SING MY COUNTRY, poems

64pp., paperback, Mangalani Publishing & Guyo Buguni, Vhembe & Makhado, 2025

ISBN: 9781775672920

A collection of poems by education activist John Samuel that deal with "love, apartheid, and absence".

"John Samuel's poetry insists on the power of place as witness. [His] poems offer repeatedly matching reference points for the recovery of our tortuous history. Through his poetry, we are invited not only to remember, but to reckon: to find amid the ruins of our history, the quiet persistence of hope and the ongoing demand for justice." Thayalan Reddy, from his foreword

John Samuel taught English language and literature at secondary schools and colleges in Ghana, Zambia and England in the 1970s. He is the former National Director of SACHED Trust, and was Head of Education of the ANC, Deputy Director General of National Education, and Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. In 2011 he set up and led the International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice at  the University of the Free State. His most recent publication is Winged Words (2025), a collection of poems inspired by the book Bird Lore of the Eastern Cape Province by Rev. Robert Godfrey, published in 1941.