Ingrid Andersen (born 1965) is a South African

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

Andersen lived 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 ...

most of her life, worked 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 ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

for five years and relocated to the

KwaZulu-Natal Midlands The KwaZulu-Natal midlands is an inland area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that starts from Pietermaritzburg and ends before the Drakensberg mountain range; between Pietermaritzburg, Estcourt and Greytown. Area The largest city in the midla ...

in 2007. She worked as a theatre publicist in the 1980s, the days of

political protest Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

theatre, at the Market Theatre and PACT, amongst others. As South Africa began to rebuild after the first democratic elections, she became active in

community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activist ...

, as CEO of the Rosebank Homeless Association and then as Community Engagement Manager at

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

. She works at the

University of KwaZulu Natal The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN; , ) is a public research university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University o ...

in human rights advocacy, healing and reconciliation, with a particular focus on the

Alternatives to Violence Project The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is a volunteer-run conflict transformation program. Teams of trained AVP facilitators conduct experiential workshops to develop participants' abilities to resolve conflicts without resorting to manipulat ...

. Her debut poetry collection, ''Excision'', was launched at the

National Arts Festival The National Arts Festival (NAF) is an annual festival of performing arts in Makhanda, South Africa. It is the largest arts festival on the African continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor numbers. The ...

in 2005. It was reviewed in ''Wordstock'', the Arts Festival WordFest newspaper, as "well-crafted, controlled and concise...a strong debut collection containing sensitive and poignant sketches...Andersen wields her pen with surgical precision" (Warren 2005). Over the past fifteen years, her poems have appeared in South African literary journals, including ''Imprint, Green Dragon, Aerial, Slugnews, Carapace'' and ''New Coin''. She presented her work at WordFest in 2004 and 2005, as well as at the Hilton Arts Festival in 2009. She remembers with affection the mentoring of

Lionel Abrahams Lionel Abrahams (11 April 1928 – 31 May 2004) was a South African novelist, poet, editor, critic, essayist and publisher. He was born in Johannesburg, where he lived his entire life. He was born with cerebral palsy and had to use a wheelchai ...

at his workshops in the early 1990s. ''Piecework'', her second collection of poetry, to be published by Modjaji Books, is due out in 2010. Andersen is the editor of ''Incwadi'', a South African online journal of poetry and photography.

References

LitNet: 20 December 2005: Michelle McGrane in conversation with Ingrid Andersen
*"Four powerful new EC poets". ''Saturday Dispatch'' 2 July 2005. p. 14 *Warren, Crystal. "Out into the world" ''Wordstock'', 7 July 2005. p 2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Ingrid 1965 births Living people Academic staff of Rhodes University South African women poets Writers from Johannesburg South African women academics