Draft:Stephen Symons

Stephen Symons (born 1966) is a South African poet, short story writer and graphic designer.

He has published poetry and short fiction in journals, magazines, and anthologies, both locally and internationally. His debut collection, "Questions for the Sea" (uHlanga, 2016), received an honourable mention for the 2017 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry and was also shortlisted for the 2017 Ingrid Jonker Prize. His unpublished collection "Spioenkop" was a semi-finalist for the Hudson Prize for Poetry (2015, USA). His second collection, "Landscapes of Light and Loss", was published by Dryad Press in 2018, and his third collection, "For Everything that is Pointless and Perfect ", was published in 2020 by Karavan Press and longlisted for a 2022 NIHSS Award. His poem "Sunrise with naartjies", also from the collection, was a winner in the ClemenGold®Writing Project. A selection of Symons's poems was anthologised in "The New Century of South African Poetry" (Ad Donker) in 2018. The poem "Small souls" won the 2021 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Competition. His fourth collection, "Small Souls - New & Collected Poems", was published in 2022 by Karavan Press. "Small Souls - New & Collected Poems" was shortlisted for a South African Literary Award in 2023, and longlisted for a 2024 NIHSS Award. His fifth collection, "THE ALGEBRA OF INSIGNIFICANCE", was published in 2024 by Karavan Press.

"AFTERBURN ", a collection of short stories, was published by Tattoo Press in 2023.

Symons holds a PhD in History (University of Pretoria) and an MA in Creative Writing (University of Cape Town). He lives with his family in Oranjezicht, Cape Town. His PhD thesis was titled, “Shadows asking an echo to dance” - Navigating ambiguity:How former conscripts(1980-1990) navigate memories of induction into the SADF in post-apartheid society, and explored the South African Defence Force (SADF) conscription experience (1980 -1990) within the framework of masculinity (gender), memory and visual studies. The thesis provided insights, via multi-methodological means, into the construction of militarised masculinities, memory and whiteness in apartheid-era South Africa. I am particularly interested in the manner in which historical memory and counter-memory emerge from military and militarised environments. Hi journal article, ‘Casting Shadows’: Militarised boyhoods in apartheid South Africa during the 1980s provided a series of insights into the structures and scaffolding of militarising White South African adolescents during the 1980s, including the processes of militarisation from childhood up until induction into the former South African Defence Force. Symons's online "Saying No!" project articulates, curates and interrogate white apartheid-era militarisms in a contested present by creative means.

Poetry and short story collections:

2016 - [Poetry] QUESTIONS FOR THE SEA (UHlanga)

2018 - [Poetry] LANDSCAPES OF LIGHT AND LOSS (Dryad Press)

2020 - [Poetry] FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS POINTLESS AND PERFECT (Karavan Press)

2022 - [Poetry] SMALL SOULS: NEW & COLLECTED POEMS (Karavan Press)

2023 - [Short Stories] AFTERBURN: WAR STORIES (Tattoo Press)

2024 - [Poetry] THE ALGEBRA OF INSIGNIFICANCE (Karavan Press)

Links

The Poetry & Short Stories of Stephen Symons (South Africa) - World Cat Book Listings

Karavan Press - Stephen Symons

Stephen Symons - Goodreads