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Siphokazi Jonas weaves oral tradition and personal narrative in her latest captivating poetry collection

Siphokazi Jonas weaves oral tradition and personal narrative in her latest captivating poetry collection
The Reading List
By The Reading List
13 Dec 2024
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The Reading List spent a few minutes chatting with Siphokazi Jonas about poetic cliffhangers, revealing yourself through writing, and the joys of the publishing process.

Siphokazi Jonas is a South African poet, playwright and actor. She was the 2016 runner-up for the national Sol Plaatje European Union Award and headlined as the first Featured Poet at the Poetry Africa Festival in 2021. She received a Best Short Film South African Film and Television Award as co-producer of the poetry film #WeAreDyingHere.   

Her poetry collection Weeping Becomes a River weaves together seemingly disparate worlds: growing up in an Afrikaans dorpie, attending an English boarding school, and annual holidays to the village emaXhoseni during the transition years of South Africa’s democracy made this a necessity.

The Reading List: What are you most excited about people discovering in your book?


Siphokazi Jonas: The multiple cliffhangers in the story, which is not something one expects from a poetry collection.

TRL: What were some of the unexpected challenges that came up while you were writing? What was unexpectedly easy?


Siphokazi Jonas: Finding the line where my story ends, and the stories of those around me begin. Because it is not a memoir, I had to find a very delicate way of balancing what I was revealing about myself and how I see the world, and what belongs to those who are connected to the poems as well. 

I’ve always struggled with finding a consistent writing routine, but there is nothing like a looming manuscript deadline to motivate you to get up early and sit at your desk every day. It became quite easy to reshuffle my life in order to make writing my priority. 

TRL: What question do readers ask you the most?


Siphokazi Jonas: For me to write a sequel to the tale in the book. I’m pretty sure that it’s complete, but readers really want to know the fate of the protagonist. I may have to consider expanding the universe of the story.

TRL: What was the most exciting part of the publishing process?


Siphokazi Jonas: Working with different people on different sections from approving cover designs, typesetting, editing and proofreading, and so on. Writing can be a lonely process, so it was wonderful to be able to consult on the parts which make the whole. It also creates a feeling of safety when you know that at least five or more people have read through your work before it goes out to the world because staring at the same text for months on end can make you quite bug-eyed.

TRL: What are some of the key ideas that inform what you’ve written?


Siphokazi Jonas: I’m a multidisciplinary artist and a drama kid through and through, and I really wanted to bring the energy of oral literature and storytelling to the text. The adventure of intsomi in particular is meant to evoke fireside storytelling which makes you want to read the book out loud. This collection is a mix masala of influences and forms which are meant to reach the body and the ear as much as they reach the mind and heart.

TRL: If you could co-author a book with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose and why?


Siphokazi Jonas: Sol Plaatje. Mhudi is one of my favourite novels and I reread it multiple times during my writing process. Plaatje draws deeply from oral literature in the book, and I would love to push the boundaries of that approach, as I do in Weeping Becomes a River, with him. 

TRL: What’s the more important daily goal: a certain number of words, or capturing an idea on the page?


Siphokazi Jonas: Opening my laptop and staring at Word until something happens.

TRL: What’s the best music to write to?


Siphokazi Jonas: Mostly silence, but it depends on the genre. I love listening to Zimbini when writing about the Eastern Cape, but generally, I listen to a lot of musical theatre. 

TRL: What’s your favourite writing spot?


Siphokazi Jonas: On my desk overlooking the balcony.

TRL: Do you have an ideal reader in mind while you are writing?


Siphokazi Jonas: In this book, I was writing for my high school self and my then classmates who went through similar experiences. 

TRL: After readers have read your book, what should they read next?


Siphokazi Jonas: The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi.

TRL: What is your greatest indulgence?


Siphokazi Jonas: Coffee. DM

The Reading List: #TheFlap is based on the Proust Questionnaire, an infamous parlour game invented by the French writer Marcel Proust, who believed the answers would reveal a person’s true nature…

So far we’ve revealed the true nature of literary luminaries including Sihle Khumalo, Yewande Omotoso and Sam Wilson, so you’re in august company.

Weeping Becomes a River by Siphokazi Jonas is published by Penguin Random House SA (R200). Visit The Reading List for South African book news, daily — including interviews!

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