English Alive

English Alive is an annual anthology of writing from high schools and secondary colleges in southern Africa. The first edition of English Alive was published in 1967, and it has been published every year since. Join the Facebook group!

Many students who submitted to English Alive have become professional writers, including Jeremy Cronin, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Nadia Davids, Shaun Johnson and many more.

Any high school student may submit independently or through their school. You can submit one piece or a small number of pieces. You can submit at any time of the year. The closing date each year is 1 April (late-posted entries have until 1 May).

Submit

The easiest way to submit is to email your piece(s) in Times New Roman 12 pt to englishalive@iafrica.com. (Please don’t use other fonts or sizes, unless it is essential for the piece.)

Or you can post them to: English Alive Box 23912 Claremont 7735.

Remember to put your name and school after each piece, i.e. below it. (We don’t need to know your age or Grade.)

Publication is usually around mid-August each year.

We also invite students to submit artwork for consideration for the cover. Send this by email as a high-resolution 300 dpi jpg to englishalive@iafrica.com.

English Alive is not a competition: there are no cups or cheques handed out for ‘the best’ pieces of writing. Publication is the acknowledgement of writing of quality.

A last cautionary note. Plagiarism is theft, theft of someone else’s words and ideas. No one would want to be guilty of that. Original thinking and original writing are so much more worthwhile!

Buy

To pay for your copies, make a direct deposit to English Alive, account 071491023, Standard Bank, branch 025009 (Rondebosch).

You must email proof of payment to orders@englishalive.org.za, or post proof of payment to English Alive, SACEE, Box 23912, Claremont 7735.

If you would rather fill out the order form on paper and post it, download the form here (PDF).

Alumni

Who’s been published in English Alive? Too many to list here! Many students who submitted to English Alive have become professional writers, including Jeremy Cronin, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Nadia Davids, Shaun Johnson and many more.

See pieces by them and other ex-_English Alive_ writers in Leaves to a Tree compiled by Robin Malan, published by David Philip imprint of New Africa Books 99 Garfield Road Claremont 7735 email orders@newafricabooks.co.za.

Here’s the news of ex-English Alivers culled from the 2007, 2008 and 2009 editions of the anthology:

News of ex-English Alivers 2007

Ken Barris (English Alive editor 1993) published a new collection of poems African Easter in 2005; and a new novel What Kind of Child in 2006, which was shortlisted for both the Commonwealth Writers’ (Africa Region): Best Book Award; and for the Herman Charles Bosman Prize. He won the 2006 Thomas Pringle Award for a short story in a magazine: ‘The quick brown fox’ in New Contrast.
Jerome Damon (English Alive assistant editor 1995–2004, 2007–) was the only South African FIFA-accredited referee to officiate in the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany, and officiated at the FIFA under-19 World Cup in 2007.
Shaun de Waal (English Alive contributor 1981, Hyde Park High School) co-edited Pride: Protest and Celebration.
Justin Fox (English Alive contributor 1984–5, South African College High School) published a new book, Under the Sway: a photographic journey through Mozambique; he also edited Cape Town Calling: from Mandela to Theroux on the Mother City; h2006 HSBC/SA PEN short story competition and was published in African Road; also, an essay on his father appeared in My Dad.is story ‘Big Game’ came third in the
Allan Kolski Horwitz (English Alive contributor 1969, Herzlia High School) published a collection of poems, Saving Water.
Karen Jeynes (English Alive contributor 1995, 1997, Westerford High School) has staged her prize-winning play Everybody Else (is f**king perfect) in Johannesburg, Cape Town, at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and in both English and Afrikaans versions at the KKNK in Oudtshoorn. It was published in the Playscript Series by Junkets Publisher. The play was given a staged reading in Chicago as part of a season by the International Center for Women Playwrights. Her play Backwards in High Heels had a season at the Kalk Bay Theatre in Cape Town. Don’t Mention Sex played in Johannesburg and at the National Arts Festival, and her adaptation of Helen Brain’s Here Be Lions premiered at the National Arts Festival. Her radio drama You Can’t Make Me was aired on SAfm.Her novel for teenagers, Flipside (co-authored with Eeshaam September), was published in 2007.
Shaun Johnson (English Alive contributor 1976, Hyde Park High School) was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Africa Region): Best Book for his novel The Native Commissioner, published in 2006; the novel then went on to win the M-Net Literary Award. It was also shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2007. See www.shaunjohnson.co.za .
David Lan (English Alive contributor 1967–9, Westerford High School). As Director of the Young Vic theatre in London, David re-opened the theatre after a massively successful makeover and rebuild, with the community opera Tobias and the Angel, for which he wrote the libretto. Also, David featured at No. 15 in the 2006 The Stage 100, the industry newspaper’s breakdown of the most influential people in UK theatre.
Robin Malan (English Alive founding assistant editor 1967–70, editor 1995–2004, 2007–) gave the 2006 Ernest Pereira Memorial Lecture of the English Academy of Southern Africa; he is the Acting Chairperson of IBBY SA, the South African section of the International Board on Books for Young People; new editions of Worldscapes, New Inscapes, New Outridings and New Beginnings appeared; New Poetry Works was published; Ah Big Yaws? was re-issued; and his play The boy who walked into the world was published in the Playscript Series by Junkets Publisher.
Nokuthula Mazibuko (English Alive assistant editor 1995–2004, 2007–) published Spring Offensive: youth underground structures in South Africa during the ’80s; she followed that up with the publication of Love Songs for Nheti and other tales; she was awarded a lecturing/writing residency to the George Washington University in Washington DC.
Helen Moffett (English Alive contributor 1978, Hottentots Holland High School) compiled Lovely beyond Any Singing, a collection of South African travel and descriptive pieces. She is currently completing a fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, and visited the University of the West Indies as a guest lecturer – which meant being able to attend the Cricket World Cup final in Barbados!
Martin Plaut (English Alive contributor 1967, Cape Town High School) published a book for children, The Hamster of Hampstead Heath.
Henrietta Rose-Innes (English Alive contributor 1985–9, Westerford High School) won the prestigious 2007 HSBC/SA PEN short story competition with her story ‘Poison’, published in the SA PEN collection African Pens. She has also been shortlisted for the 2007 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘Bad Places’ which was published in New Contrast. She published Nice Times! a book of South African pleasures and delights; and is currently enjoying an artists’ residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany.
Henk Rossouw (English Alive contributor 1995, Milnerton High School) won a Summer Literary Seminars fiction contest with his story ‘Unslung’, which appeared in Tin House literary magazine, based in Portland, Oregan. Henk lives in Montreal.

News of ex-English Alivers 2008

Jerome Damon (English Alive assistant editor 1995–2004, 2007–) was appointed a soccer referee at the Beijing Olympics.
Nadia Davids (English Alive contributor 1993–4, 1996, St Cyprian’s School) had her new play Cissie staged at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and at the Sanlam Studio at the Baxter Theatre Centre; Cissie was published in the Playscript Series by Junkets Publisher; her play The Littlest Warrior was published in South African Plays for TV, Radio and Stage.
Shaun de Waal (English Alive contributor 1981, Hyde Park High School) co-edited To Have and To Hold: The Making of Same-Sex Marriage in South Africa, published by Jacana Media.
Karen Jeynes (English Alive contributor 1995, 1997, Westerford High School) represented the Performing Arts Network of South Africa (PANSA) at a Festivals Conference in Istanbul, Turkey; she was the co-compiler of FAB, a coffee-table book of photographs and recollections of the Mother City Queer Projects, published by Umuzi.
Shaun Johnson (English Alive contributor 1976, Hyde Park High School) also won the M-Net Prize with his novel The Native Commissioner in addition to the awards mentioned in last year’s English Alive.
Robin Malan (English Alive founding assistant editor 1967–70, editor 1995–2004, 2007–) compiled Cheesecutters and Gymslips: South Africans at boarding school, published by Umuzi; and devised the support-material for Poemscapes and Storyscapes, both published by Oxford University Press Southern Africa.
Nokuthula Mazibuko (English Alive assistant editor 1995–2004, 2007–) published a collection of stories, Love Songs for Nhedi.
Henrietta Rose-Innes (English Alive contributor 1985–9, Westerford High School) has won the 2008 Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘Poison’; she was shortlisted both in 2007 and 2008; she attended the Caine Prize fortnight-long workshop and, of course, the award announcement in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Huge congratulations to Henrietta!
Nicholas Spagnoletti (English Alive contributor, 1996, South African College High School) was one of the finalists in the NLDTF/PANSA Festival of Contemporary Theatre Readings 2007 with his play London Road; it won the Runner-up Award and the Audience Favourite Award; it was presented as part of the Play>Ground Readings series at the Baxter Theatre in May 2008.

News of ex-English Alivers 2009

Ken Barris (English Alive editor 1993) had his short story ‘The world of Worm’ published in New Writing from Africa 2009 as one of the finalists in the SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Award.
Jeremy Cronin (English Alive contributor 1967, St Joseph’s College) was appointed Deputy Minister of Transport in May 2009.
Jerome Damon (English Alive assistant editor 1995–2004, 2007–) was selected by Fifa as the referee of the 2008 African Champions League final in Cairo; he is the only Safa referee on Fifa’s list of referees for the World Cup in 2010.
Nadia Davids (English Alive contributor 1993–4, 1996, St Cyprian’s School) was Joint 3rd Prize-winner in the SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Award: her story ‘The visit’ was published in New Writing from Africa 2009.
Jeremy Gordin (English Alive contributor 1967–70) of the Sunday Independent was named South African Journalist of the Year for 2008; his biography Zuma was published.
Karen Jeynes (English Alive contributor 1995, 1997, Westerford High School) had her new play Getting There showcased in May 2009; it’s heading for an international tour.
Shaun Johnson (English Alive contributor 1976, Hyde Park High School) chaired the Editorial Board of the SA PEN/Studzinski Literary Award, and, together with the ad agency KingJames, formed a new publishing venture, Johnson-KingJames.
Robin Malan (English Alive assistant founding editor 1967–70, editor 1995–2004, 2007–) had two books published: A–Z of African Writers, and a children’s book Sonny Jim and His Sister.