THE art of putting rhythmic words to paper comes naturally to Mphahlele Ntebo.
The 18-year-old is about to publish his very first Sepedi poetry book.
Mphahlele from Limpopo is putting the finishing touches on his book before it hits the shelves this year.
“From a very young age, I dreamed of having my poetry book. It is finally happening.
"With this new book, I want people to follow the lessons it contains, are in there because they are important, and if they follow them, they will always be loved and respected in society,” he said.
Mphahlele, with other poets from his community, had published a poetry book titled Ga Se Diele Le Noka under Ramphadi Publishers by Junior Ramphadi.
At that time, he was just 17 years old and had contributed about 10 of his poems to the book.
“I dreamed of publishing my book, but because of financial constraints, my friend Junior suggested publishing my poems there to raise enough money to publish my book.
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“I agreed and thought it was a great idea because, as a black child, we have a lot of talents, and if we could combine our work, we'd make history. And that’s how Ga Se Diele Noko came to be,” Mphahlele said.
He said the book was published in January and was welcomed by many people who encouraged him to write more.
The book Sedibeng Sa Theto comprises 50 poems he wrote by himself.
“My poems are a collection of a variety of themes from laughter to teaching people where they come from and their roots to the importance of education, equality and resting people,” he said.
Speaking to his publisher and friend, Junior told the Daily Sun that working with Mphahlele was an honour.
“When I was working on his work in the anthology, editing and fixing mistakes or grammar, I often found one artist whose work transported me and took me to a different world.
“That’s what his work did. His work is so amazing. He is someone I would like to work with for a very long time,” Junior said.
Setswana novel and author of Moletlo Wa Manong Sabata-Mpho Mokae advised that Mphahlele must maintain a social media presence.
The second piece of advice was the importance of book clubs, as this is a space where an artist can engage with the reader on their content while networking with other writers in the block.
