Semiha has been writing poetry since the 7th grade, mostly as an alternative to a diary. She has also started writing short stories, and hopes to write a full set someday-but mostly reverts to poetry as her native tongue.
Semiha
Richard Mbuthia
Richard Mbuthia is an English and Literature teacher in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Poetry is his second love: the rhythm, verse and verve of poetry are ingredients of a great love story. The twenty six letters of the alphabet amaze him with their ability to be used as instruments of change – their volatility, pointedness, efficiency and aptness cannot be gainsaid.
His ambition is that one day he will be a poet of high repute; a poet churning out metres and metres of verse; a poet on the drawing board of many a winning verse; a poet charting the way for revolutionary pieces; a poet telling the African story as it is and as it ought to be.
Princely
Princely is a poet based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.
Justine Kakoko
Justine Kakoko, known to many as Brother GSP, is a passionate poet and Pan-Africanist living in Southern part of Tanzania. This 23 year old is a student at the University of Dodoma pursuing Bachelor of Arts and Public Administration.
He was inspired to start writing poetry by likes of Amiri Baraka, Last Poets, Mutabaruka, Alicia Walker, Saul Williams, his Comrade George Kyomushula and other many more.
Although, he does not get many opportunities to perform his work due to the lack of poetry events in his town he is determined to continue writing.
Thandokuhle S. Mngqibisa
Dr. Thandokuhle S. Mngqibisa is a performing poet, medical doctor and an activist for womyn’s issues born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 1984. She studied medicine, completing her MBBCh early in 2011. The time & emotional commitment required for this, however, would never see her second-guessing her place in the performance poetry zeitgeist. The major themes of her written work centre around the issues of womyn in the setting of modern South Africa. She works intimately with womyn on a daily basis as a medical officer in obstetrics and gynaecology.
She discovered stage poetry in 2005 when she met and joined a 7 member poetry collective and inspiration, T.O…T! Together they introduced poetry to different audiences and challenged the status quo by performing fluid collaborative pieces that matched different styles of poetry and used the physical movement of 7 poets to tell a single story.
She has performed poetry for international movement to stop violence against womyn, One Billion Rising (2013, 2014). She was part of the cast of a workshopped theatrical poetry performance called Secret With the Moon; part of the Arts Alive festival (2013) and was invited to perform at the Melville poetry festival (2012).
She has judged various poetry slams like Word n Sound (2014), Drama For Life, Lover and Another (2013) and has helped in preparing prolific, talented poets for the stage for Drama for Life (2014) by conducting workshops to observe and guide their performance technique and discuss and impart knowledge on the subject matter–sex and sexuality.
She has a collection of published poems called One Big Word and has been published in an online magazine and in the Saturday Star lifestyle segment (2008?). She has performed her poems on various radio stations (VOW, ukhozi) and TV shows (etv sunrise, shiz niz, creations).
She has opened for Simphiwe Dana and shared stages with various successful artists like Lebo Mashile, Tu Nokwe, Myesha Jenkins, award-winning poets Phillippa Yaa de Villiers and Vus’muzi ‘Romeo the Poet’ Phakathi. She planned and hosted a poetry and discussion seminar called SPEAK for 16 days of activism.
She is a few months from completing her second collection of poems.
Stuart Thembisile Lewis
Stuart Thembisile Lewis is a journalist and filmmaker who moonlights as a poet. He was born in 1993, less than a year before South Africa’s first democratic election, and carries a massive chip on his shoulder for consistently being lumped together with the so-called ‘Born Frees’. He spends most of his time stuffing around on the internet
Sisonkepapu
Sisonkepapu is a dynamic personality. Close observers of his work claim that he has a provocative poetic skill and has established himself as a prominent poetic voice within the Eastern Cape. Being a professor of literature, his focus extends beyond the academy and community, and has a penchant for critical engagement through writing and development of budding writers like himself. His poem was added into the syllabus for a Poetry course at NMMU in 2014 and 2015, and offered his insights into the critical revelation in the piece, and the art of poetic writing and literary interpretation in the Poetry lectures. The Resonance Poetry Movement, a poetry society he co-founded, facilitates creative writing workshops and has published an anthology, hosted local and International acts such as Ian Kamau and Luka Lesson.
Jason Nkwain
Jason Nkwain was born in Cameroon, and moved to the USA at the age of thirteen. He has been publicly speaking since the age of seven when he started reciting poems and rhymes for kindergarten events.
Jason became really interested in poetry after moving to the US, and as time went by, he slowly developed a love for performance poetry or as most people call it, spoken word poetry. In 2012, alongside some of his close Cameroonian friends, he co-founded LEGACY ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTIONS, which is a collective of African artist whose main focus is to elevate and expose the beauty and the brilliance of the African Art.
Jason Nkwain’s poems focus on the continent of Africa and especially its people. Looking at the African people through the eyes of an anthropologist, Jason seeks to expose the beauty in Africa’s story. Jason seeks to dispel most myths and to shatter the false His-Stories, creating room for the truth in Our-Stories.
Some of his well-known poems are Thoughts, and Have You Ever Seen An African Dance.
Jason Nkwain is currently a senior at The University of Maryland College Park double majoring in Geographical Information Systems and English. He hopes to become an English professor some day focusing on African studies.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Legacy237
Donna Ogunnaike
Poet, writer and Energy Law expert, Donna is arguably the most compelling voice in Nigeria’s intense performance poetry circuit today. She has been described in the only ranking effort for spoken word in Nigeria (EGC Platform) as the “queen of spoken word poetry in Nigeria” for the year 2013 and ranked amongst the top 20 poets in Nigeria in the year 2012.
She is a Partner in the Law Firm of Adepetun, Caxton-Martins, Agbor & Segun where she has earned herself the prized ranking of “Rising Star” in 2014 and 2015 from IFLR 1000 for the World’s Leading Lawyers. When she is not providing expert advice to clients, Donna invests her energies in performed poetry and was formerly a co-coordinator of the well established Nigerian platform for art expression, Freedom Hall. She is a regular act on platforms like Taruwa, Freedom Hall and Word Up (where she has been a judge of poetry slams severally and was a facilitator at their event “The Business of Spoken Word in Nigeria, 2014” where she taught a sizeable audience of spoken word artistes on perfecting their act “From Page to Stage”).
Donna has been called upon for landmark events where only the finest acts are selected such as Nigeria’s 1st Cultural Trade Show (2014) tagged “Business Meets Culture” hosted by the Nigerian-German Business Association, the Lagos Black Heritage Festival and the WS 80 (celebrating Professor Wole Soyinka). DONNA was also the only Nigerian and one of 11 women elected by ONE.ORG for the National Month of Poetry, 2014 on its “National Poetry Month: Uplifting Verses From 11 Strong Female Poets”, alongside greats like Maya Angelou and Naomi Shihab Nye.
Her debut audio album “Water For Roses” is now available for purchase, with a formal launch to follow by April, 2015
Issa Kone
Issa Kone is a poet and retired teacher born in 1951 in Saint-Louis, Senegal. He started writing poems in the 70’s when he was still a student. He was the very first winner of the FIPIA (Festival Itinérant de Poésie Internationale en Afrique) poetry competion in 2008.
Shingi Mavima
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Shingi Mavima currently writes out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His work revolves around the inescapability of time, Africa in her flawed glory, and love.
Mavima is also the lead poet and editor of Homeward Bound, an anthology by five young Zimbabwean poets (now available on Amazon.) Away from poetry, Mavima has a Masters of International Affairs Degree from Penn State University, and is currently getting his Phd in African American and African Studies at Michigan State University.
Tina Abena Oforiwa
Tina Abena Oforiwa is a London-based, Ghanaian-born creative writer.
Although she has lived in the UK almost all her life, for her Ghana will always be home. She uses poetry as a means to communicate the experience of growing-up outside of her homeland, the feeling of displacement and nostalgia which naturally manifest in varying ways.
For Tina, poetry remains as the ultimate liberating tool. It allows her to speak of things she wouldn’t ordinarily engage with others about on a day to day, and feel no reproach.
Rethabile Masilo
Rethabile Masilo blogs at Poéfrika and co-edits Canopic Jar. He is a Mosotho poet from Lesotho and enjoys reading and writing. Today he lives in Paris, France, with his wife and two children. His work has been published in various hard and soft-copy magazines, including Canopic Jar.
Rethabile was born in 1961 in Lesotho and left his country with his parents and siblings to go into exile in 1981. He moved through the Republic of South Africa (very short stay, on account of the weight of apartheid), Kenya and the United States of America, before settling in France in 1987.
In 2012 his first book of poems, Things That Are Silent, was published by Pindrop Press. The second book, Waslap, will be published in 2015 by The Onslaught Press.
Naledi Agatha Ntini
Naledi Agatha Ntini was born in 1974 in Mpumalanga, South Africa. She performs her poetry mainly at community gatherings, weddings and memorial services. In 2007 she was invited to take part in the 13-part television show, Voices of Africa. iMphumlanga a praise poem for her province is her most celebrated poem. Her work has been anthologised in Tivunguvungu and Bantu Letters. Naledi is nurse by profession, a mother to two boys and a wife.
Collin the Bushman
Collin the Bushman is an Attaqua bushman from a town called Dysselsdorp, on the outskirts of Oudsthoorn. He grew up in the Boland, Worcester area.
A poet, artist, bushman-blues/folk singer and musician, he is passionate about what he does. Part of his journey has been to rediscover his Khoikhoi roots. Living in a culturally diverse South Africa has inspired Collin to theme his work under the bushman heritage and culture.
Collin has been in the music and poetry industry since 1995. He started out in the hip-hop scene with the help of Black noise, P.O.C, Brasse van die Kaap, and Hip crew. He started out as a B- boy/MC, the culture of self-expression through music & art really inspired Collin to voice issues that were and are still relevant today. The issues addressed in his music & poetry are mostly around cultural & community awareness.
In 2011 Collin met up with rapper/artist/performer Jitsvinger, which led him to also working with the great spirit Jethro Louw aka Tannaman !xam. Combining his work with Jitsvinger and Jethro really took the poetry to a whole new level of Khoikhoi-culture awareness.
Makosha Valencia Dimo
Born and breed in the South African province of Limpopo, Mmakosha is a multi-talented artist who practices various art forms including singing, acting, and writing and reciting poetry. She has performed across numerous stages around the country. She is also the admin officer for The Polokwane-based, Timbila Poetry Project, alongside renowned South African poet Vonani Bila.
Mxolisi Nyezwa
Mxolisi Nyezwa was born in 1967 in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth. He runs a public-phones business from a steel container in Motherwell township. Mxolisi is the founder editor of the cultural magazine Kotaz, now in its 15th year. He has published three collections of poetry, Song Trials (2000), New Country (2008), and Malikhanye (2011). Mxolisi still lives in New Brighton township, close to where he was born at 4 Madala Street.
Barbra Breeze Anderson
Barbra Breeze Anderson is a performance poet, writer and designer. She started the art of performing in the year 2007 at the ‘Power In The Voice Competition’, a British Council sponsored event where she performed a short prose piece.
Barbra breeze the performance poet was born a year and seven months ago at the Book Cafe and since then has been exposed to frequent poetry slams such as the House of Hunger poetry slam at the Book Café. She has performed at Open Mic events and other poetry events at the Book Café/ Mannenberg such as Sistaz Open Mic and Mashoko events.
Barbra also took her poetry outside of the two venues to places such as Alliance France’s Chimoto poetry night and an Acoustic Night at the Symphony. She has performed at the Buddyz Annual Festival of the Arts (BAFA) 2009 at Harare Gardens and the Sixteen Days of Activism concert 2010. Barbra performed in Bulawayo in 2010, she has appeared on television and radio –Youth.com, Spot Fm’s various spoken word outlets and has featured in Newspaper articles from Newsday, the Daily News, Herald, the online regional news site Shout Africa and the online outlet Zimbo Jam. The articles have been profiles of her and her current projects.
Early this year she performed at a community based event ‘Step Up’ 2011 at the Aquatic Sports club in Chitungwiza and at the monthly ongoing Mashoko event at the Mannenberg. She performed at the U.S Embassy Black History Event 2011 at the Ambassadors House in early February. Barbra is now working on various projects, one that she has put into effect is a monthly Poetry night event called ‘Poetry And’ launched in April 2011 where poetry is fused with different genres of art. She is working with some of the best of Zimbabwe’s spoken word artists and she intends to make it a success.
Barbra has participated at the first edition of Shoko Spoken Word and Hip Hop Festival 2011 and she has performed her poetry at a Pamberi trust project-a Concert for Non Violence 2011, in Highfield, in September this year and at the Acoustic Night, November 2011 edition.
For the year 2012, she opened it as part of the poets of the spoken word section at Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa), 1-6 May edition, where she hosted and performed at the Hivos Poetry Café.
Musa Okwonga
Musa Okwonga is an Oxford University graduate who since then has practised both law and football, with the emphasis on the latter. He won the Junior Bridport Prize for fiction in 1994, for poetry in 1995, and the WH Smith Young Writers competition a year later. He lives in South London.
Okwonga considers himself a poet, a sportswriter, a PR professional, an author, and an occasional MC. Okwonga’s poetry, which he often writes on London buses, travelling entire routes in order to be immersed in humanity, displays astonishing subtlety of observation. “The language has to be a vehicle for the story, the message,” Okwonga says. “Otherwise, it’s just intellectual showboating. People go to poetry gigs to hear intellectual honesty.” In his poetry, as in his life, that is exactly what they get. Okwonga is also a founding member of Poetry collective “A poem in between people” (PIP).
Mthetheleli Michael Mqutheni
Mthetheleli Michael Mqutheni was born in 1963 in Whittlesea, Eastern Cape, South Africa. In 1989 he completed his Diploma in Education at the University of Pretoria. He is currently completing his B.Ed Honours with the University of North West. He is the co-author of the book Ubuncwane Besihobe edited by Professor Z.S Gebeda.
Mbizo Chirasha
Mbizo Chirasha is an acclaimed wordsmith, performances poet, widely published poet and writer. He is the Founder and Creative Director of several creative initiatives and projects, including Young writers Caravan Project, This is Africa Poetry Night 2006 – 2008, Zimbabwe Amateur Poetry conference 2007 – 2010, African Drums Poetry Festival 2007, GirlChildCreativity Project 2011- Current, GirlchildTalent Festival 2012.
The widely traveled poet and creative projects consultant is widely published in more than 60 journals, anthologies, websites, reviews, newspapers, blogs and poetry collections around the world. Some of the countries he traveled include Ghana, Sweden, Egypt, Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Malawi.
The poet have done a number of official NGO creative interventions and consultancy programmes with Social Family Health (Namibia 2009 – 2010) on a HIV/Aids Documentary Project, Catholic Relief Services Zimbabwe 2006 on a HIV/Aids Nutrition Project, Swedish Cooperative Centre 2006 on Arts against Drought (Zimbabwe).
His writings are published in Canada, Germany, Norway, South Africa, Turkey, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe, America, India, Wales, London, Nigeria and other countries. He co-authored Whispering woes of Ganges and Zambezi with Sweta Vikram from New York in 2010. His poetry collection Good Morning President was published by Diaspora publishers UK in 2011.
In 2001- 2003 Mbizo was the Membership Drive officer for Budding writers Association of Zimbabwe. In 2000 was Outreach Agent for Zimbabwe Book Development Council, Delegate of Zimbabwe international Book fair to Goteborg international book fair /Sweden in 2003, Delegate of Zebra publishing House, Namibia to Unesco Photo Novel Writing Project in Tanzania 2009, Poet in Residence of International Conference of African Culture Development in Ghana 2009,Producer/Coordinator of I am the Artist project, an Artist in Residence program by Zimbabwe Germany Society /Goethe Zentrum.
He holds Writing Skills and Editorial Expertise certificates courtesy of BWAZ/SAIH-Norway. Mbizo works as a poet/writer in residency, Readership and literacy culture development Advocate, Media Relations Strategist, Live Literature Producer and Creative Projects Consultant.
Mbali Kgosidintsi
Mbali Kgosidintsi graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2004 with a B.A in Theatre and Performance and was on the Deans Merit List for Drama. Her professional debut was on the Maynardville stage where she played the young lead of Hero in
Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Fred Abrehemse.
She then went on to do Tall Horse with The Handspring Puppet Company, which opened at The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town 2005, before touring to the Theatre de Welt Festival in Stuttgart Germany, followed by an eight state American tour at various prestigious venues, from the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York to The Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.
In the same year, she joined The Mother Tongue Project who collaborated with members of the Darling community to workshop and produce Breathing Space for the Darling Festival. On her return from Darling she staged her first production, By word of Mouth- A night of Lace and Petals which combines dance, music, poetry and theatrical aspects to tell a story featuring Rite 2 Speak. She is one of the members of Rite 2 Speak, a female poetry collective that addresses identity in contemporary South Africa. They have performed at prestigious events ranging from National Women’s Day 2008 to Heritage Day in Portugal and Urban Voices Festival 2009.
Mbali played the lead of Electra in Yael Farber’s Molora which opened in Yokohama, Japan 2006. She was recruited as one of four writers / adapters to develop two productions for the London/South Africa based company Portobello productions. The writing team, directed by Mark Donford-May, adapted A Magic Flute – Impempe Yomlingo and it went on to win the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical Revival.
Mbali was awarded a writing residency on the island of Sylt, Germany to develop her autobiographical novel, which formed the basis for her one-woman show, which was then produced by The Mother Tongue Project entitled Tseleng The Baggage of Bags written and performed by Mbali and directed by Sara Matchett. It won the ovation award at The National Grahamstown festival 2010. Mbali was invited to participate in Poetry workshops hosted by Badilisha Poetry X-change featuring internationally acclaimed poets and selected to participate in a two-week workshop with internationally acclaimed poet, Stacey Ann Chin where they investigated themes of the self and the body.
She recently played the character of a modern day Medea in award winning playwright and human rights activist, Ariel Dorfman’s Purgatorio, at a play reading hosted by the Baxter Theatre.
Mbali continues to write and perform poetry and is working on her first novel.
Mwila Mambwe
Mwila Mambwe sought refuge in South Africa, after fleeing the war-ravaged country of his birth. Originally from Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, his personal journey of strife and overcoming adversity finds expression in his poetry, most notably in the compilation Coming from the Struggle.
Mukoma Wa Ngugi
Novelist, poet, and essayist Mukoma Wa Ngugi is the author of Nairobi Heat (Penguin, SA 2009), an anthology of poetry titled Hurling Words at Consciousness (AWP, 2006) and is a political columnist for the BBC’s Focus on Africa Magazine. He was short listed for the Caine Prize for African writing in 2009. He has also been short listed for the 2010 Penguin Prize for African Writing for his novel manuscript, The First and Second Books of Transition.
A former co-editor of Pambazuka News, his columns have appeared in the Guardian, International Herald Tribune, Chimurenga, Los Angeles Times, South African Labour Bulletin, and Business Daily Africa, and he has been a guest on Democracy Now, Al Jazeera and the BBC World Service. His essays have appeared in the World Literature Review, the Black Commentator, Progressive Magazine and Radical History Review. His short stories have been published in Wasafiri, Kenyon Review and St. Petersburg Review and poems in the New York Quarterly, Brick Magazine, Kwani?, Chimurenga and Tin House Magazine amongst other places.
Mukoma was born in 1971 in Evanston, Illinois and grew up in Kenya before returning to the United States for his undergraduate and graduate education. He is currently based in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the son of World-renowned African writer, Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
Mbongeni Nomkonwana
Mbongeni Nomkonwana is an actor, playwright, theatre director, poet and sometimes standup comedian who has performed at the former Vodacom Funny Festival (2007) now Jive Funny Festival.
This multi-talented performer is always willing to try new things and has special gift with words. He started his performing, writing and directing career at Sophumelela Theatre Group where he still is to date. He holds a performing Arts Certificate from New Africa Theatre Academy (2007). He has written and directed four plays for them which one of them Bendingazi was performed at the 2009 National Arts Festival.
He has acted in two international films alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Hakim Kae Kazeem, he has done some local cameo roles with penguin films. He has done children’s theatre with Arepp Theatre for Life (2010-2011) touring the Eastern Cape and is now working for Okuhle Media doing educational school roadshows.
Winner of Cape Town DFL LOVER+ ANOTHER poetry challenge, he has since then performed at OFF THE WALL poetry sessions and Inzync Poetry by Stellenbosch University, 2012 HEAIDS Conference at UCT, Jam That Session, Brand House Marketing Campaign and Last Poet’s: Rhythm Poetry1.
Co-Founder of a Cape Town based poetry and music movement, Lingua Franca. In 2013 he teamed up with Lwanda Sindaphi to coordinate the Poetry for the annual Zabalaza Theatre Festival at Baxter Theatre.
He also teamed with Linda Kaoma to coordinate the 2013 DFL Lover+Another Poetry Challenge.
Nana Nyarko Boateng
Ghana based Nana Nyarko Boateng feels gratifyingly functional when she writes. Essentially, she doesn’t know any other way to live. The greatest influence on her poetry and writing career is her heartbeat. She admires and feels indebted to many more poets than five but if she has to name five; Kamaria Muntu, Jacqui Johnson, Kofi Anyidoho, Alice Walker and Audre Lorde.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ngwatilo Mawiyoo
Drawing from her musical background and her work as an actress, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo is acclaimed as “a priest of the art of performed poetry.” She has performed in venues in East Africa, Europe and North America, recently performing at the 2009 13th Stockholm Poetry Festival.
An undisputed young master of the written word, Ngwatilo’s first collection of poems Blue Mothertongue (2010) is “crafted with beautiful pace and intelligence,” “a worthy testament of her times.”
Her poems may also be found in literary journals around the world including Kwani? published by The Kwani Trust and The Literary Review published by Farleigh & Dickinson University.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Omekongo wa Dibinga
Omekongo wa Dibinga was born to Congolese parents in Cambridge Massachusetts. His first CD, A Young Black Man’s Anthem, won the 2003 Cambridge Poetry Award for “Best CD.” His first book of poems, From the Limbs of my Poetree, was published in 2004 through Free Your Mind Publishing, which Omekongo founded in early 2004. Other CD’s include Reality Show, which is Omekongo’s first hybrid spoken word and hip-hop CD. Omekongo has been published in Essence Magazine, Sister 2 Sister, and several other publications.
A dedicated educator and community activist for over 20 years, Omekongo plans to continue focusing on improving cultural understanding and growing greatness among all of humanity’s children, because, as Omekongo believes: “We are only as humane as our most inhumane soul.”
Jumoke Verissimo
At age 7, her class teacher wrote on her mid-term report sheet, “Jumoke loves to write”. While that was just a teacher’s observation, it is one revelation that has remained true. Her love for words has never taken her far from it. She has worked as a printer’s clerk, assistant sub-editor, performance poet and journalist. Now working as a copywriter, she maintains a page in the Guardian Newspaper. Her poems and short stories have appeared in several magazines like Chimurenga, Bathtub Gin, Canopic Jar, Eclectica, Sentinel, African writing-online, Boyne Berries, Farafina, Kwani and several anthologies.
I am Memory is Jumoke’s first collection of poetry.
Jethro Louw
Jethro is a poet from Cape Town, born in Beaufort West in the Eastern Cape. He lives in a township. He is a ghetto poet, largely considered to be the godfather of spoken word in Cape Town. And alongside poets such as Lesego Rampolokeng, Mzwakhe Mbuli and Mzwandile Matiwana, he ranks as one of the nation’s key voices, a noteable “word-bomber”. Jethro uses the power of his words to bring back to life the discontinued heritage of his culture. His work revitalises the legacy of stories and the wealth of storytellers of the KhoiSan people. For centuries, the members of this community have been silenced by the gun and the bullet and the wall. The results are a lack of formal skills and access to infrastructure to turn those skills into income, subsequently a lack of identity and self esteem.
Jethro Louw’s compositions and performances feature on Volume One of the Coffeebeans Routes’ Bootleg Series, by the Khoi Khollektif, in collaboration with several Cape Town acts. The tracks are all live recordings from shows in Cape Town between 2004 and 2007. Jethro also features on the Goemarati compilation, with his track In a Third World, a collaboration with Black Rose.
Jenna Mervis
Jenna Mervis is a poet, short story writer, freelance writer and designer. Her work has been published in various anthologies, including New Contrast, English Academy Review, New Coin, Botsotso, Itch online, Carapace, POWA’s 2008 anthology and New Writing from Africa 2009.
Born and schooled in Durban, Jenna moved to Grahamstown to study Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University (and life at the local watering holes). She then headed to London to test out her newly acquired skills. She polished cutlery at a fancy restaurant, gagged on Guinness in Dublin, fell asleep on a night bus (several times), surfed in Newquay (failed dismally) and worked for the London Science Museum, where she navigated outer space, shrunken heads and ancient mariners to get to her desk each morning. After almost 2 years of travelling, writing and working, Jenna was finally lured back south by a postcard of Camps Bay – after all, who can say no to white sand, turquoise water and a fold of fynbos mountains?
Back home, Jenna obtained her MA Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. She currently lives and works in Hout Bay with two dogs and one human. She’s done with big city life. The mountains help her breathe and think. Woman Unfolding is her debut collection of poetry.