Poli Poli is a remarkable history that speaks to African identity, close family bonds, belonging, struggle and sacrifice, women’s rights and femininity and is written with the lyricism and transporting detail of one of the country’s greatest wordsmiths.

Barbara Masekela powerfully conveys the realities of life under apartheid and illustrates the features and characteristics of life in a coal-mining community like KwaGuqa in the 1940s, Alexandra township in the 1950s and one of the oldest girls-only schools in KwaZulu-Natal, Inanda Seminary. The memoir follows her grandmother, a beer brewer and seller who lived through the aftermath of the South African War, her professional parents’ determination to secure opportunities and safety for their children at a time when the state was shutting doors on Black people, and her university stint in Lesotho and departure into exile to Ghana in 1963.

Poli Poli tells the story of an extraordinary South African and the lesser known social history of people, families, communities and places.

Barbara Masekela is a South African poet, educator, mother and activist. She served as ambassador to France and the US and has held various executive and non-executive directorships at companies such as Standard Bank, the SABC and De Beers.