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), FĂ©ling 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.