Blood's Inner Rhyme
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€19.99
Poet Antjie Krog returns to the landscape of her childhood. The Free State plains enchant her – it is her home, and the home of her mother, the writer Dot Serfontein. In her nineties, Dot is frail and needs full-time care, but her intellect and sense of humour are razor-sharp, and her writing is comparable to that of her daughter. In Blood’s Inner Rhyme, Antjie Krog breaks the boundaries between genres and writes about this relationship that continues to fascinate and torment her. Using letters, diary entries and care-home records, the book explores creative influence, ideological disagreements and the realities of ageing. Krog exposes the insurmountable differences between generations but also shows the love and mutual admiration between two highly skilled writers. Beautifully and poignantly written, Blood’s Inner Rhyme delves into cultural heritage, the country's Anglo-Boer War history, issues of land ownership and race, as well as romantic relationships across racial boundaries. The story of the relationship between mother and daughter, this is Krog’s most personal book, as well as the most universal.
Antjie Krog was born and raised in the Free State. She was seventeen when her first poetry collection was published. This was followed by another thirteen collections. She was the editor of the political magazine Die Suid-Afrikaan and later worked as a radio journalist. She is internationally known for her book Country of My Skull, a personal account of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. For her journalistic work, she was awarded the Pringle Award. She is also the author of A Change of Tongue and Begging to Be Black. Krog has received important awards in the genres in which she works: poetry, non-fiction, and translation, including the Eugène Marais Prize, the Hertzog Prize, the Alan Paton Award, and the Olive Schreiner Prize. She has been honoured with the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation's Stockholm Award, the Central European University's Open Society Prize, and the Dutch Gouden Ganzenveer. She is married to architect John Samuel.