DAVID RUBADIRI FOR POETRY AFRICA

Legendary poet for Poetry Africa Festival

Poetry Africa regrets to announce the cancellation of Indian poet Sunil Gangopadhyay's participation in the 13th Poetry Africa Festival which runs in Durban from October 5 to 10.

There has subsequently been a programme reshuffle and legendary Malawian poet and this year's opening night keynote speaker, David Rubadiri, will now also present his poetry during Gangopadhyay's slot. Poet, novelist, playwright, university professor and diplomat, Rubadiri was born in Liuli, Malawi, in 1930. He attended King's College, Budo, in Uganda from 1941 to 1950 and thereafter studied at Makerere University, where he graduated with a BA degree in English Literature and History. He went on to the University of Bristol in England (1956-1960), where he obtained an MA degree in English Literature.

Rubadiri became Malawi's first ambassador to the United States and the UN after independence in 1964, but fell out with President Hastings Banda in 1965. As an exile he taught at Makerere University but was again exiled during the Idi Amin years. Rubadiri then joined the University of Nairobi and also had a brief stint, with Okot p'Bitek, at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria), at the invitation of Wole Soyinka. He spent his remaining exile as professor of education at the University of Botswana.

After Banda's death, Rubadiri was again appointed Malawi's Permanent Representative to the UN. He subsequently became Vice-Chancellor at the University of Malawi, before he retired in 2004. His novel, No Bride Price, criticized the Banda regime and was, along with Legson Kayira's The Looming Shadow, one of the first published works by a Malawian. Rubadiri ranks as one of Africa's most celebrated and widely anthologized poets to emerge after independence.

Enquiries to 031 260 2506 or 031 260 1704. The full programme of activities is available on www.cca.ukzn.ac.za

Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), the 13th Poetry Africa festival is supported by the Department of Arts and Culture, Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS), National Arts Council, French Institute of South Africa, Pro-Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, African Synergy Book Café and the City of Durban.