Between Blood and Words: A Conversation with Antjie Krog
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In this powerful and reflective episode, Antjie Krog — one of South Africa’s most acclaimed poets, authors, and translators — joins Lesedi Mnisi for an intimate conversation about her life’s work and her final publication, Binnerym van bloed (Blood’s Inner Rhyme).
With a literary career spanning more than five decades, Krog has shaped South African letters through her fearless pursuit of truth — from her groundbreaking Country of My Skull, which chronicled the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to her poetry that continues to interrogate identity, justice, and belonging.
In this conversation, Krog reflects on what it means to bring her writing journey to a close, why Binnerym van bloed had to be her last book, and how it allowed her to return to the intimate, complex relationship with her late mother, author Dot Serfontein. The discussion also explores her lifelong negotiation with the Afrikaans language — its burdens and its beauty — and her belief in poetry as a moral and transformative act.
This episode offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a writer who has never shied away from the difficult or the tender — a conversation about memory, mortality, and the enduring power of words to make sense of what cannot always be spoken.
With a literary career spanning more than five decades, Krog has shaped South African letters through her fearless pursuit of truth — from her groundbreaking Country of My Skull, which chronicled the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to her poetry that continues to interrogate identity, justice, and belonging.
In this conversation, Krog reflects on what it means to bring her writing journey to a close, why Binnerym van bloed had to be her last book, and how it allowed her to return to the intimate, complex relationship with her late mother, author Dot Serfontein. The discussion also explores her lifelong negotiation with the Afrikaans language — its burdens and its beauty — and her belief in poetry as a moral and transformative act.
This episode offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a writer who has never shied away from the difficult or the tender — a conversation about memory, mortality, and the enduring power of words to make sense of what cannot always be spoken.
