Description
The Lady Missionary by Gail Dendy is a collection of poetry that blends realism with fantasy, myth, fables and fairy tales to explore and reimagine the world. The poems move through themes of love, revenge, rage and misplaced desire, often placing childhood and innocence alongside more difficult subjects such as physical disability, illness and death.
Dendy’s writing is marked by a strong sense of rhythm, structure and form, with humour ranging from whimsical to darkly wicked. The title poem, The Lady Missionary, uses an imagined missionary’s arrival in Africa to engage with colonial attitudes and assumptions, while other poems explore more personal experiences and perspectives. Published by Kwela Books in 2007, the collection contains 13 poems and reflects Dendy’s distinctive use of magical realism, irony and carefully controlled language.
