Fluent in the Language of Burial

Description

SYNOPSIS

Fluent in the Language of Burial is a fiercely intimate poetry collection that asks what it means to survive within systems that demand silence, even erasure. Through themes of queer identity, gender-based violence, inherited shame, religion, family and Black women’s embodiment, Thando Fuze’s poems explore the emotional and social architectures that teach vulnerable groups of people to bury parts of themselves.
“Burial” is understood not only as an act of mourning, but as a language of concealment, survival, inheritance, grief and longing. Fuze’s languaging traces the many forms of this vocabulary, in which silence becomes both wound and strategy. These poems navigate the pressure and the particular violence of self-silencing. The hard-earned voice of Fluent in the Language of Burial performs an act of exhumation: the poems open, unearth and name, giving breath to what had been sealed away.
It is a collection that is bold, vulnerable and necessary, an unapologetic intervention that transforms burial into revelation, and survival into imaginative testimony.

ENDORSEMENT

“Thando Fuze offers us many deaths. big and small. of the body and the self. the words are knives and song – as wide as love and as minor as dislike. i am small and must grow up, not knowing i will survive . . . into woman. in
this country. into this book. Fuze’s words follow me into the night. this haunting gift of poetry.”
– vangile gantsho

BIOGRAPHY

Thando Fuze is a poet, performer, curator and cultural activist whose work explores identity,
sexuality, gender justice, politics and the complexities of contemporary Black womanhood.
Born and raised in Durban, South Africa, she has established herself as a compelling voice in
thrilling spoken-word performances and socially engaged creative practice.
Deeply invested in community building and youth empowerment, Fuze founded the SHEfted Minds project in 2016, creating a platform to amplify the voices and creative work of female artists. She has also worked extensively with schools and colleges as a peer educator, using poetry platforms as supportive, transformative spaces for young people to reflect on their often-difficult social realities.
Fuze has featured at major local and international festivals and events, among them the Göteborg Book Fair and the Queer Art Festival in Sweden, the All African Women Poetry Festival in Ghana and both Poetry Africa and the Essence Festival: Articulate Africa, in South Africa. Her poetry has been published in anthologies, including Home Is Where the Mic Is and #Hashtag. Fluent in the Language of Burial is her debut poetry collection.