Fiona Zerbst

Fiona Zerbst is the author of four previous poetry collections, Oleander (Modjaji Books, 2009), Time and Again (UCT Younger Poets Series No 1/Snailpress, 2002), the small zone (Snailpress, 1995) and Parting Shots (Carrefour Press, 1991). She received an MA in Creative Writing from UCT, studying under the late Stephen Watson, and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Pretoria, supervised by David Medalie. Her poems have been widely anthologised, most recently in The New Century of South African Poetry (Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2019). Fiona has run her own writing and editing business for a decade and lives in Cape Town.

“There are places where you choke on heat.
Where rock, stripped of its fat,
is muscle used up.
Where sheep lie flat
like drawstring bags in the sand.”

Fiona Zerbst – ‘Circles’