PORT Elizabeth township poet Mxolisi Nyezwa has won the prestigious Thomas Pringle Award for poetry.

“I am very grateful for the recognition of my work,” said Nyezwa, who also received an award from Rhodes University this year.

The interior of his tidy office in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth contrasts sharply with its appearance from the outside – a blue container among the shacks which dominate the area.

“From here I am fighting for the preservation of black poetry”, said Nyezwa, who has devoted his life to poetry, writing and teaching other people how to do so.

“Writing is a way to come to terms with contradictions people experience in every day life,” he said, pointing to the children playing with refuse bags outside.

The Thomas Pringle Award is named after the young early 19th century Scottish poet and journalist, who led the Scottish party of the 1820 British Settlers to the Eastern Cape and lived near Tarkastad, who was the first English-language writer to describe South Africa's scenery and became known as the father of South African poetry and media freedom. The award is granted once every two years to outstanding writers in journals, newspapers and periodicals and is administered by the English Academy of Southern Africa.

Amitabh Mitra, who presented the prize on behalf of the organisation, said the award had had a controversial reputation during apartheid, “therefore making the award to Nyezwa can be seen as a milestone”.

Mitra, who is a medical doctor in East London but has always been involved in the national poetry scene, said Nyewza had distinguished himself from the other two candidates by the way he received his inspiration.

“Nyezwa is not influenced by any of the great classical masters but writes about the world around him – ordinary people who live in poor conditions. That is how he is raised and still lives as well.”

Nyezwa started writing about 20 years ago, when he could not go to school because of boycotts and riots against the apartheid regime in the 1980s.

“My goal is to capture the stories from ordinary people, stories that emanate from the years of apartheid. This is an important theme in my work,” he said. Until recently, Nyezwa was an editor of the multilingual literary magazine Kotaz . “Unfortunately, we were forced to shut down the publication after the National Lottery cut off its funding.” Nyezwa said he would have to use the R2000 he had been granted to pay for the release of the last issue.

“Many artists in the Eastern Cape face similar financial difficulties. Art is sidelined by the officials. It has no priority, there is no funding.

“Now I am selling vetkoek in Motherwell. That’s my business”.