Description
‘Mandisa is one of my favourite writers ever. This pamphlet has helped me on my own journey towards healing, helped me understand the beauty and power of words, the complexities of womanhood, the pain and joy of existing. It reminds me what it means to be human, to feel, to cry, to laugh and then to cry again. Yes, the world is a cruel place, but mandisa makes it all look and feel so beautiful.’ Lola Young
‘Poems should be like people. Each of these poems is like a best friend I just made; each evolves in my hands like a puppy that grows with each bark. Like a barista who invites me to their birthday party. A chatty stranger on a night bus asks if you wanna come in for a cup of tea. I’m honoured that each poem trusts me with its organic self with so soon. Even before fully understanding what they’re saying, they show me vulnerability and alchemy. The experiment of ourselves is not done.’ Kareem Parkins-Brown
‘mandisa apena’s poems crackle with mischief and menace, tenderness and rage where dreams bruise into nightmares, and girlhood collapses into womanhood. Every poem refuses the expected, finding music in survival, and light where it has no business being. Strange, urgent, unforgettable. There is only one mandisa apena.’ Rachel Long
