Lost Libraries, Burnt Archives is a collected volume of short stories, artworks, poems, essays by 22 contributors including Koleka Putuma, Masande Ntshanga, Bongani Kona, and many more. It is a result of a collaborative project with colleagues at the University of Cape Town, and responds to the 'Of Smoke and Ash: Jagger Library Memorial Exhibition' curated by Jade Nair and Duane Jethro at UCT. This exhibition commemorated the tragic fire at the Jagger Library in April 2021, and celebrated the salvage efforts of volunteers and UCT Libraries. The contributors to this book are either artists and academics, sometimes both, and they write about libraries and archives or reflect on the topics of commemorative practices and collective loss, artistic practice and curatorship as a creative site of knowledge. Editors Sindi-Leigh-McBride and Julia Rensing conceived the project and edited the publication while PhD Candidates at the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel.

100% handmade by Pulp Paperworks, book design by Keenan Oliver. 

The physical book had a limited print run (100 copies) and given the reality of the high costs of books in South Africa, was not available for sale but instead made freely available to university and public libraries, research institutions and specialized archives in South Africa and at select international institutions. Additionally, a number of copies were made available for individuals who donated funds to Victory of the Word, a fundraising and development platform committed to serving independent artists and the preservation of language both visual and written. More information on availability below. 

The book is available at the following institutions, please contact the institution directly before visiting to confirm that the book has been shelved and is available.

South Africa

• Amazwi Museum for African literature
• Campbell Collections, University of KwaZulu-Natal
• Centre for Curating the Archive, University of Cape Town
• Department of Visual Art, University of Johannesburg
• Hiddingh Library, University of Cape Town
• Iziko National Gallery
• The Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, University of Cape Town
• Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town
• National Library of South Africa
• Nelson Mandela University Library
• North-West University Library
• Sol Plaatje University Library
• The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember, 44 Stanley
• The Jack Ginsberg Center for the Book, Wits Art Museum
• University of the Western Cape Library
• UP Library, University of Pretoria
• Walter Sisulu University Library

International

• African Studies Centre, Leiden University
• Basel University Library
• Basler Afrika Bibliographien
• Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
• Centre for African Studies, Harvard University
• Centre for African Studies, University of Basel
• Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge
• Department of African Studies, University of Cologne
• Institute of African Studies, Columbia University
• Nordic Africa Institute Library, Uppsala, Sweden
• SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin
• SOAS Library, University of London
• The Bibliotheca Alexandrina