Overview

Folding a River is a sweeping poetic testament to migration, memory and the fragile work of hope. In this powerful new collection, Alison Phipps and Tawona Sitholé draw on years of intercultural practice, peace-building and international research to create poems shaped by ceremony, humour, lament and fierce tenderness. Moving across continents and crises, they weave rivers, forests, ancestors and everyday encounters into a shared language of resilience. These poems speak to displacement and belonging, to wounds that demand tending, and to the courage required to remake community. A vital, genre-defying collection for a world in search of liberation and healing.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tawona Sitholé ,  Alison Phipps
Publisher:   Wild Goose Publications
Imprint:   Wild Goose Publications
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 20.00cm
ISBN:  

9781804323939

ISBN 10:   1804323934
Pages:   176
Publication Date:   16 February 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Introduction     10 Part I – Freedom to move Labyrinth     14  a guide to the traveller     16  Obedience     19  leopard hunter     20 What is your peace?     21  our squinty house     23 With holding     25 second handling     25 We are freer than we believe     26 b is for black, c is for captain: alphabet-themed ­misadventures of a terribly seasick crew with stoic ­colonial disposition in unrelenting tidal waves of ­historical inadequacies     27  The waiting     28 rukweza farmer     30  Part II – Freedom to create Warrior bird     34 forest songs     35 Silence     36 speaky clean     38 Wanted     39 handmade     39 There is also this to tell     40 maybe it is     42 The one I am     44 sleeping awake     46 I remember writing my first poem     48 emissions     49 Part III – Freedom to wonder WindCalm     52 thinkwalking     53 When     54 there are things     54 At GorseBloom     55 rootikali korekt     57 Abyss     58 four fires     59 At my lips     60 i don’t need anything     61 I want to make more time for roses     63 how beautiful is life     64  Part IV – Freedom to bear In that garden     68 meticulous the gardener     69  It’s time     73 show and tell     74 Star Earth     76 a breath of myst     77 Folding a river     79 running return     81  Can you hear my river?     86  meander     88 Crossing the Volta     90 weathering withering whethering     92 No matter how poisoned the land     94 nothing much said     96 These trees     98 musasa     100 The rotting season     101 as     103 Black in history     104 arc     106   Great northern divers     108 leathers and smartphones     110 Beads     113 baddy lost goody     115 Part V – Freedom to praise Wounded     118 chifumuro     119 The wolf moon – and its phases     120 kuziva mbuya huudzwa (learning comes through listening)     125  Look!     130  every now and again     130 A day as full as the moon     131 jenaguru     132 Poor in spirit     133 rupture     135 The HeartBeats     137 urban tears     139 The earth is covered in darkness     141 the spirit of darkness     144 Night watching     146 do hesitate to     148 Blessing     149 crannog means shama     150 At Nehanda’s tree     152 the station area     153 Epilogue – Warriors cry We are nature: pasichigaré     158  pasichigaré: we are nature     164 Acknowledgements     169 About the authors     172

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Author Information

Dr Tawona Sitholé is a poet, playwright, mbira musician, educator and facilitator. He is Lecturer in Creative Practice Education with the UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Education, Languages and Arts (UNESCO RIELA). Professor Alison Phipps is UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Education, Languages and Arts; Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies at the University of Glasgow; and Co-Convener of Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network.

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