ZOE THE SEED PRESENTS STORIES FROM THE SOUTH

 

(Left: Zoe The Seed)

 

South African jazz artist Zoe the Seed brings Stories from the South to the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at UKZN, presenting an evocative evening of music, storytelling and cultural memory.

Rooted in the rich traditions of South African jazz, Stories from the South explores the diverse cultures, languages and experiences that shape life in Southern Africa. The performance draws on Swati and Zulu cultural narratives, contemporary jazz and original compositions to tell stories of identity, heritage, love, resilience and community.

The project also confronts urgent social realities, including gender-based violence, using music as a space for reflection, dialogue and healing. Alongside these challenging narratives are stories of love and human connection — celebrating the resilience and humanity that continue to bind communities together.

For Zoe the Seed, the project is about more than performing music. It is about creating a living conversation between tradition and contemporary life, while celebrating the stories that make the South African experience both complex and deeply connected.

Zoe will be joined by a dynamic ensemble featuring Zibusiso Makhathini on piano, Senzo Mdamba on bass, Sbahle Mkhize on drum, Leon Sharnick on sax and Siyalo Zulu on trombone, bringing together musicians whose artistic voices are closely connected to the stories being told.

Stories from the South promises an intimate and thought-provoking journey through the sounds, memories and experiences of the region.

 

Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, 06 October 2026

Doors open: 17h00

Music starts: 17h30

Venue: Centre for Jazz and Popular Music, Dennis Shepstone Building, Level 2, Howard College Campus, UKZN

General Admission R130 (R100 pensioners, R70 students)

Tickets: Cash at the door or at Webtickets Stories from the South

 

Getting there: Please use Gate 3 or Gate 8 off Rick Turner Road.

MUSIC OF ADELE BY CANDLELIGHT

Experience the music of Adele like never before, performed live by a string quartet in the breathtaking glow of candlelight.

Adele's greatest songs, beautifully reimagined at the Playhouse on October 3, 2026, at 20h00.

Celebrate some of Adele's most powerful and emotional songs, including Hello, Someone Like You, Skyfall, Easy On Me, Set Fire to the Rain and Rolling in the Deep.

Surrounded by the warm glow of thousands of candles, experience these unforgettable songs beautifully reimagined for strings in an intimate setting.

The concert will be performed by a String Quartet. Duration is approximately 60 minutes.

Age guidance: Ages 8+; guests under 16 must be accompanied by an adult

 

POETRY AFRICA ANNOUNCES DR GCINA MHLOPHE AS 2026 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT

 

(Above: Dr Gcina Mhlophe)

 

Poetry Africa announced that storyteller, poet, playwright and actress Dr Gcina Mhlophe will receive its 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising more than four decades of contribution to South African oral tradition, literature and theatre.

The award will be presented during the festival's 30th edition, running from October 5 to 10, 2026, at the Durban Playhouse.

Dr Gcina Mhlophe said: "It is a true honour to be recognised in this manner! I’m humbled and my heart is full of Gratitude, Sibonga Ophezulu, Sibonge Abaphansi".

Born in KwaZulu-Natal in 1958, Mhlophe rose to prominence in the 1980s through her work at Johannesburg's Market Theatre, including her acclaimed autobiographical play Have You Seen Zandile?, which won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival. She is widely credited with helping revive oral storytelling as a recognised South African art form, performing and teaching across four of the country's languages – English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.

Her body of work spans theatre, poetry, children's literature and film, and has been translated into numerous languages. Her honours include a SAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, an Obie Award, the South African Children's Laureate Award, and honorary doctorates from universities in South Africa and abroad. In 2016, she was named to the BBC's 100 Women list. Her birthday, October 24, has been marked as National Storytelling Day in South Africa since 2019.

Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts, added: “Gcina Mhlophe has spent decades reminding us that a story, told with courage, can hold an entire nation's memory. Honouring her this year is a chance to celebrate not just a body of work, but a legacy that has shaped how South Africans understand the power of their own voices.”

The announcement follows Poetry Africa's opening reveal of its 2026 Featured Poet, Koleka Putuma, and comes on the same day as the festival's celebratory draw for the World Poetry Slam Championship quarter-finals, live-streamed on the Poetry Africa festival page on Facebook. The 5th World Slam Poetry Championships will bring 40 slam poets from 40 nations to Durban this October.

Tickets are available through Webtickets.

 

About Poetry Africa

Poetry Africa is an annual international poetry festival curated and presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban.

Running since 1997, the festival brings together spoken-word and published poets from South Africa and around the world for performances, panel discussions, campus and school visits, poetry exchanges, book launches, open mic sessions and slam competitions.

Over 30 years, Poetry Africa has created a platform for poets and audiences to reflect on the role of poetry in society and social change, while also supporting academic scholarship in contemporary poetry at UKZN.

 

NB:

To link to the Centre for Creative Arts website, click on the logo advert to the right of this article.

 

 

MAD MABEL: REVIEW

 

There are certainly thriller elements, but there is more to the story than just that. (Review by Margaret von Klemperer, courtesy of The Witness)

 

Mad Mabel is billed as a “domestic thriller”. Crime writing is divided into all kinds of genres these days – cosy crime, Scandi noir, hard-boiled and so on. But I am not sure that domestic thriller with its hints of the cosy is really an adequate description of what is an entertaining and quite complex read. There are certainly thriller elements, but there is more to the story than just that.

Elsie Fitzpatrick lives in a quiet street in an Australian suburb. She is 81 years old, and keeps to herself, cultivating a curmudgeonly persona. She watches her neighbours but keeps them at arms’ length. That is not surprising: she has a past that she has no wish for them ever to know about. Once, back in her childhood, she was known as Mad Mabel, the youngest Australian ever to be convicted of murder.

Sally Hepworth tells the story in two parts – the then and the now. When the book opens, Elsie has just discovered that someone in the street knows about the background she has tried so hard to keep hidden. And then her neighbour is found dead, by Elsie. He was not her favourite – she publicly referred to him as her nemesis. He had a noisy dog and there were other inevitable dog-hygiene related disputes. So it is a little awkward that she is the one to find him. Even the police begin to show interest.

The reader gradually learns about Elsie/Mabel’s childhood. She was something of a misfit. Tall and ungainly, she was clever but not the kind of kid who would find making friends easy, and she was subjected to some nasty childhood cruelties. And her family life was far from happy. She was an only child, but somehow, accidents, tragedy and corpses seemed to follow her around, even when she was very young.

Eventually, in the present, as it becomes clear that her past is still with her and she begins to discover that she may have misjudged some of the people around her, she is persuaded to tell her story to a pair of journalists, and the reader is gradually told the whole – or most of the whole – tale. It is sad and very revealing and Hepworth makes the most of playing with the readers’ feelings. I must admit that I had worked out one of the final twists a long time before it became clear, but that did little to detract from the plot.

Mad Mabel is an easy, pacy read, but it does raise some significant issues, particularly those of prejudice, loneliness, violence and cruelty, and the unpleasant outcomes they can lead to. – Margaret von Klemperer

Mad Mabel is published by Macmillan: ISBN 978-1035096176

 

DURBAN PERFORMER NICOLE MONROE PRAISED IN UK

 

(Right: Nicole Monroe)

Durban performer Nicole Monroe praised in UK Premiere of Kit the Musical

Durban-born performer Nicole Monroe continues to represent KwaZulu-Natal’s artistic excellence on the international stage following her acclaimed role in the UK premiere of Kit the Musical, staged at the Medway Fringe Festival in Chatham, Kent.

The production, written by Julian Ng and presented by Spotlites Theatre Company, won the festival’s Spirit of the Fringe Award, recognising its originality and contribution to the arts.

Nicole originated the role of Audrey Walsingham, a character balancing charm with underlying ruthlessness. Her performance drew praise from Peter Hutton, Deputy Chair of The Marlowe Society, who reviewed the production for the Marlowe Society Dispatch. He wrote: “Nicole played Audrey Walsingham, a complex character, coquettish on the surface but also quite ruthless, carrying off the renditions of Sex Appeal and Come Live With Me with her co-stars in a most lively and entertaining performance.”

The musical traces the events surrounding Christopher Marlowe’s supposed death in 1593, featuring 12 original numbers that explore the political intrigue and theatrical world of Elizabethan England. Nicole’s contribution to the premiere highlights the calibre of performers emerging from KZN’s arts community.

A former Durban Passion Play performer, Nicole has built a diverse career across stage, immersive theatre, and choral performance, with recent UK credits including The Paddington Bear Experience, and The Traitors: Live Experience.

Nicole returns to Durban on October 15, 2026, and will host a free workshop for young KZN performers, before the end of November, exploring life as an actor in the UK, and Drama school audition tips. Space will be limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

For further details or to reserve a place, email nicolemonroe.events@gmail.com.

DURBAN LOVES DELFI

 

(Left to right:

Back: Dr Paul Bushell, Jane Linley Thomas, Liesl Coppin, Lisa Bobbert

Front: James Armstrong, Jenna Van Eyssen, Mo Magic, Yashmay Sooful, Mzwandile Khumalo. Pic by Shelley Kjonstad)

 

An evening of hope for the Delfi family after the fire.

Members of the Durban creative community will host Durban Loves Delfi - a special one-off, star-studded evening variety show in support the family of the Delfi Greek Taverna restaurant fire, at the Milkwood Theatre at Danville Park Girls High School on Monday, October 19 at 19h00.

The event is hosted and MC’d by Hello Poppy– an NPC headed up by Jane Linley-Thomas in support of the dignity, joy and emotional-wellbeing of our elders. Working alongside psychologist Dr Paul Bushell, Hello Poppy hopes to collaborate with like-minded partners in creating and offering interventions, activations, and events that foster joy activism for elders in our community.

The line-up includes the much-loved sparkling musical theatre trio, the Glitter Girls, featuring the fabulous Lisa Bobbert, Liesl Coppin and Marion Loudon; prominent South African magician, mentalist, and MC, Mo Magic, known for blending world-class illusion, mind reading, and family-friendly comedy; Rory Petzer - storyteller and multi-talented entertainer whose content is equal parts hilarious and heart-filled; and the brilliant young triple threat performers from ISPA – the International School of Performing Arts.

Members of the creative industries have offered their time and talents in support of the Delfi family – The Hello Poppy team and all performers are giving their performances for free; school principal Linda Scholtz has made Milkwood Theatre available under the leadership of Liesl Coppin and Black Coffee have provided technical infrastructure. All monies raised through ticket sales go directly to the family.

The fire started at the back of the Delfi Greek Taverna and spread to the entire building. Restaurant owners and family members Doddy, Maria, and Manuel Teranes have lived upstairs since 1964.

Family member, Linda Landzanakis, says: “A devastating fire on 3 September took away not only the beloved Delfi restaurant, but all their lifelong possessions. Their home of six decades is gone, along with all the beautiful memories. It was not only a restaurant. It was a home filled with love, kindness, and warmth. They were left with the clothes on their backs.”

Ayakha Godlwana (32), a chef at the Palm Terrace Cafe, was regarded as the hero of the day after he rescued Doddy Teranes from her room while the flames were spreading through the upstairs apartment and restaurant. 

Maria Teranes says: “We honestly never expected anything like this. To see performers giving their time and so many people coming together for us has been incredibly moving. Since the fire, we have been overwhelmed by the love and generosity of the community. We are so grateful to each and every person who has reached out, helped and supported us.”

Jane Linley-Thomas added: “Hello Poppy is incredibly proud to be part of the Durban Loves Delphi fundraiser, supporting a much-loved family in our community who recently lost their home and business in a devastating fire. 

“We have been overwhelmed by the generosity and willingness of so many people to get involved. For Hello Poppy, it is a beautiful reminder of the power of community and collaboration. It is a privilege to give back to elders who have given so much to their community over so many years.”

 

Good to Know:

Tickets: R220 (R200 - students and pensioners). Book through Webtickets

Milkwood Theatre is located at Danville Park Girls High School, 21 Middlebrook Avenue at Virginia, Durban North.

Park on the school grounds, accessed via Newport Avenue in Durban North specifically through the gates situated between the astro turf and the church.

Refreshments will be on sale in the foyer before the show

 

There is a Back A Buddy account for the family: https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/delfi-will-rise-from-the-ashes

 

RICHARD HASLOP FOR ST CLEMENTS

 

(Right: Richard Haslop)

 

On the Pieter Scholtz Stage, first Monday in October (October 5 at 18h00), Durban music luminary and Mondays at Six at St Clements favourite, Richard Haslop, will share why, “despite an unerring ability to spot mawkish schmaltz at a hundred paces,” he has long been a Dolly Parton fan.

Haslop — music guru, raconteur, former president of the SA Society for Labour Law, blues and roots music aficionado — will "attempt to make sense of the contradictions" by looking at her career through the lens of some of his favourite Dolly Parton recordings.

Haslop says: “One music writer has described the extent of the love and sorrow that was poured across the media on the recent death of Dolly Parton as unprecedented in his experience, with the possible exception of the reaction to John Lennon’s murder.

“While the view of Dolly from the perspective of the country-music outsider was generally obscured by the bouffant, the bosoms and the bum, the unctuous sentimentality and the exaggerated warble in the voice, these all contributed importantly to her status as one of the most beloved of all country personalities and, as her album title, Backwoods Barbie, attests, one of the most self-aware.” 

What tends to be overlooked by those who allow these distractions to deflect their focus, Haslop continues, is that she was also among general popular music’s greatest songwriters and most attractively distinctive singers.

“Her big advantage among those in search of musical authenticity was the pure, natural-born and entirely genuine Appalachian soul that she was able to call on almost whenever the spirit moved her.”

 

Note: Nashville International Airport is set to be renamed to honour Dolly Parton after a unanimous vote by the local airport authority.

 

About Richard Haslop:

A practicing attorney with a focus on human rights, labour law, arbitration and industrial relations, he is also a multi-instrumentalist, music reviewer, radio personality and one of South Africa's leading experts on blues and roots music. He is a former president of the South African Society for Labour Law (SASLAW) and has acted as a judge in the Labour Court of South Africa on a number of occasions.

Haslop has:

-written about music for national and international publications for more than 30 years;

-presented a number of seriously eclectic music shows on SAfm;

-lectured courses on the history of popular music at UKZN Music Department;

-given talks and presentations at festivals and conferences in SA and overseas;

-has played an incredible number of weird and wonderful musical instruments, solo and in a variety of aggregations (for more than 40 years) including guitar (mainly slide guitar), dobro, Weissenborn, lap steel, mandolin, bouzouki, dulcimer, tin whistle, a bit of banjo and various other “stringed stuff”.

 

When the donation box is passed around, the venue requests generosity and a minimum of R50 per person.

Weather permitting, the event will take place outdoors.

Table Bookings Essential: RSVP ST Clements +27 62 582 0980

Bookings limited to diners in support of St Clements restaurant and staff.

Single folk are welcome to book for one person and join a table.

Be there in time to open your tab, order at the counter and settle in before the scheduled 18h00 start. Please cancel if you book then can’t make it.

 

 

ECHOES OF MARABI

 

The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music proudly presents a beautiful collaboration, Echoes of Marabi (SA-Swiss collab) with Yonela Mnana and Benedikt Reising (CH) featuring the Soultee Sisters (vocals) & Rico Baumann (drums) live at UKZN Centre for Jazz and Popular Music on Wednesday September 30, 2026, at 17h30.

One of the longest- lasting relationships with South African jazz, has been that with Switzerland. Musicians from both countries connecting over years. The latest project is an astoundingly beautiful and unique duo album titled Echoes of Marabi, a project featuring South African pianist Yonela Mnana and Swiss saxophonist Benedikt Reising. It is an album that celebrates their connection and friendship. They are joined by the dynamic voices of the Soultee Sisters from Katlehong. The album was released in September 2025.

Reising is no stranger to the South African music landscape, having been part of several projects and tours there and Mnana is well established as a pianist, known for his powerful voice and compositions. The duo first met via South African trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni, while touring in 2018 with a Swiss-SA project called The Mill. The pair's relationship was strengthened upon promoting that album in Europe in 2019 when both Mnana and Reising were based in Bern. They spent a lot of time together and shared musical ideas that they were passionate about.

The concert features Yonela Mnana (vocals, piano), Benedikt Reising (alto and baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, flutes), Happiness Siyoko (vocals), Nompumelelo Gugu Kubheka (vocals) and Busisiwe Shongwe (vocals) and Rico Baumann (drums) .

 

Event details

Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Doors open: 17h00

Music starts: 17h30

Venue: Centre for Jazz and Popular Music, Dennis Shepstone Building, Level 2, Howard College Campus, UKZN

General Admission: R130 (R100 Pensioners, R70 Students)

 

Cash at the door or Webtickets Echoes of Marabi Live at The UKZN Jazz Centre

 

 

NEW DENIS HURLEY CENTRE DIRECTOR

 

(Raymond Perrier & Bridget Ward in front of the photo of Paddy Kearney. Photo by Thuli Dlamini)

 

The Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) Trustees are delighted to announce the appointment of a new Director, Bridget Ward. She will, by the end of the year, succeed Raymond Perrier who has been Director since the organisation opened in January 2015.

At Raymond’s own request, the Trustees have been looking for a successor to enable the DHC to move into a new phase now that he has completed almost 12 years of service.

Bridget, who is in her mid-50's, comes to the DHC with extensive experience in business and with faith-based organisations. She has worked with several large companies (as employee or consultant for MTN, Standard Bank and IMM) and, for the past 12 years, with a Durban-based organisation committed to the upliftment of society through the provision of Christian education. Her role in Product Development and Marketing means that she has been involved not only in designing solutions, but also in implementing them in practice - working in a range of different social situations.

Bridget explains why she was drawn to the DHC: “As well as providing for physical needs, the DHC inspires hope for the poor ... It may only be enough to face the next day or hour; but, by consistently showing up, providing authentic care, and recognising the value of even the most marginalised, we pass on hope and inspire faith.”

Bridget graduated with a Bachelor in Social Science from UKZN. Her initial awareness of the DHC was through her two sons (whose school regularly sends the DHC volunteers), and via her husband, the CEO of PhotoNote which supplies their photocopying and printing needs!  

She was brought up in a Catholic home and has fond memories of her convent primary school; she was married at Fatima Church in Durban North, and now attends Immanuel Church in Somerset Park. While drawing on her own strong faith, she also recognises the DHC’s success in bringing together people of different religious traditions: “The social perils of our world are large and scary, and I won't pretend otherwise. No single one of us can fix them alone. When we act together, as a body, all the small acts of kindness add up to something far bigger than any one person or organisation could achieve.”

Bridget started on September 16 and will work side-by-side with Raymond in a handover period of three and a half months. During that time, she will have a chance to meet some of the many organisations that have partnered with the DHC from the worlds of faith, education, business, Government, social activism, media and the arts.

Email DHC if you would like to be included in one of those gatherings: E-mail: admin@denishurleycentre.org

Raymond commended the Board on the thoroughness of their selection process. “It has taken almost two years to find the right person – during which time both the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury have been replaced! – but I am confident that we have. The DHC does not need someone who is predictable but instead a person with a strong faith, a good business head, a passion for the poor and a creative flair. I share the Trustees’ belief that Bridget is that person.”

Chair of the DHC, Canon Dr Delysia Timm commented: “Bridget brings with her a strong commitment to justice, human dignity, compassion and community: values that are at the heart of the Centre’s mission. We are confident that she will build on the Centre’s strong legacy while bringing fresh energy, vision and creativity to its work.

“We are extremely grateful to Raymond who for the past dozen years has led us with such extraordinary vision, formidable leadership, compassion, tenacity and commitment. He has indeed put our organisation firmly on the national and international map as a leading NGO and has positioned the DHC as a trailblazing organisation which cares for the city’s homeless and vulnerable. We look forward to continuing the organisation’s amazing work under Bridget’s leadership,” she added.

For some time now, Raymond’s focus as Director has been on the external activities of the DHC and that will be Bridget’s new role. The internal operations have been, and will continue to be, overseen by Leanne Banks who has been with the DHC for over nine years and Chief Operating Officer since January 2025. She said: “I look forward to Bridget’s contribution toward deepening and widening the firm foundation that the DHC enjoys thanks to Paddy Kearney and Raymond.”

Raymond, who is originally from the UK, is planning to stay in South Africa though spending more time in Johannesburg where his husband is based. His immediate next focus will be working on a book as a Research Fellow of the Centre for Faith and Community at the University of Pretoria.

MOTHER CITY BRINGS GROUNDBREAKING DOCUMENTARY TO THE BIG SCREEN

Acclaimed ground-breaking indie documentary Mother City, set for screenings at Ster-Kinekor as part of the chain’s new strand for classic and local film.

Documentaries have long played second fiddle to fiction on the big screen, but that's changing. Audiences worldwide are increasingly choosing the cinema for non-fiction storytelling, and Mother City, directed by Miki Redelinghuys and Pearlie Joubert, is riding that wave with a nationwide release at Ster-Kinekor Cinemas from October 1.

The documentary will screen as part of Ster-Kinekor's new strand dedicated to classic and local film, with tickets priced at an accessible R50. It is the first documentary to screen in this slot as part of a countrywide release - a milestone for local non-fiction filmmaking and a sign of the chain’s ambition to widen access to quality cinema.

Mother City followed Cape Town’s Reclaim the City activists' six-year fight for affordable housing on public land, and the story is centred on the iconic old Tafelberg School site, situated in the Atlantic Seaboard. The film kept the case in public view and amplified the voices of activists and the Ndifuna Ukwazi legal centre, turning the documentary into a tool for sustained pressure. In July 2026, the Constitutional Court ruling declared the Tafelberg sale unlawful, affirming the movement's core argument that the government has a constitutional duty to provide affordable housing within the inner city, and that high property values or land scarcity can't be used as an excuse to avoid that duty. The ruling ignited audiences’ urgent requests to see Mother City that follows - blow by blow - the thrilling courtroom drama and bold activism.

Told with raw honesty, fearless journalism, a cinematic eye, and genuine edge-of-your-seat tension, Mother City is exactly the kind of documentary changing what audiences expect from the genre.

Mother City's journey to South African multiplexes is itself part of the story. Since premiering at the prestigious Sheffield DocFest in 2024, the film has screened more than 180 times at festivals and venues around the world, picking up numerous awards along the way. That sustained international demand, built through independent, filmmaker-led distribution rather than a traditional studio release, has helped convince commercial cinema chains that there is a real appetite for local, character-driven cinema.

Pearlie says: "We made Mother City to be seen, not just at festivals, but by the communities whose stories it tells. Having Ster-Kinekor bring the film to cinemas nationwide is proof that South African audiences want to see their own realities reflected on the big screen. Land and housing activism in South Africa is uniquely powerful, innovative, reflecting our shared humanity’”

Miki concurs “This isn't just a milestone for the film; it's a milestone for what a local documentary can achieve by bringing these urgent and evocative stories of ordinary people to the big screen.”

DATES

 Thu 1 Oct 17h00/Sat 3 Oct 14h30/Sun 4 Oct 14h30 /Thu 8 Oct 20h00

 

KwaZulu-Natal: Watercrest Mall, 141 Inanda Road, Waterfall, Durban

Western Province: V&A Waterfront, N1 City, Blue Route Mall, Somerset West Mall

Gauteng: Rosebank Nouveau, Eastgate Mall, Brooklyn Mall

Eastern Cape: Baywest Mall

 

For tickets contact https://www.sterkinekor.com/f/mother-city/722

POETRY AFRICA FULL PROGRAMME FOR 30TH FESTIVAL

 

(Right: Siphokazi Jonas)

  

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts revealed the Poetry Africa programme for its 30th festival, running from October 5 to 9, 2026, at the Durban Playhouse Theatre and venues across the city. Over the week, the festival will bring together stage performances, poetry slams, industry panels, workshops and a school’s programme, anchored by the 5th World Poetry Slam Championship, which brings 40 slam poets from 40 nations and five continents to Durban.

This year's edition lands alongside a cluster of significant anniversaries: 50 years since the 1976 Soweto Youth Uprising, 30 years since the first public hearings of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and 30 years since the adoption of the 1996 Constitution (including Section 16's guarantee of freedom of expression and creative freedom).

 

(Left: Torsten Clear Rybka)

Centre for Creative Arts Director Ismail Mahomed, says: “1976, 1996, the TRC represent an unfinished conversation about who gets to speak and be heard in this country. Poetry Africa exists to keep that conversation alive, because freedom of expression is a responsibility we renew every time a poet takes the stage."

Curator Siphindile Hlongwa adds: "Every one of these anniversaries is really about a voice: a generation's, a nation's, a poet's. This year's theme, Every Word a Street, Every Voice a City, asks what we build when those voices are finally given room.”

The festival opens at the Playhouse Drama Theatre with a programme hosted by South African poet Lebo Mashile, featuring a keynote address from 2026 Featured Poet Koleka Putuma and performances from Ana More (Ukraine), Haroun Amri (Algeria), Nanda (Gabon), Steel the Poet (South Africa), Lifetime Achievement honouree Dr Gcina Mhlophe, and celebrated Jamaican-Canadian dub poet and playwright D'bi Young Anitafrika, a three-time Dora Award winner known for her Sankofa Trilogy and for founding the Watah Theatre in Toronto. The same evening includes the Chalkboard Slam Competition, Poetry Africa's spoken-word initiative for high school learners.

 

(Right: D'bi Young Anitafrika)

The Poetry Africa National Slam Jam runs its semi-finals and final on Tuesday October 6. The World Poetry Slam Championship then progresses through quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final from October 7 to 9.

Alongside the performances, Poetry Africa's industry programme features panel discussions and workshops marking 30 years of the festival, sustainability and longevity in poetry practice, artist mobility, contracts and rights, queer poetics, professional branding, and technology in poetry, together with a book launch for Thando Fuze's Fluent in the Language of Burial.

Closing day features a staged production of Water, developed from Koleka Putuma's celebrated 2016 poem of the same name, which won the PEN South Africa student writing prize and is widely taught for its meditation on access to water as a political and racialised inheritance. The Poetry Africa staging extends that work into a meditation on ownership, belonging, ecological and climate justice, and the ports, trade routes and nightlife economies that shape who gets to belong where.

The full programme can be found on poetryafrica.ukzn.ac.za. tickets are available on Webtickets.

 

About Poetry Africa

Poetry Africa is an annual international poetry festival curated and presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban.

Running since 1997, the festival brings together spoken-word and published poets from South Africa and around the world for performances, panel discussions, campus and school visits, poetry exchanges, book launches, open mic sessions and slam competitions.

Over 30 years, Poetry Africa has created a platform for poets and audiences to reflect on the role of poetry in society and social change, while also supporting academic scholarship in contemporary poetry at UKZN.

 

NB: To link direct to the Centre for Creative Arts website, click on the logo advert to the right of this article.

 

RUCERA SEETHAL LEAVES NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL

 

After close to seven years, National Arts Festival’s Artistic Director, Rucera Seethal, is stepping down from the role to take up a new position.

Rucera Seethal comments: “It's been an absolute honour working with the Festival team, a group of people who bring everything they have and more, not only during Festival but every day, to keep the organisation and programme together and moving forward. When I joined the Festival, I came from previous work focusing on international and continental exchange. My tenure at the Festival has enabled a deeper engagement with the vast South African arts landscape, we have so much inspiration, hope, creative solutions to contribute to our fast-evolving world. Wherever I am placed, I wish to continue contributing in this direction."

Rucera’s time at the Festival was also marked by a period of transition as Covid, and the years post-Covid, significantly changed the arts landscape. The Festival’s programme has been consolidated and continues to be increasingly representative of multiple languages, storytelling forms and experimentation. Rucera has worked with the National Arts Festival’s Artistic Committee to steer work that explores the intersection of creativity and technology, the intersectionality of genres and broader International exchange.

After she leaves the National Arts Festival, Rucera will co-convene the Watch & Talk programme at Theatre Festival Basel before taking up a position with the Irish government, building a programme of creative exchange and collaboration between Ireland and Southern Africa in the coming years.

National Arts Festival CEO, Palesa Kadi says: “While I’m sorry Rucera will not be working with us, we sincerely appreciate her contribution to the programmatic arc of the festival these past seven editions. I’m quite sure her work with the Irish will also bring us into contact quite frequently and it’s reassuring that we have such an experienced cultural professional in her new role - it’s a positive signal for the arts in Southern Africa.”

For more information on the festival, visit https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/