The voices of Africa and the African Diaspora can now be
easily accessed via smart and feature phones on www.badilishapoetry.com
The Badilisha Poetry X-Change formed its distinctive online
platform in 2012, and now features 350 poets from 22 countries in Africa and
the African diaspora. Each week two new poets are added to the collection.
The largest archive of audio casts by African poets in the
world, Badilisha Poetry X-Change houses poet profiles, interviews and podcast
poetry readings in multiple African languages.
Says Badilisha X-Change Project Manager, Linda Kaoma;
“Whilst the Badilisha website has been widely embraced internationally, it is
essential that we are accessible to the continent and mobile is obviously
central to achieving this. ... External perspectives of Africa can be very
limiting so it is vital that the people of Africa contribute to the creation of
their own aural story and the formation of their own visual imagery. Badilisha
is a safe, expressive space to explore these ideas.
By 2015, Africa is expected to have 127 million smart phones
in circulation and overall, the number of mobile phones will swell to 1
billion. Africa’s largest mobile phone market is Nigeria with 120 million
mobile subscribers alone. (Informa Telecoms & Media)
Continues Kaoma; “Africa’s cultural and literary reach is
still disproportionate to its population and talent. For example, only 2% of
all the published books in the world are penned by African authors. There is an
urgent need for accessible programmes on diverse platforms to give the
Continent a creative and cultural voice, through Badilisha we hope to
contribute to this growing and evolving African perspective.”
To celebrate the launch of Badilisha’s Poetry X-Change for
mobile, Badilisha will host a series of crowd-sourced poetry events on Twitter.
Follow @badilishapoetry for more.
Among the South African voices on the Badilisha X-Change
are: James Matthews http://badilishapoetry.com/james-matthews/;
Mxolisi Nyezwa http://badilishapoetry.com/mxolisi-nyezwa/;
Sakhi Dongadala Sogcwe http://badilishapoetry.com/sakhi-dongadala-sogcwe/;
Sindiwe Magona http://badilishapoetry.com/sindiwe-magona/;
Roche Kester http://badilishapoetry.com/roche-kester/;
Dejavu Tafari http://badilishapoetry.com/dejavu-tafari/;
Blaq Pearl http://badilishapoetry.com/blaq-pearl/;
Hector S Kunene http://badilishapoetry.com/hector-s-kunene/;
JahRose http://badilishapoetry.com/jahrose/
and Pitika Ntuli http://badilishapoetry.com/pitika-ntuli/
Based in Cape Town, Badilisha Poetry is a project of the Africa Centre. Established
in 2005 as an international centre for creativity, artistic excellence and
intellectual engagement, The Africa Centre is a physical entity as well as an
ongoing philosophical journey that explores how Pan-African cultural practice
can be a catalyst for social change.
For more information contact Sascha Polkey on 083 414 0552 or
email: sascha@rabbitinahat.co.za
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