AVBOB invites poets to write poems with an elegiac feel in all our official languages. 

The aim is to build a bridge between those who have the words (established and aspiring poets) and those who so desperately need to hear those words (the bereaved).

The main features of our recently launched website are twofold. Firstly, to publish as many quality new poems as possible, in all 11 of the official South African languages.

These poems will be freely available to all lovers of this enchanting and everlasting literary form, and to all those searching for a verse to give expression to the complex and unique emotions they are experiencing.

Secondly, the website will form the platform from which AVBOB will launch a nationwide poetry competition.

Should a poem be accepted by one of the selected editors, it will open up a world of exciting new opportunities for the entrant. First, every poem which is approved by the relevant editor will feature alongside other poems on the AVBOB poetry website. An incentive of R300 will be paid for each poem selected.

In addition, all entrants of approved poems will be in line for the AVBOB Poetry Prize, in the specific language categories (there will be a winner in each language).

The respective prizes will bring cash rewards.

Every person who enters the Poetry project will stand an equal chance for their work to feature alongside that of some of our most accoladed poets in a 100-poem print anthology, entitled “I wish I’d said”.

The anthology will be published in August 2018. The title of the anthology will also be the theme for the poetry competition. This theme resonated deeply with us because all of us, at some point in our lives, have felt regret for the things we’ve left unsaid.              

“Now is the time for us, as a nation, to take up the pen and not the sword. This is when we should focus on what unites, rather than divides us. And the AVBOB poetry project strives to do exactly that” concludes Frik Rademan, CEO of AVBOB.

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