The 13th annual Time of the Writer International Literature Festival concluded on Saturday after a week that was a veritable literary blur. BOOK SA livetweeted the final four sessions on Friday and Saturday evenings, and recorded readings from the four authors who appeared on stage. We bring you the best of BOOK SA’s coverage:
Ndumiso Ngcobo and Sihle Khumalo in conversation with Imraan Coovadia:
BOOKSA#tow10 …and we’re back! On stage now: Ndumiso Ngcobo (Is it Cos I’m Black) and Sihle Khumalo (Heart of Africa) hosted by Imraan Coovadia12 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Ngcobo: Let’s quickly correct the name of the province. The name of the province is KwaZuma Natal.12 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Ngcobo: definitely, because, unlike in other countries where sex sells, in SA, *race* sells12 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Khumalo: “Obviously if someone has touched your goat, you’re going to want the lobola”12 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Coovadia: “One more question from me before we allow the audience to make 10 minute speeches”12 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Now Elinor Sisulu has the mic, makes the point that in many African countries – incl Zim – the men on stage might well be in jail12 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Ngcobo, answering a question about whether Castle Lager makes him more creative: “Yeah, pretty much.”12 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Khumalo: “My family don’t laugh at funerals. We take it as against the… the culture”. Ngcobo: “You’re boring.”12 Mar 2010from web
Andile Mngxitama and William Gumede in conversation with Karabo Kgoleng:
BOOKSA#tow10 The title of tonight’s first panel is “Writing, Truth and Power”13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Mngxitama: in SA, the truth is intertwined with the “black excluded”, who are outside of power13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Mngxitama “One problem is that we are cowards in this country. Look at the ANC/Eskom scandal. It’s robbery. We do nothing.”13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Mngxitama: “And look at the 2010 World Cup. We’ve been robbed again. And this time by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.”13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Gumede: “If you live in a rural part of Africa, how much of the truth, as it relates to power, can you actually know?”13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Gumede: “If we’re not going to speak truth to power, we’re not going to prosper”13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Mngxitama: “I promised to attack black SA writers this evening” so here goes. Post-1994 black writing – its underlying politics….13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Mngxitama …is very problematic. Black writers chase white women readers – the main reading demographic – too hard.13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Mngxitama moves on to Zakes Mda’s Black Diamond. By writing about BEE the way Mda does, the black bourgeoisie is highlighted…13 Mar 2010from web
BOOKSA#tow10 Mngxitama: …and the unequal system powered by white wealth that created it is normalised. The danger is that we’ll reinternalise it13 Mar 2010from web
The launch of Andile Mngxitama’s latest New Frank Talk pamphlet
The fifth issue of the New Frank Talk series, titled White Revolutionaries as Missionaries?, was launched by series editor and founder Andile Mngxitama at the Wellington Tavern Deck at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre this week.
Black Consciousness revivalist Mngxitama has had a hand in four publications recently: From Mbeki to Zuma, Why Biko Wouldn’t Vote and Black Colonialsists: the Trouble with Africa, which he wrote for the New Frank Talk series, plus Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko<, which he co-edited for Pan Macmillan.
The fifth NFT book is edited by Heinrich Böhmke, who spoke about his involvement with social movements at the launch.
“I’ve been involved since 1999, when the Concerned Community Forum and the people of Wentworth put marches together against Mbeki’s policies.
“About two years ago, I felt uncomfortable with middle class academics, mostly whites, so-called activists who were promoting themselves in their careers, and wore their suffering on their sleeves,” he said.
His essay is essentially about the motivations of and roles played by white people in black struggles, taking as its departure point a missionary named Stephen Kay who published Travels and Researches in Caffraria in 1843, describing the character, customs and moral condition of the peoples inhabiting portions of Southern Africa.
Mngxitama, who holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Witwatersrand, said he was delighted to be in Durban for the launch. “Black Consciousness was founded here, Strini Moodley and Steve Biko did a lot of work to unite black people at that particular era, so it was like coming back home,” he said.
Mngxitama also related some personal thoughts on Black Consciousness in the 21st Century, quoting the Winnie Mandela of the recent and controversial Nadira Naipaul “interview”, in which she says that Nelson Mandela sold South Africans out, that black people were excluded economically, and that those blacks who were included were merely tokens.
“Those of us in BC did not have to hear this, because we already knew it. Our freedom has been compromised for a long time. It’s interesting to see the responses – white people’s first reaction to her statement is to protect Mandela and project Winnie as a mad, black woman,” he remarked.
Mngxitama also asked the question, “What makes us understand that democracy has not liberated the majority of black people? How did we move from wanting freedom to fighting for RDP houses?” People who were prepared to die for freedom before, now accept so little.
“In this book, Böhmke exposes how the process of conversion works, and he goes 185 years back to reveal it. He writes very well, showing how the missionary used the bible to convert black people. The same thing happens now, with the ‘new missionaries’ using the constitution to convert black people to perform the same job” of co-option.
Mngxitama concluded by saying that with white revolutionaries, all are not bad, but the way their interests are organised makes it impossible for them to come together with BC organisations.
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Writing Home
Literary enthusiasts and writers have been converging on UKZN’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre for the evening sessions of the 13th Time of the Writer Festival. Earlier this week, the first order of the night was to present the prestigious Currie Award, given to Dr Betty Govinden for her contribution as a South African Indian woman to SA society and letters. Dr Govinden received the award for her book, Sister Outsiders.
After that it was time for writers Aher Arop Bol of Sudan/SA and Leonara Miano of Cameroon/France to address the audience with the help of faciltator Lindy Stiebel.
Aher Arop Bol’s The Lost Boy tells the tale of the journey of a small Sudanese boy in 1987, who is carried into the Panyido Refugee Camp, Ethiopia, on the shoulders of his uncle. He does not know why he is there or if he ever will see his parents again. The boy, of course, is Bol, who is launched upon an epic quest for survival, education,and a refusal to remain “lost”. Bol now lives in South Africa, studying for an LLB at UNISA, and running a spaza shop in Pretoria, the income from which he uses to support his brothers in Uganda.
Leonara Miana, widely-recognised in Francophone literary circles, writes with an uncompromising view, and doesn’t shrink from what she sees. Her latest offering, Les aubes ecarlates, follows child soldier Epa on a journey that intimately examines the memory of slavery on the Afrcian continent and the scars it has left. Her book will be launched in English in America in April.
“My book is about my homeland,” said Bol. “I had to learn about the problems it faced from the outside world.”
“Home,” he continued, “is where people recognise you.”
Miano countered, “I don’t have a home and I’m not looking for one.” She loves living with mixed cultures, which is part and parcel of the life of a true artist, in her opinion – but she also believes in active change, and strives to take part in transforming “Old France” into a place that will be better for children.
Akpan was paired with the sharp, witty Imraan Coovadia of South Africa, whose latest novel is High Low In-between. This riveting read is born of the current, post-apartheid dispensation, and turn on several themes, including human suffering and death. “Suffering is real in the world, people die and people get hurt,” said Coovadia.
Akpan’s book highlights the perspective of children’s suffering, whereas Coovadia’s sends a woman into widowhood and the painful aftermath. Both writers, hosted on stage by Karabo Kgoleng, believe that working in fiction allows them the greatest freedom of exploration in writing.
When questioned on the youth of today and what democracy means to them, Coovadia said, to laughter, that strongly believes the youth are a lost cause – and they have their parents to blame. “There’s a disconnection between parents and teenagers, but hopefully the future generations will be better. Keep them away from this one!”
However, Father Uwem believes not putting too much pessure on the youth to become who they are can make our lives richer.
The 13th Time of Writer Festival hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu- Natal), began on Tuesday, March 9 at the Elizabeth Sneddon. Mike van Graan – writer, playwright and arts activist, delivered the keynote address entitled “The State of the Arts”. Below is an extract from this address.
The state of the arts
“There is no better metaphor that illustrates the state of the arts today than the recent furore around our Arts Minister and the black lesbian photographic exhibition.
But there is a broader frame for this 13th Time of the Writer Festival as it takes place in a most significant year for Africa. Not significant because of the FIFA World Cup, but rather because 2010 marks 50 years of independence for no less than 17 African countries.
The first point about the Innovative Women exhibition is that it took place on Constitution Hill. The Constitutional Court is the ultimate arbiter of what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, not in terms of some individual’s arbitrary moral prejudices or any party’s political agenda, but in terms of the country’s Constitution, the highest law of the land. Our Constitution affirms the fundamental right to freedom of creative expression and outlaws discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. What this incident has shown is that it doesn’t matter if rights are guaranteed on paper, those in power will always seek to create democracy in their self-serving image, so that the artistic space for freedom of expression can never simply be assumed; it needs to be asserted and defended in practice constantly.
This incident took place in August 2009 and yet the story only broke six months later. The question is why? Which brings me to my second point. I think it has to do with the culpability of artists in disempowering themselves. At the time, there was probably outrage, but a decision was taken not to cause a fuss, lest the new Zuma administration be alienated, thereby compromising future funding. Artists are complicit in their own disempowerment by keeping silent, by seeking to align their interests with those of the ruling elite. Censorship is enforced today not through apartheid-era censorship boards, but through informal forms of intimidation and the threat of withholding public funds; the resultant self-censorship compromises the practice of freedom of expression and shrinks democracy.
The third point to take note of in this story is the Minister’s contention that the exhibition did not contribute to social cohesion and nation-building. This goes to the core of the state of the arts in our country at the moment for it points to the conscription of the arts for some political or socially good end, rather than the arts being deemed to have value in their own right.
Post-apartheid cultural policy in the mid-nineties has shifted away from a human rights approach, with Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights being the touchstone: ‘everyone shall have the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts…’ to a neo-liberal, market-driven cultural industries paradigm. This has mean a shift away from “everyone shall have access to the arts” or the “the doors of learning and culture shall be open” Freedom Charter paradigm, to “everyone who can afford it or who has disposable income can access the arts”.
The fourth point arising out of this incident is that even if the minister rejected art for its own sake in favour of the more politically expedient, instrumental approach with the arts essentially being a vehicle for social cohesion and nation-building, her action makes no sense. Unless it is her view that black lesbians are not to be included in the nation. Or that social cohesion excludes one of the most marginalised groups in our society i.e. black lesbians. More than 30 black gay women have been murdered for no other reason than being gay. If the minister was serious about social inclusion and nation-building, then she would have made an extra effort to ensure that these women artists felt part of the South African nation.
One of the reasons suggested for the Minister’s boycott of the exhibition was that the exhibition stereotyped black women. Here is an exhibition by one of the most marginalised groups in our society, black lesbians, asserting their right to depict themselves as sensual, beautiful, human, loving and they are accused of “stereotyping black women”. This is not only an outrageous act of intellectual dishonesty, but yet another appropriation of race in order to legitimise a foolish act. For this is not the affirmation of blackness in the Biko sense of an inclusive identity for all those inferiorised by apartheid, nor of dignifying self-empowerment, nor the psychological affirmation of humanity and wholeness, but rather the all too common cry-wolf blackness that provides the banner under which opportunists pursue their self-enriching ends, fend off legitimate criticism, and in the process, compromise the real struggles of black people. The women who are most abused because of their sexual orientation are so abused precisely because they are black.
In conclusion, the state of the arts is not to be found in the amount of funding available. For, quite frankly, whatever the arts sector’s whining about the lack of funding, there has never been so much funding for the arts. The Department of Arts and Culture’s budget this year is in excess of R2 billion, more than 12 times what it was in 1994. The Lottery raises more than R250 million per year in funds for the sector. And certainly, with better vision, with greater political will, with increased levels of competence and strategic management capacity, the arts sector can do much better than it is now.
But for me, the health of the arts is to be analysed in terms of the democratisation of our society: the space created for freedom of artistic expression and for the arts sector to engage with those in power, the energy and willingness of artists to fight for and defend their rights, and the access which the poor, the vulnerable have to resources, infrastructure and the arts themselves to improve their lives.
We are seriously wanting in all of these, and our democracy is the poorer for it. That will only change when the arts sector begins to follow the lead of social movements in other sectors, and take up the cudgels to advance and defend their interests. No-one else will do it for us.
It is time of the writer, but also of the theatre maker, the musician, the dancer, the filmmaker and the visual artist to stand up and be counted.”
The Kholwa Brothers, an isicathamiya group from Durba,n set a mellow mood for the Opening Night of the Centre for the Creative Arts‘ (CCA) thirteenth annual Time of the Writer Festival which is being held in Durban this week. Peter Rorvik, Director of the CCA, invited each writer participating in the week’s events up on to the stage to explain why he or she writes. He expressed the hope that such direct engagement would nurture all readers and writers in the audience.
First up was Uwem Akpan, from Nigeria, who set African fiction on a new trajectory when his book, Say You’re One of Them was selected for Oprah’s Book Club last year. With an infectious laugh, Akpan said he writes about what worries him, which in this case is child trafficking, tribalism and genocide in Africa. He said he tries to personalise the stories he tells – in Say You’re One of Them by using the perspective of children. Next on stage was Aher Ahop Bol from the Sudan, author of the memoir, The Lost Boy, who explained that as a survivor he felt compelled to recount the story of the Sudanese war. Elana Bregin, an SA author, followed him, detailing her hesitancy at writing as a “white female fifty-plus voice”, but saying that when she is not writing, her life “does not make sense at all”.
Imraan Coovadia, a writer originally from Durban, most recently having published what has been termed an “angry post-apartheid” novel, High Low In-between, paradoxically said he was glad to be a writer in SA now, as he felt its democracy was thriving – a fact which was disputed by Andile Mngxitama, publisher of the New Frank Talk books, who said he was concerned about being a black writer in SA, which he labeled Nelson Mandela’s “failed project”. He said he sees writing as “a brick which we can throw at the government”.
Thando Mgqolozana, a writer originally from the Eastern Cape, said he writes about things that trouble and torture him. His book, A Man Who is Not a Man, addresses what he sees as a silence around male circumcision in SA. He said he was driven by anger and a desire to “show the”’. Similarly, Leonora Miano, from Cameroon and now living in France, said she writes as a way of dealing with pain and danger.
Sally Ann Murray, another Durban writer and poet, claimed her writing as a “way into a sense of self and place”.
Mike van Graan, playwright and arts activist, finished off the evening with a keynote address on the State of the Arts in SA. He emphasised the importance of writers proving that the “pen can be mightier than the sword”, asking whether development in Africa had actually enlarged peoples’ choices. He referred to Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana’s recent refusal to open an exhibition of black lesbian photographs on Constitutional Hill, saying that her excuse that her action was in the interest of “nation-building” undermined artists’ rights to self-expression. Van Graan called on SA artists to use their “soft power”, to keep producing despite a lack of government support. He called on Writers to Stand up and Be Counted.
The written word will envelop Durban as writers from around South Africa and Africa arrive in Durban for a stimulating week of books, ideas and talk at the 13th Time of the Writer International Writers Festival (9-13 March). The festival, which is hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), will feature a diverse gathering of novelists, short story writers, humour writers and political commentators. Within a precarious funding climate the Department of Arts and Culture has provided valued core support to make the production of this year’s Time of the Writer possible and thereby help sustain this important platform which brings literature into the public domain. Time of the Writer will also host a tribute evening to the life, creativity and activism of the late Dennis Brutus as the culmination of a full-day colloquium organised by the Centre for Civil Society (UKZN).
The writers at the festival include Nigerian Uwem Akpan, whose brilliantly-crafted and nuanced debut collection of stories, Say You’re One of Them, won last year’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book – Africa Region. Akpan’s collection was also selected late last year by Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club, a prized honour in the publishing world. Joining him in the panel discussion, “Why I Write What I Write”, will be the Durban-born Imraan Coovadia. Coovadia has established himself over three provoking and intelligent novels, as one of the leading contemporary South African writers. Zakes Mda, a true giant of the South African literary landscape, makes a welcome return to the festival, having just published Black Diamond, which The Weekender called: “a defiantly revealing novel about contemporary South Africa…sane and insane, evocative and hilarious…” The prolific Mda is the author of South African classics such as The Whale Caller, The Madonna of Excelsior, The Heart of Redness and Ways of Dying, amongst others.
The award-winning playwright, journalist and acts activist Mike van Graan, author of plays such Bafana Republic amongst numerous others, will deliver the festival’s Opening Night Keynote Address, entitled “The State of the Arts”. Durban is represented by Sally-Ann Murray, a well-established and prize-winning poet, whose debut novel Small Moving Parts was published last year. Constructed with an astonishing sense of place and detail it is a powerful book that adds a new texture to Durban’s ever-expanding literary narrative. Fellow Durbanite Elana Bregin is a versatile author whose work spans youth fiction to genre-bending biography. Her latest novel Shiva’s Dance has been excellently received.
Thando Mgqolozana hails from the Eastern Cape and his sensitive debut novel A Man Who is Not a Man tells of the trauma a young Xhosa man experiences after his initiation circumcision goes wrong.
William Gumede is one of South Africa’s most prominent public intellectuals and was the author of the best-selling Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC and more recently The Poverty of Ideas (with Leslie Dikeni). Gumede will be in conversation with Andile Mngxitama, a Black Consciousness thinker, organizer and columnist. Mngxitama co-edited Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko and is the publisher of New Frank Talk, a journal of critical essays on the black condition. The latest issue of the journal will be launched at the festival. Other launches include Anton Krueger’s debut novel Sunnyside Sal (Deep South) on Friday 12 March and Andy Mason and John Curtis’ Don’t Joke! The Year in Cartoons on Saturday 13 March. Mason and Curtis, along with several other Durban cartoonists will also conduct the workshop “Don’t Joke! The Changing Face of South African Political Cartooning” at the BAT Centre’s Mission Control on Saturday 13 March at 13h30. The workshop forms part of a trio organised by the fest at the BAT on the day, the other two encompassing creative writing and children’s writing.
“What’s So Funny About Africa?” is the title of the enticing panel that will see Sihle Khumalo and Ndumiso Ngcobo, two of South Africa’s top humourists in discussion. Khumalo’s humourous travelogues Dark Continent, My Black Arse and Heart of Africa have marked him as a witty and astute observer. Ngcobo is a writer and satirist of razor-sharp wit, whose books Some of My Best Friends Are White and Is It Coz I’m Black? contain some of the most irreverent writing currently in South African bookstores.
On Thursday March 11, the festival, in partnership with the Centre for Civil Society (UKZN), will present A Dennis Brutus Tribute Evening (17:30 – 21.00pm), while the CCS itself will present A Dennis Brutus Poetry and Protest Colloquium (09h30-17h00) at Howard College Theatre (UKZN). The colloquium will explore aspects of Brutus’ political and literary legacy in the robust, self-critical style he would have welcomed, with an emphasis on how his life might offer pointers to our own futures. The Dennis Brutus Tribute Evening at the Sneddon is divided into two sections the first (17h30 – 19h00) “Dennis Brutus: Life, Literature, Politics And Mandates To Us All” features panelists such as Ashwin Desai, Fatima Meer, Trevor Ngwane, Eunice Sahle and internationally renowned sports writer David Zirin. The second section (19h30 – 21h00) is a Harold Wolpe/Dennis Brutus Memorial Lecture entitled “Fighting Global Apartheid” by Yash Tandon, the Ugandan political activist, professor, author and public intellectual.
Apart from Uwem Akpan, Africa is further represented by Léonora Miano, a Cameroonian-French author who has written three acclaimed and prize-winning novels and Aher Arop Bol, whose debut, The Lost Boy, about the author’s escape from the Sudan is an epic quest for survival, education, family, and meaning.
Readings, discussions and book launches will take place nightly at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. A broad range of day activities in the form of seminars, workshops, school visits, and a prison writing programme, are formulated to promote a culture of reading, writing and creative expression. The Hon. Ms. Lulu Xingwana, the Minister of Arts and Culture will attend the festival and handover the prizes for the Schools Writing Competition. The competition, which accepts entries in English, Zulu, and Afrikaans, has, over the years, proved to be one of the central development components of the festival.
Time of the Writer’s extensive programme of activities and culturally diverse line-up of writers promise to deliver a dynamic literary platform for dialogue and exchange on wide-ranging themes and offers a rare opportunity to gain insight into the many facets that inform the art of writing.
Except for Thursday, 11 March, which is free, tickets are R25 for the evening sessions, R10 for students, and can be purchased through Computicket or at the door one hour before the event. Workshops and seminars are free.
Visit www.cca.ukzn.ac.za for the full programme of activities, biographies, and photos of participants or contact the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts for more information on 031 260 2506/1816 or e-mail cca@ukzn.ac.za.
Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), the 13th Time of the Writer festival is funded principally by the Department of Arts and Culture, with valued support from Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS), French Institute of South Africa, Centre for Civil Society (UKZN), and the City of Durban
I’ve been thinking about the intense, complex energies of South Africa which were spectacularly on display at the festival. What I found most fascinating about Poetry Africa was the diversity of the types of poetry, which ranged from rap / slam to poetry with music and quieter ‘page’ poetry. It was interesting because the old argument of ‘what is poetry’ starts kicking about in lively fashion in a place where a bunch of poems look totally unlike each other. At one poet’s forum (called an ‘indaba‘), it got a bit heated as seventeen different poets debated definition, purpose and aesthetics with the full knowledge that these debates can never reach any definite conclusion but are important to have in any case. Something new to me — apparently there are some South African poets using their poetry in advertisements and there were some charged debates about the ethics of commercialising poetry with some poets denouncing it and others justifying it with the argument that ‘if we can make money from poetry, why not?’ One rather surprising viewpoint was: ‘We are all selling something anyway — our opinions, our values etc — so why not shares or soap?’ Well, I’d rather be ’selling’ my own opinions than somebody else’s soap. But to each his own? Of course, I’m also curious to know what the quality of soap-selling poetry would be.
A special report from two regular BOOK SA contributors. Text by Sarah Frost, images by Liesl Jobson.
The 13th Poetry Africa International Poetry Festival, hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, was, as usual, an intense conflagration of poetry, ideas, and people, from SA, Africa and beyond. As one of the poets selected for the Durban Showcase, I participated in the pre-festival performance of 12 poets and slammers representing Durban, at The Workshop Shopping Centre’s Amphitheatre. I was struck by the vitality of the young Zulu poets who performed, and saddened that the bulk of their subject matter was promiscuity, HIV, and social/sexual violence. Good that the poets are grappling with real issues though – and that they were given a platform for this.
David Rubadiri, eminent Malawian academic and diplomat, set an appropriate tone for the rest of the fest with his keynote address at the opening night, in which he explained how excited he was to be part of a Creative Writing Programme at UKZN, honouring African writing with his dignified words. The lineup from Africa also included Poetry Africa returnee Susan Kiguli (Uganda), who last performed in Durban in 2000. Kiguli, an academic and widely recognised as one of the most important poets in East Africa, grabbed the audience’s attention with her sincere delivery, her strong narrative style, and her accurate and loving descriptions of life in Africa.
Odia Ofeimun, from Nigeria, and dubbed the “gentleman poet” by Ewok (two-time Poetry Africa SlamJam champion, participating poet and compere), delighted the audience, particularly with his lyrical love poems. Nina Kibuanda (Democratic Republic of the Congo), poet and actor, made the connections between theatre, musicality and poetry explicit in his performance. Tania Tomé (Mozambique), poet and singer, also mirrored a sense of theatre plus an interest in traditional culture in her poetry. Malawian singer and poet Chigo Gondwe cast herself as an “ethno-urban-hiphop-soul-poetess”, revelling in the positive aspects of the Africa continent.
The strong SA lineup this year included poet and novelist Mogane Wally Serote, although – for this listener, the great man seems to have lost some of his earlier (idealistic, yet hard-hitting) impetus. This was certainly not the case for Lesego Rampolokeng, an influential contemporary SA poet, whose political and emotional edginess I found energizing and challenging. Jennifer Ferguson, a multi-award winning performer, composer, poet, and classically trained pianist, wowed us with her powerful voice and evocative lyrics, focusing (overstepping her time limit occasionally) on landscapes of the spiritual. Diminutive in stature but not in energy or voice, Sindiwe Magona, already known as an author and playwright, launched her first anthology of poems at the festival, Please, Take Photographs (Modjaji Books). Liesl Jobson, an established SA poet, charmed the audience with her quaint, yet ascerbic, poetry using humour to convey basic home truths. Loftus Marais, whose debut collection of poems, Staan in die algemeen nader aan vensters, has been received with critical acclaim, won me over with his poem about politics and a poetry “engagee” – clearly a poet with vision and potential, and a keen eye for describing his mother city, Cape Town. Bongani Mavuso, poet, radio presenter, and senior producer at Ukhozi FM launched his latest anthology, Zibuyela Ezimpandeni (Shuter and Shooter) at the festival. His commitment to developing Zulu community identity is commendable.
From further afield, Indian poet Anindita Sengupta, an emerging voice in Indian poetry, read interestingly subtle (rather than didactic) feminist poems. İlyas Tunç, from Turkey, but with a strong SA connection, having just finished work on a mammoth anthology of contemporary SA poetry in Turkish translation, read quite curiously resonant poems, exploring language and imagination.
All the poets mentioned above were heard at evening performances taking place at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre during the week. Apart from these, a packed daily programme included performances, seminars, workshops, poetry competitions, and school visits. The CCA must be complimented on its efforts to integrate Poetry Africa with the broader, and less advantaged, eThekwini community. The last day of the festival, Saturday, saw a full day of activities at the BAT Centre, which included poetry workshops, open mic opportunities, the Durban SlamJam all culminating with the Festival Finale on Saturday night. Leading Zimbabwean protest-poet Outspoken, together with his band the Essence, rhymed truth to power, and played the Festival out. Here’s to the 14th Poetry Africa Festival in 2010, long may this vibrant cultural event make Durban a poetic landmark!
Liesl Jobson’s 2009 Poetry Africa photos
Monica Rorvik’s photos of this article’s contributors
Poetry Africa 2009 was oganised 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.
A stirring week of words, rhymes, performance and ideas is to be experienced at Durban’s 13th Poetry Africa festival which runs from Monday to Saturday next week on the Durban campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
Hosted by the university’s Centre for Creative Arts, the big event starts with a pre-festival showcase of Durban-based poets at The Workshop shopping centre’s amphitheatre, in the city centre, at 11am on Sunday.
Poets performing at this event were chosen during a week-long open audition at the Centre for Creative Arts. Some of the selected poets will also perform curtain-raising poems on three separate evenings at UKZN’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, as well as battle it out for the Durban SlamJam crown set for Durban’s Bat Centre on October 10.
The festival week encompasses introductory performances by the full line-up of participating poets at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on Monday. The festival’s opening night will also include a keynote address by renowned Malawian writer and poet David Rubadiri.
The week will thereafter feature four poets every evening, through to next Friday, before the festival finale at Bat Centre on October 10.
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 5-10 October. 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.
5 to 10 October promises to be a stirring week of words, rhymes, performance and ideas, as the 13th Poetry Africa international poetry festival ignites Durban with poetry from around South Africa, Africa, and the world. Hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, Poetry Africa’s intensive week-long programme kicks off with a pre-festival showcase of Durban-based poets at The Workshop Shopping Centre’s Amphitheatre on 4 October at 11h00.
The poets performing at the showcase were chosen from a week-long open audition held at the Centre for Creative Arts. Some of the selected poets will also perform curtain-raising poems on three separate evening at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre as well as battle it out for the Durban SlamJam crown on 10 October at the BAT Centre. The festival week encompasses introductory performances by the full lineup of participating poets at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on Opening Night, 5 October. Opening Night will also include a Keynote Address by legendary Malawian writer and poet David Rubadiri. The week will thereafter feature 4 poets every evening, through to 4 October, before the perennially rousing Festival Finale at the BAT Centre on 10 October. (more…)
