Paperback: 104 pages
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0-9821660-0-1
Publication Date: March 21, 2016

Each piece speaks of long forgotten truths, truths that we need to tattoo on the palms of our hands and boldly state at the top of our lungs when strangers ask us to tell them about Namibia. 

— Faith Kavamba, “Poetry at its Best”, Windhoek Observer, 20 February 2014.

Mvula ya Nangolo’s collection is the fruit of several decades’ poetic reflection. Despite the insistent patriotism Watering the Beloved Desert intermittently shows a more intimate side to Mvula’s personae, especially in the last section where the years of exile dissolve into the more complex struggles of the post-independence period.

— David Kerr, author of Tangled Tongues and Head, Department of Media Studies, University of Botswana

After reading Watering the Beloved Desert one wants to learn the frog dance and praise the ancestors. In the heart of every exile dreams a poem. Often it is the poetry of land, people and remembrance. Mvula ya Nangolo has given us a gift. Words for the thirsty. We must drink and strengthen our bones, blood and flesh. 

— E. Ethelbert Miller, director of The African American Resource Center, Howard University.

At times, Mvula ya Nangolo’s poetry is as staccato as raindrops on a hot tin roof. At other times, it is as lightly seductive as the touch of a butterfly. 

— Jean Fischer, Namibian journalist, in Flamingo.