African Renaissance

The Art Lexcia Podcast with Wesley Pepper

Abigail George
By Abigail George
By Abigail George

Critically acclaimed writer and award-winning poet, Abigail George sits down with visual artist and entrepreneur Wesley Pepper, and talks about mental health awareness and sanity in the arts, the high risk of suicide and suicide ideation, high risk behaviours such as drug addiction and alcoholism amongst artists, family dynamics, the artistic vision of creatives in the African Renaissance, race and racial discrimination, her mother’s support, encouragement and belief in her chosen vocation, growing up in the brutal regime of apartheid, the genetic predisposition of mental illness and alcoholism in her maternal and paternal family and the solitary path of a writer. Abigail speaks of the major influences in her writing, Rainer Maria Rilke, Salinger, Hemingway, Updike, the Russian poets, the poet, Nick Laird, and Petya Dubarova. There is also a frank discussion of the loneliness, despair and social isolation that she experienced in childhood, bullying, and her dysfunctional upbringing, and how it transformed and informed the blueprint of the consciousness of her writing and thinking, and the artist as witness, historian and outsider.

Abigail George
Abigail George
Abigail George is an award-winning short story writer, author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and an award-winning poet. She is a Pushcart Prize, two-time Best of the Net nominated, Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Prize longlisted, Writing Ukraine Prize shortlisted, Identity Theory's Editor's Choice, Ink Sweat Tears Pick of the Month poet/writer. In 2021, her writing was recognised by Afrocritik among the 20 Remarkable African Essays. In 2023, she was the winner of the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award. In 2023, she was shortlisted for the Writing Ukraine Prize; in 2024, her poem, “Rebirth” received an Honourable Mention in the New Coin Poetry Prize, and in 2025, she was shortlisted for the Erbacce Prize. In 2025, she was longlisted for the Erbacce Prize and her poems were selected for the Erbacce Journal. She is a two-time recipient of grants from the National Arts Council in Johannesburg, one from the Centre of the Book in Cape Town and another from ECPACC in KuGompo City. She won a national high school writing competition in her teens. She was interviewed by BBC Radio 4, for AOL.com, the USA Today Network, The Tennessean, and Radio Ikrikya in Algeria. Her writing has appeared in Agbowo, Botsotso, Critical Muslim, Jalada, Kalahari Review, LitNet, Ons Klyntji, Piker Press, The Eastern Province Herald, The Ovi, and others. She was educated in Port Elizabeth and Swaziland. She is the Contributing Editor for African Writer Magazine based in New Jersey, and an editor at Mwanaka Media and Publishing situated in Zimbabwe. Her latest book is "Did You Get Married to Her When I was in the Mental Hospital". Find it on Amazon and at the ZamaShort shop. Find her on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Substack, and Instagram @abigailgeorgepoet.
Previous article
Senate Shelves Crypto Market-Structure Bill, But Wall Street Keeps Buying Bitcoin
Next article
Capitalism, Imperialism and America’s Middle East Wars: A Marxist Perspective