Poets Vannie Kaap was founded and established by multi-award-winning poet and author, Haroldene Tshienda. She is also the founding director of Shofar Books, previously known as Tshienda Publications.
After receiving numerous inquiries from established, published and unpublished poets, who were looking for a safe space to perform and share their poems. She then approached a few authors who would be interested in joining her. Three months later Haroldene, Jeremy Dames, Quinton Leonard, Devonetia Michels and Nashville Blaauw decided to gather monthly and create a save space for aspiring poets and writers. The original group meets once a month at different venues. They have 40 regular poets as well as many new and aspiring poets attending the Poetry Circles. It is indeed a platform which poets and writers can call “home.”