Koleka Putuma is a cultural worker based in Cape Town, South Africa. Her inquiries are conveyed through performance, publications, and installations. Her practice is concerned with exploring the voice and body as channels for images, language and dreams, weaving citation, religion, cultural and historical identities to make sense of the world. She has published three poetry collections, a children’s book and several plays. In September 2025, Bonnier Books UK published her debut children’s book Everybody Has a Fear, which has since been translated into Korean, Spanish and German. In 2024, Hot Key Books (UK) published her latest poetry collection for teens and young adults, ‘We Have Everything We Need To Start Again’. Koleka Putuma is the Founder and Director of Manyano Media, a multidisciplinary creative company that produces and uplifts stories by Black queer and non-binary artists.
