Writer-activist Bénédicte Kusendila MPhil lives with music and her children in the Belgian countryside. She started out at her Nan's kitchen table, a decade and a half later became a member of the Afrikaans Skrywersvereniging (Writers Association) but now mostly writes in and translates into English. Sewn In Red, her debut collection, was published in 2017 by Rad Press Publishing. Her haiku, poems and short stories have appeared in various publications such as the Asahi Shimbun, Presence, Extract(s), Gambling The Aisle,Hawai'i Pacific Review, Adanna, The Bangalore Review, Beyond Words, Littéra Tour, Aji Magazine and more. Maintenant, annual leading journal of contemporary DADA art and creative writing, has included her work since 2020. In the Summer of 2023, she was Artist In Residence at the Olympic National Park in Washington state. Apart from having read and performed in the United States and in South Africa, she toured Europe as poet-performer in the K(no)wHate collective and as part of Maintenant's Peacefire campaign. Bénédicte was shortlisted for the 2024 Bridport Prize for Poetry. She can be found on www.facebook.com/kusendila
Kusendila's work has been published in Across Latitude & Language by Delhi Poetry Slam, a global anthology of poets celebrating diverse voices from around the world.