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Maneo Refiloe Mohale

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Maneo Refiloe Mohale
Born1992
Benoni, South Africa
Occupation(s)Writer, editor, poet
AwardsGlenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry

Maneo Refiloe Mohale is a queer South African Black feminist writer, editor, and poet who writes on race, media, queerness, survivorship, language and history. Their work has appeared in local and international publications including The Mail & Guardian, The Johannesburg Review of Books, and Bitch (magazine). Their debut collection of poetry, Everything is a deathly flower, was shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Prize and won the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry.

Life

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Maneo Mohale was born in 1992 in Benoni, South Africa.[1] Mohale's parents studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, among the first cohorts of Black students permitted to study there. Both were the first in their families to attend university, after petitioning the state to allow them to study at a white university.[2] Mohale attended predominantly white private schools and also spent a lot of time in Katlehong where their grandparents lived.[2]

They hold a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) in History and International Relations from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.[3] Their undergraduate thesis was titled A Dance in the Rain: Race, Resistance and Media in Apartheid South Africa.[4]

After living in Canada for 5 years, they returned to Johannesburg.[1] They are currently a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender and Class at the University of Johannesburg.[5]

Work

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Journalism and editing

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Mohale first became seriously involved in arts journalism while at university in 2014, when they co-founded an online student journalism platform called The Talon.[6][7]

In 2016, Mohale won a Bitch Media Writing Fellowship in global feminism.[6][8] The fellowship, one of four for emerging writers offered by Bitch (magazine), included a cash stipend of $2000 as well as mentorship and support.[9][10] Fellows were expected to contribute articles in their fellowship topic area and participate in staff meetings.[11] During their fellowship, Mohale wrote on race, media, sexuality, and survivorship.[5][12][3]

In 2017, Mohale became managing editor of Platform Media and an acting arts editor for The Mail & Guardian.[2][6] They have also worked as a media co-ordinator for arts and culture at Collective Media.[5]

Mohale's articles and reviews have appeared in local and international publications, including Bitch (magazine), Platform, The Mail & Guardian, and News24.[5][1][13]

Poetry

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Mohale's debut collection of poetry, Everything is a deathly flower, was published in September 2019 with uHlanga Press.[14][15] The poems are titled using binomial names for plants, in an examination of both imperial and personal desire for classification and naming.[2][15] The collection also addresses Mohale's experience of surviving queer sexual assault.[2][16] In 2020, it was shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Prize, making Mohale the youngest finalist of that year.[5][17] In the same year, the book won the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry.[18][19][16]

Mohale has been longlisted twice for the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award.[1] Their poetry has appeared in publications including Johannesberg Review of Books,[20] Jalada,[21] Prufrock, and spectrum.za.[1][5][13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "EVERYTHING IS A DEATHLY FLOWER Maneo Mohale". uHlanga Press. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e ""Work that has changed my life is work that makes me feel possible. I think I want someone to pick up my work and feel like they're possible, too." - Maneo Mohale". Scaffold. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Bitch Media Writing Fellows". bitchmedia. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Honours Thesis Archive". The University of British Columbia. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Mohale, Maneo (14 January 2021). "About".
  6. ^ a b c Williams, Hlumelo Siphe (16 April 2018). "Incredible Women in Art: Maneo Mohale — I'm hella queer, and proudly so". She.Leads.Africa. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  7. ^ "About". The Talon: UBC's Alternative Student Press. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  8. ^ Ibeh, Chukwuebuka (11 June 2021). "South African Maneo Mohale is Winner of the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  9. ^ Hines, Alice (23 May 2016). "Bitch Magazine Turns Twenty". The New Yorker. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  10. ^ Kamen, Paula; Zeisler, Andi (2016). "Unfun Feminism". The Women’s Review of Books. 33 (5): 3–5. This year, for the first time, Bitch Media offered fellowships to four diverse writers from across the globe.
  11. ^ "Apply for the 2018 Bitch Media Fellowships for Writers". African Literary Magazine. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  12. ^ Mohale, Maneo (4 October 2016). "The Contradictions, Resilience, and Creativity of Black Feminism in South Africa". Sexuality Policy Watch. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Portfolio". Maneo Mohale. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  14. ^ Mohale, Maneo (2019). Everything is a deathly flower. Cape Town: uHlanga. ISBN 978-0-6398108-2-9.
  15. ^ a b Lidudumalingani (4 November 2019). "A perfectly shaped raging fire of language and emotion—Lidudumalingani reviews Everything is a Deathly Flower, the debut poetry collection by Maneo Mohale". The Johannesberg Review of Books. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  16. ^ a b Malec, Jennifer (24 June 2021). "South African poet Maneo Refiloe Mohale wins Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry". Johannesburg Review of Books. Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  17. ^ Malec, Jennifer (3 July 2020). "[The JRB Daily] 2020 Ingrid Jonker Prize for English Poetry shortlist announced". The Johannesburg Review of Books. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Maneo Mohale wins the 2020 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry". uHlanga Press. 7 June 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  19. ^ "Maneo Refiloe Mohale is Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry 2020 winner". Writing Africa. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  20. ^ "Poetry by Ayanda Billie, Siza Nkosi Mokhele, Maneo Mohale and Masai Sepuru from Years of Fire and Ash: South African Poems of Decolonisation". Johannesburg Review of Books. 15 April 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  21. ^ Mohale, Maneo (15 September 2015). ""Contra"". Jalada. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
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