Marguerite Poland
Marguerite Poland has successfully and eloquently mastered writing for both children and adults. Her landmark 1979 book The Mantis And The Moon is credited with establishing a market for indigenous children’s books in English in South Africa. Poetic, sensitively-layered and lucid, Poland’s novels for adults have won several prestigious awards. A meticulous researcher, she has also written a number of academic papers and reports.
Fluent in Xhosa and isiZulu, much of Poland’s work reflects her interest in African culture with some of her children’s stories in particular inspired by African oral traditions. Her keen understanding and appreciation of the South African landscape, its fauna and flora, as well as its peoples, is colourfully evident in her writing.
Married with two daughters, Marguerite Poland spends her time between Grahamstown and Durban.
The mouse with no whiskers
2022-02-14"The need for comfortable multilingual interaction from childhood is crucial in establishing respect and a sense of community in a country of diverse people." – Marguerite Poland remembers Benjamin Mahlasela, her Xhosa language tutor at Rhodes University 50 years ago.