18TH POETRY AFRICA FESTIVAL

Some 24 poets and spoken word artists from 12 countries will meet in Durban to celebrate a diverse mix of traditions in oratory and storytelling.

The Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) has announced the main line up for the 18th Poetry Africa festival which takes place from October 13 to 18 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre (UKZN) and numerous other venues in and around Durban and KwaZulu-Natal.

The 18th Poetry Africa festival will feature the following poets:

Mak Manaka (South Africa), Makhafula Vilakazi (South Africa), Kyle Steven Allan (South Africa), Page Ngwenya (South Africa), Quaz Roodt (South Africa), Thuli Zuma (South Africa), Croc E Moses (South Africa), Nakanjani Sibiya (South Africa), Sithembiso Khwela (South Africa), Napo Masheane (South Africa), Vangile Gantsho (South Africa), Raya Wambui (Kenya), Q.Malewezi (Malawi), Black Pearl (Zimbabwe), Lydol (Cameroon), Stone Karim Mohamed (Cameroon), Aziz Siten'k (Mali), Dagga Tolar (Nigeria), Ombr Blanche (Burkina Faso), Féling Capela (Mozambique), Bee Joe (Ivory Coast), Seleshe Demessae (Ethiopia), Akeem Lasisi (Nigeria) and Buddy Wakefield (USA).

As usual, the festival will have an extensive community outreach programme with poetry readings, performances and workshops in community centres, campuses and schools across Durban and surrounding areas.

A highlight of the festival’s daytime programme will be a closed conference of spoken word organisers from across the continent hosted by the Goethe Institut, South Africa. This conference is a culmination of a project that began in 2013, that saw the Goethe Institut documenting spoken word communities across the continent on the website www.goethe.de/spokenword. The conference will explore ways to promote spoken word as an art form throughout the continent.

Poetry Africa will also collaborate with Harare-based arts festival Shoko Festival and Johannesburg-based spoken word festival WordNSound to host American spoken word artist Buddy Wakefield’s first Southern African tour. Cape Town audiences will get a first look at the second instalment of Insurrections, an Indian-South African poetry and musical ensemble that wowed audiences at last year’s festival in Durban. Together these three performances will form part of Poetry Africa Tour events organised by the Centre for Creative Arts.

Finally, the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) is proud to be part of the inner city’s urban regeneration initiative in the Rivertown Precinct where this year’s festival finale will be hosted. The programme for October 18 will kick off with workshops and the Open Mic event, which are free to the public. In the afternoon the doors open for the Poetry Africa Slam Jam, followed by a presentation from all the festival participants give a short presentation of their work, thereafter the finale will conclude with a performance by HHP and his band.

For more information go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za or contact 031 260 2506.

The 18th Poetry Africa festival is presented by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) with support from eThekwini Municipality; the Goethe Institut, South Africa; the French Institute of South Africa and the KZN Department of Arts and Culture. The Centre for Creative Arts is a special project of the office of Professor Cheryl Potgieter, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal.