Books of Strength

POWA has brought women together to write stories, poems, essays, artworks and quotes. Collected in the Breaking the Silence, books these anthologies bring strength to the women who both create and read them.

BREAKING THE SILENCE

PAINTING MY FUTURE

2017

The theme ‘Painting my Future’ follows the publication of New Dawn (2016), which enabled women writers to move towards a new consciousness. Now with growing confidence and independence, they can imagine and choose a brighter future.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

NEW DAWN

2016

This collection, appropriately named New Dawn, presents a range of women writers of different generations from different social and cultural backgrounds in South Africa. We hear strong, multiple voices from school girls, young women, mothers and grandmothers who have overcome their particular hardship, heartache, abuse and social stereotyping in a patriarchal society to arrive at a new, individual consciousness, their ‘New Dawn’.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

PERFECTLY IMPERFECT

2014

The theme “Perfectly Imperfect” developed organically from the existing body of writing seen in “Breaking the Silence”. “Perfectly Imperfect” implies that a woman cannot be perfect, or conform to gender stereotypes that a traditional, patriarchal society imposes on her.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

SPECIAL EDITION

2013

This special edition contains a selection of unpublished poems, short stories and personal essays received since POWA’s first writing anthology in 2005.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

SISTERHOOD

2011

The themes discussed in Sisterhood cover the relationships and connections built by women to express love, support and solidarity to one another: mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, friends, neighbours, counsellors, partners, colleagues and strangers.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

LOVE & REVOLUTION

2010

All the stories and poems in this collection are mediums through which different women chose to portray and share their Love and Revolution. These stories seek to provide a platform for women to speak about issues that affect them, and the theme Love and Revolution is aimed at demystifying the misconceptions around love and through the various short stories and poems, women prove that the two are closely linked together.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

STORIES FROM OTHER(ED) WOMAN

2009

Contains stories received through the writing workshops and independently. These stories pierce through the veil of societal expectations and reach to the hearts and minds of the reader. The writers, through their poems, short stories and personal essays reveal the many ways in which women defy traditional norms and stand up for themselves.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

MURMURS OF THE GIRL IN ME

2007

Murmurs of the Girl in Me is a collection of poems, personal essays and short stories told from the perspective of the girl within, from the moment of violence and through her struggles to survive and to reconcile a relationship with her present self.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

POSITIVE SURVIVORS

2006

These themes of Positive Survivors include, righting poverty & violence and HIV/AIDS Together. Poverty, violence and HIV can form a web that keeps women trapped. HIV is both a cause and a consequence of violence, while poverty aggravates women’s experiences of HIV and violence.

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BREAKING THE SILENCE

DREAMING OF LIVING

2005

Covers the themes of silence and abuse, the complexity of being a victim, exploring gender roles, celebrating women and visions for the future.

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STORIES OF STRENGTH STORIES OF STRENGTH