JahRose Jafta, South Africa
Nthabiseng JahRose Jafta is a distinguished South African poet, writer, publisher, and a creative strategist. She holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Rhodes University and has become one of the most compelling literary voices on the African continent.
She is currently a Creative Writing lecturer at North-West University, where she nurtures emerging writers and promotes multilingual storytelling in Sesotho, English, and other South African languages. Jafta is a passionate educator and mentor, using her academic and creative expertise to bridge traditional knowledge systems with contemporary writing practices.
A former Deputy President of the National Writers’ Association of South Africa (NWASA) and founding Publishing Coordinator at African Languages Press, Jafta now leads Sun Peo, an independent publishing house committed to amplifying African voices. Through Sun Peo, she has published various titles, including poetry, children’s books, anthologies, and memoirs, many in indigenous languages. www.sunpeo.co.za
As an author, she has released 10 books, with her latest work, Alora, standing out as a deeply spiritual and poetic offering. Alora explores grief, healing, womanhood, and ancestral memory, and has evolved into a travelling literary experience—the Alora Book Party—which blends live readings, music, storytelling, and cultural rituals. The book has touched audiences across South Africa and sparked a renewed conversation about Black womanhood and poetic healing.
Her poems have been translated into Sesotho, IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Mandarin, Nepali,, Arabic, Kiswahili, Spanish, Danish, Russian and adapted into Braille, and she has performed in international festivals across the world..
As a member of the World Organisation of Writers (WOW), Jafta brings with her a powerful vision of decolonized African literature, multilingualism, and the transformative power of storytelling to heal, educate, and unite across borders.
