Amazwi houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of resources relating to South African literature in English. The museum preserves South Africa’s literary heritage through state-of-the-art environmental controls and monitoring procedures.
The collection includes authors’ manuscripts, photographs, posters, theatre programmes and published works, as well as comprehensive resources on South African literature, such as critical works, reviews and interviews published in books, journals and press-clippings, including digital material.
Since 2019, Amazwi’s collection mandate encompasses all of South Africa’s official languages. The museum is now collecting literature in all indigenous languages and encourages donors to contribute to Amazwi’s collection drive. The Curatorial Division has initially prioritised collection of the works of literary authors who write in isiXhosa.