A E Ballakisten is a South African poet. He was born in an old converted police station in Cape Town in the winter of 1970 and grew up in a South Africa besieged by Apartheid at its most intense.
His writing focuses on the human condition and the human experience - its intensity, its dilemmas and its beauty.
He is a Christian who sees merit in humanism, a capitalist who refuses to disregard socialism, a futurist grounded in history and an optimist with regular bouts of despair.
He has worked and studied in the USA and the UK, and now lives in Johannesbu... View More »
A E Ballakisten is a South African poet. He was born in an old converted police station in Cape Town in the winter of 1970 and grew up in a South Africa besieged by Apartheid at its most intense.
His writing focuses on the human condition and the human experience - its intensity, its dilemmas and its beauty.
He is a Christian who sees merit in humanism, a capitalist who refuses to disregard socialism, a futurist grounded in history and an optimist with regular bouts of despair.
He has worked and studied in the USA and the UK, and now lives in Johannesburg where he is a university professor and strategy advisor.
Literary reviews of AE Ballakisten's poetry:
“ … it is such a satisfying thing to read the work of someone who is a real poet, able to work an image into a new existence. And also - something so important to me - to find someone who writes song. There are many people writing what they call poetry today, and it does not seem to me to be poetry at all. It lacks the understanding of what words can do. When I began to read your book, I thought at once of W H Auden, who to my mind is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century" - Angela Read Lloyd
“The absolute number one key issue in poetry is honesty. I admire your willingness to document significant events and emotions in your life that reveal so much of you and
your history.” - Hugh Hodge «View Less
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A E Ballakisten is a South African poet. He was born in an old converted police station in Cape Town in the winter of 1970 and grew up in a South Africa besieged by Apartheid at its most intense.
His writing focuses on the human condition and the human experience - its intensity, its dilemmas and its beauty.
He is a Christian who sees merit in humanism, a capitalist who refuses to disregard socialism, a futurist grounded in history and an optimist with regular bouts of despair.
He has worked and studied in the USA and the UK, and now lives in Johannesburg where he is a university professor and strategy advisor.
Literary reviews of AE Ballakisten's poetry:
“ … it is such a satisfying thing to read the work of someone who is a real poet, able to work an image into a new existence. And also - something so important to me - to find someone who writes song. There are many people writing what they call poetry today, and it does not seem to me to be poetry at all. It lacks the understanding of what words can do. When I began to read your book, I thought at once of W H Auden, who to my mind is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century" - Angela Read Lloyd
“The absolute number one key issue in poetry is honesty. I admire your willingness to document significant events and emotions in your life that reveal so much of you and
your history.” - Hugh Hodge «View Less