Bird Hearts Taking Wing: Trends in Contemporary South African Poetry Written in English . World Literature Today . Winter 1996 . 70 . 1 . 26, 31 . 10.2307/40151848 . 40151848 .
- West . Mary . The Co-Ordinates of (Post-) Colonial Whiteness: A Reading of Karen Press's "Echo Location: A Guide to Sea Point for Residents and Visitors (1998)" . English in Africa . May 2006 . 33 . 1 . 93–111 . 0376-8902. 40399025 .
- News: Dove . Rita . Survival guide found in poet's words . 7 October 2019 . Palm Beach Daily News . 4 February 2001 . Palm Beach, Florida . 20.
- News: Jennifer . 2015 South African Literary Awards (SALAs) Winners Announced . 8 October 2019 . 9 November 2015.
