Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and Quentin Tarantino could be reading poems about SA after the Oscars today.
A bestselling poetry book featuring two poems about SA by an author who has lived in the country and is married to a man from Cape Town is included in one of the exclusive swag bags delivered to 92nd Academy Awards nominees.
Graffiti Lane, a debut poetry collection by Kelly van Nelson — who is originally from England and now lives in Australia — is among the expensive gifts such as a 12-night cruise, false eyelashes, Botox, and a medical urine kit that tests for infections, that are given to the 24 biggest stars of the night.
Van Nelson was sworn to secrecy about her book's inclusion in the gift basket by gift bag company Hollywood Swag Bag.
She told the Sunday Times this week that she had to include SA in her book as it was a part of her children's heritage and "penning poems about it helps keep the memories of our great years in the southern Cape alive.
"I love to write about everyday life. Places I've been, people I've met, the contrasts we see every day in life but so often are blind to. SA is full of vibrant contrasts. It has so many challenges but is an insanely beautiful place with a rugged coastline that is world class. It has a pulse like nowhere else I've been to, and I've travelled to more than 60 countries.
"Even though we now live in Australia, my kids have a South African father and a British mum and they love their heritage."
Van Nelson moved from the UK to Goodwood, Cape Town, in 1996 and lived there for about a year with her husband, Shaun, and his parents. The pair moved to Scotland but returned to SA with two young children in 2009 and lived in L'Agulhas for three years.
The two poems are titled The Tablecloth and Zoetendal.
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