12th Poetry Festival Africa
Oluwatoyin Ade-Odutola
International Poetry Festival Durban : 29 September -
4 October 2008
29 September to 4 October promises to be a stirring
week of words,
rhymes, performance and ideas, as the 12th Poetry
Africa international
poetry festival ignites Durban with over twenty poets
from around South
Africa, Africa, and the world. Hosted by the
University of
KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Creative Arts, Poetry
Africa's intensive
week-long programme kicks off with a pre-festival
showcase of Durban
poets at The Workshop Shopping Centre's Amphitheatre
on 28 September at
11h00. The showcase forms part of the Imagine Africa
initiative which
seeks to create platforms for challenging
stereotypical ideas of Africa
and imagining a better continent. The week encompasses
introductory
performances by the full lineup of participating poets
at the Elizabeth
Sneddon Theatre on opening night 29 September, and
will thereafter
feature 5 poets every evening, through to 3 October,
before the rousing
Festival Finale at the BAT Centre on 4 October.
The as-always diverse selection of poetic voices,
styles, forms, and
cultures includes the finely-tuned verse of teacher,
photojournalist and
activist Kole Ade-Odutola (Nigeria). Ade-Odutola's
celebrated second
collection of poetry The Poet Bled is dedicated to Ken
Saro Wiwa, the
author and environmental activist who was killed in
1995 by the Nigerian
military junta. The lineup from Africa also includes
Angolan Nastio
Mosquito, a provocative artist, performer, and poet
whose often
satirical work will be accompanied by South African
musicians. Kenyan
Bantu Mwaura's laconic poetry is principally concerned
with examining
the African continent, its politics, its history and
its place in the
international arena. Nassuf Djailani, from the Indian
Ocean island of
Mayotte, is the author of two poetry collections rich
in humor and
tenderness. The multi-talented Rogerio Manjate
(Mozambique) recently won
the Best Short Film Award at the 29th Durban
International Film Festival
and looks set to again wow Durban audiences with his
distinct and humane
voice. Legendary Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo -
whose music is now
banned in Zimbabwe - has been making his captivating
Chimurenga music
for over thirty years. His incendiary songs, patterned
on ancient mbira
rhythms and injected with a contemporary sensibility,
are particularly
relevant given the current political impasse to the
north of our
borders. Mapfumo will be supported by the guitarist
and two mbira
players from his group Blacks Unlimited. Mapfumo will
also perform in
special post-festival events (October 5 and 6) in
Johannesburg organised
by African Synergy Book Cafe.
The as always strong South African presence this year
includes Megan
Hall, winner of the 2008 Ingrid Jonker Prize for her
debut collection
Fourth Child. Hall is a poet of startlingly vividness
and - somewhat
paradoxically - control and will launch Fourth Child,
published by
Modjaji Books, during the festival. Other launches
include: Invitation
To A Voyage (Protea Book House) edited by respected
scholar and poet
Stephen Gray. The collection features French-language
poetry of the
Indian Ocean African islands and is a wonderful
introduction to the
lesser-known but rich literature of the region.
Prolific independent
publishers Botsotso launch an amazing five new
publications including
one by top Durban poet Mphutlane wa Bofelo. UKZN Press
will launch the
second collection of Mxolisi Nyezwa entitled, New
Country. Nyezwa is
also a participant this year and has long been an
acclaimed in local
poetry circles for his powerful and
difficult-to-classify lyrical poems.
The festival this year offers an emphasis on
performance and the spoken
word, reflecting the growing diversity of poetic
expression.
Sisters Tereska and Laverne Muishond call themselves
!Bushwomen and
infuse their poetry with song and dance to create a
stage performance
that is filled with energy and passion. Jitsvinger
(a.k.a Quintin
Goliath) is one of South Africa`s fastest rising
hip-hop artists and
delivers his conscious rhymes in an urgent and unique
meter. Joining the
Poetry Africa lineup this year is the trailblazing
South African hip hop
crew Godessa, comprising E.J. von Lyrik, Burnie, and
Shameema Williams,
whose poetry and music combination makes them some of
the most relevant
voices in the country.
Anton Krueger is an award-winning playwright and poet
and brings to
Poetry Africa his humanistic yet slightly view-askance
verse. Andrea
Dondolo, renowned for her role in the award-winning
sitcom Stokvel, is
also a skilled praise singer who is bound to captivate
Durban audiences.
Mak Manaka's sensitive and lucid poetry has seen him
become a sought
after performer at local and international events.
Powerful, fresh and
blessed with an enviable stage presence, poet and
musician Ntsiki Mazwai
also goes by her clan name, MaMiya. Her style of
fusing her
inspirational poems with beats resulted in the
immensely popular single
"Uwrongo". Independent press hero Gary Cummiskey is
the founder and
editor of Dye Hard Press, which specialises in
publishing South African
poetry, and in his own poetry, spread over numerous
collections, shows a
deft hand at balancing the avant garde and the poetic.
Masoja Msiza is the brains behind the popular Lentswe
Poetry Project on
SABC 2 and his poetry focuses, in a non-didactic
manner, on social
concerns. Rounding up the South African component is
the poetry
collective Basadzi Voices, which comprises Shameeyaa
neo waMolefe,
Phomelelo Mamampi Machika, Busi Gqulu and Xoli
Vilakazi. Basadzi Voices
through their projects - which include a successful
poetry anthology
published in 2006 by UKZN Press - aim to represent the
many voices,
often silenced, of young women across South Africa. A
special component
of the festival is the Durban Poetry Showcase, which
takes place at the
Festival Finale at the BAT Centre. This platform
showcases the
collaborative talents of poets from leading poetry
collectives in the
city, including: Live Poets Society, Keen Artists,
Nowadayz Poets, Poets
Corner, and Pour a Tree.
The international presence at Poetry Africa includes
the evocative,
finessed verse of Dutch poet Marjolijn van Heemstra
and American Carlos
Gomez, a leading voice at the forefront of the oral
poetry movement who
has been described by critics as a "truth-telling
visionary" and a
"lyrical prophet". Gomez also co-starred in Spike
Lee's hit film Inside
Man alongside Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster,
while his first poetry
album was named Spoken Word Album of the Year at the
2006 Los Angeles
Music Awards.
The festival also includes special readings that will
commemorate the
life, work and struggle of Mahmoud Darwish, the
respected and celebrated
Palestinian poet who died in August this year. The
readings form part of
an internationally coordinated effort to honour this
great artist and
man. Saturday, 4 October sees a full day of activities
at the BAT
Centre, which includes poetry workshops, open mic
opportunities, the
Durban SlamJam with Sakhile Shabalala, Lexikon,
Ngonyama, and American
slammers, Kesed Ragin and Tahani Salah, all
culminating with the
Festival Finale on Saturday night.
Apart from the evening performances at the Sneddon and
the BAT, a packed
daily programme includes performances, seminars,
workshops, poetry
competitions, and school roadshows.
The full programme of activities, plus participant
bios and photos, is
available on http://www.cca.ukzn.ac.za/ Enquiries to
031-2602506
Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University
of KwaZulu-Natal),
the 12th Poetry Africa festival is supported by the
Department of Arts
and Culture, Humanist Institute for Development
Cooperation (HIVOS),
Royal Netherlands Embassy, Stichting Doen, National
Arts Council,
Pro-Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland, French
Institute of South
Africa, African Synergy Book Cafe, and the City of
Durban.
-ends For Media Queries Contact Sharlene Versfeld T:
031 201 1650 F: 031
201 1654 E: shar...@versfeld.co.za