Today we are delighted to reveal the cover of Fluent in the Language of Burial by Thando Fuze, coming August 2026. Fiercely intimate, this poetry collection explores queer identity, gender-based violence, shame, religion, family and Black women’s embodiment, tracing “burial” as a language of concealment, survival, inheritance, grief, and longing.
For the cover, we worked with designer Stephen Symons on a deliberate departure from illustration, opting for restrained typographic design in keeping with a long literary tradition that places trust in the power of the words themselves. Quiet and muted, the design provides space for the extraordinary weight carried within these poems. The gorgeous deep purple hue is a carefully considered choice that honours and acknowledges our poet’s own identity, grounding the collection before a page is turned. For the first time, we have been excited to introduce QR codes for a selection of the poems to illustrate to the reader a little of Thando’s moving spoken word performances. Don’t miss the opportunity to grab your copy on our Pre-Order special Offer.
Thando is a poet, performer, curator and cultural activist based in Durban, whose work engages queer identity, gender-based violence, inherited shame, religion, family and Black women’s embodiment. She founded SHEfted Minds in 2016, a platform amplifying the voices and creative work of female artists, and has worked extensively with schools and colleges as a peer educator. Her poetry appears in the anthologies Home Is Where the Mic Is and #Hashtag, and she has featured at the Göteborg Book Fair and Queer Art Festival in Sweden, the All African Women Poetry Festival in Ghana, and both Poetry Africa and Articulate Africa here in South Africa.
Dryad Press is proud to be bringing this collection into the world. Further details on the launch will follow in the coming weeks but in the meantime, take advantage of our super pre-launch special offer of 30%.
