Colleen Higgs (born 1962 in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

, South Africa) is a South African writer and publisher. As a writer, she has published

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

s and stories in literary magazines in South Africa since 1990. As a publisher, she is both renowned and respected as the founder of independent publishing house Modjaji Books.

Background

Higgs spent most of her childhood in

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

, her adolescence and young adulthood in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa, and more recently lived for five years in

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

. She now lives in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. She has worked as a teacher, a teacher trainer, a materials writer and an academic development lecturer, and programme manager at The

Centre for the Book The Centre for the Book is a building situated next to the Company's Gardens in Cape Town. The building is run for the state by an independent organization of the same name, to promote literacy, reading, publishing and for conferences, sympos ...

. She is the founder and publisher of Modjaji Books, an independent publishing house based in Cape Town, publishing books written exclusively by women. Currently, Modjaji publishes short stories, memoir, novels, poetry, and creative non-fiction: their publication ''Whiplash'' by Tracey Farren was short-listed for the 2009 ''Sunday Times'' Fiction award. Higgs is also a writer whose poems have been published in literary magazines since 1990. Her debut poetry collection, ''Halfborn Woman'', was published in 2004. Her blog (on ''BooksLive'') is frequently updated and features reviews, news, articles and insights on South African publishing. In 2020, her memoir ''My Mother, My Madness'' was published.

Works

* ''Halfborn Woman'' (2004), Hands-On Books, collection of poems * ''A Rough Guide to Small-scale and Self-publishing'' (2005), Centre for the Book * ''South African Small Publishers' Catalogue'' (editor with Maire Fisher) (2006), Centre for the Book * ''Small Publishers' Catalogue - Africa, 2010'' (2010) (editor with Bontle Senne) * ''Lava Lamp Poems'' (2011), Hands-On Books, collection of poems * ''Looking for Trouble: mostly Yeoville stories'' (2012), Hands-On Books, collection of stories * ''Small Publishers' Catalogue - Africa, 2013'' (2013) * ''My Mother, My Madness'' (2020), Deep South

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgs, Colleen Living people 1962 births 21st-century South African poets Book publishing company founders South African publishers (people) South African short story writers South African women poets South African women short story writers Women book publishers (people) South African women memoirists South African memoirists