To Breathe into Another Voice

Myesha Jenkins was born San Francisco, California in 1948. She was a poet, spoken word performer, cultural activist, and teacher. She was an anti-apartheid activist and moved to south Africa in 1993. In 2003, she and poets, Napo Masheane, Lebogang Mashile and Ntsiki Mazqai, founded the Feela Sistah! Spoken Word Collective. Her work included two poetry collections, Breaking the Surface (2005) and Dreams of Flight (2011). Her work was included in various other collections. She edited the poetry collection, To Breathe into Another Voice: A South African Anthology of Jazz Poetry (2017). She received the Mbokodo Award for Women in the Arts in the Poetry category in 2013. She produced the radio series Poetry in the Air and later curated a podcast series called Myesha's Memoirs--Living with Jazz and Poetry. Myesha Jenkins died on September 5, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa at the age of 72.

030