Upile Chisala’s two poetry collections “soft magic” and “Nectar.”

Upile Chisala has two poetry collections namely soft magic and Nectar that lovers of poetry really need to check out.

Upile is a storyteller, sociologist and artivist from Malawi who first came to our attention when she was featured in this year’s OkayAfrica.com 100 women series. In an interview with the online publication, she speaks about many things like why it is so important for her to write poems specifically for black women? She says that, “The lessons in self-hate that target black girls are ongoing, overwhelming, overt and subtle. I always want my writing to be a place where black girls and black womxn feel safe and celebrated.”

The poet has two collections to her name. They are;

soft magic (2015)

soft magic is the debut collection of prose and poetry by Upile Chisala. This book explores the self, joy, blackness, gender, matters of the heart, the experience of Diaspora, spirituality and most of all, how we survive. ‘soft magic.’ is a shared healing journey.

You can get this book here.

Nectar (2017)

Nectar is the second collection of poetry and prose by Malawian storyteller Upile Chisala. In this book, Upile guides through a beautiful process of blooming starting with some poems on self love then words on our roots followed by acknowledging all the fruit of these experiences. The storyteller’s hope is that these poems on growth encourage the reader to sow and to make changes in the lives of others. Upile’s hope is to tell stories from the margins and through her work help others and herself come to terms with pasts, celebrate presents and confidently dream beautiful futures.

You can get this book here.