The idea of pocket books started, the way the best ideas are started – sparked by a series of events, connections and happenstances.

In a conversation between Kolade Arogundade (academic, poet, world music aficionado, writer, political animal) and Emma Harvey (author, activist, counsellor and general manager of an activation and design company – iNtsika), these sparks coalesced into our first project – a collection of poetry designed to fit your pocket physically and financially. A random experiment in distributing beauty. We sent out a call to our networks (Facebook and etc.) and chose ‘Love’ as our theme.

We have in the world our first pocket poetry book – ‘Competing Loves’. Its growing into a bigger dream, and our dream is evolving, based on some fundamental premises:

• We believe that people will read if they get books in their faces at a price they can pay.
• We believe that people will write if they are sure that what they have written will be read and appreciated.
• We also believe that the more people write the better they become.

"the more people write the better they become"

So our Pocket Books are growing into ‘Giants in the Land’. An initiative that seeks to dwarf all the problems relating to reading, writing and publishing by collecting works from people who will not regularly be able to find publishers, and sell them to people who will not normally invest in books. In our dreaming, ‘Giants in the Land’ will also - through workshops and mentorship (adopt-a-writer) programmes - help writers improve their art.

Using ‘Competing Loves’ as our experiment, we wanted to make sure that it had a big purpose at its core, that it gave something to people beyond a collection of beautiful words, and so we decided to donate our profits to Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust.
Our next edition will revolve around the theme of ‘Life & Death’ and all profits will go to the Renal Transplant Unit at Groote Schuur Hospital. We’re learning new forms of distribution, and are proud to say that we have sold books in places as varied as hospitals, churches, homes and managed to spread to Khayelitsha, Grahamstown, East London, and Pretoria amongst others. And the book still hasn’t seen the inside of a bookshop!
It features works from poets in three countries – South Africa, Nigeria and the US. These include: 

• Òsúndárà, (Alain López), is Cuban birthed, NYC raised, CT educated, and is Miami living. Through technological, artistic, and social justice mediums he hopes to build partnerships conducive to our growth and our fulfilments.  
• Vuyokazi Yonke - The sun rises from her heart and shines in her smile. 
• Nolitha Matshikiza – is a passionate, loving and dedicated young woman. Her life revolves around what she believes to be the center of God’s purpose for us- to love every soul that we are blessed to encounter. Act as though it is impossible to fail and love living this life.” 
• and FreeRiddim’s own Nathi X.

Contact us for your copy of ‘Competing Loves’,
find Pocket Books on Facebook, <<(click on the link)
or email emmanence@gmail.com.