Klara du Plessis is a poet, critic, and literary curator. Her debut collection of multilingual long poems, Ekke, won the 2019 Pat Lowther Memorial Award, was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and garnered much critical acclaim. She lives in Montreal and Cape Town.

“Ekke entwines a filigree of language and being, unpacking/unfolding the subject—a web of intersections with language, landscape, art, culture, nation—while pushing language to and beyond the limits of meaning. Like tides coming in and out, du Plessis’ lines advance and recede over her themes to “eke out a meaning for [the] self,” a self existing between Afrikaans and English, writing the (animal) body between “lyftaal” and “skryftaal.” Philosophical and tectonic, vulnerable and vivid, Ekke’s long poems ultimately become “ululations in the throat.””– Oana Avasilichioaei, author of We Beasts

“In Ekke, Klara du Plessis proves her assertion that “a mirror image is never static.” Her long, thoughtful poems look in the bent mirrors of two languages – English and Afrikaans – where we encounter cows, roses, women, museums, and the girls of Las Meninas. du Plessis’ curiosity glances and pauses, meanders and dwells, always pulling the reader through memorable lines and startling insights in this remarkable and original debut. A must-read from one of our country’s finest new voices.”- Sachiko Murakami, author of Get Me Out of Here