Category Archives: South Africa

Lara Kirsten

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Lara Kirsten is a pianist and performance poet. She balances the strict discipline of the art music with the writing and performance of her own poetry in Afrikaans and English. On occasion she combines her poetry with movement, visual art, photography and music.

In August 2007 she made her debut as a performance poet with the one-woman piece Ingrid Jonker Dans Weer. She performed her first extensive installation art and poetry piece, Frames, at the Fook Festival in Somerset-East in 2008. This work consisted of eight poems which were performed in eight different rooms with dialoguing installation art, costume and movement. In 2009 she made her debut in The Netherlands in the show Op het Punt van Aanraken (featuring music improvised by Francois le Roux, photography by Carmen Gonzalez and poems written and performed by Lara). In 2009 she was commissioned to write and perform poetry for the 60th Anniversary of the Voortrekker Monument Pretoria, taking a strong view on what it is to be an Afrikaner today. In September of 2010 and 2011 she had the privilege to perform as pianist and poet in the Baxter concert hall in Cape Town. In 2012 a highlight was performing in the Guy Butler theatre at The Settler’s Monument in Grahamstown. She has been invited to write and perform poetry for part of the opening ceremony for the International Aquarium Congress hosted at the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre) in September 2012. From 2010 to 2012 Lara has conceived and performed one-woman poetry happenings at the annual AfrikaBurn festival hosted in the Tankwa Karoo in the Northern Cape.In 2014 she was invited to perform as pianist and poet at the McGregor Poetry Festival. Since 2009 Lara has performed as featured poet at the Off the Wall poetry sessions in Observatory, Cape Town.

Since 2007 Lara’s poetry has been published in various editions of the South African Literary Journal New Contrast. In 2008 she became part of the Eastern Cape poet-group, Ecca, who presents readings and publishes collectively each year.

For more on Lara’s music career, poetry, photos and creative projects please visit her blog at http://laraafrika.blogspot.com/

Omnyama

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Omnyama (the black one), birth name Asanda Vokwana was born and buttered in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Her provocative voice has graced numerous stages in South African. Traces of her Past her debut album – working alongside Bongani Tulwana – is a recollection of the realities of being young, black and female.

Jitsvinger

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Jitsvinger (Quintin Goliath) is an Afrikaaps vernacular and Kyknet Fiestas award winning performer.

He released his debut album Skeletsleutel in 2006. Jitsvinger has collaborated on various projects such as the inter-continental exchange, Rogue State Alliance and Each One Teach One. His versatility has taken him to Holland, Switzerland and Taiwan, where he has performed at international festivals such as the Migration Music Festival, Rock the Docks, Funk Em See, the Buskers Festival, and AfroVibes Festival.

Locally Jitsvinger has performed at acclaimed poetry festivals including Speak the Mind, Poetry Africa, the Cape Town Book Fair, and Spier Poetry Festival. Musically he has performed at Oppiekoppie, Obs Fest, and Cape Town Festival, to name a few.

Jitsvinger composed the music and lyrics for the popular theatre comedy production Joe Barber 5 and is also part of the cast of the critically acclaimed Afrikaaps.

 

Jethro Louw

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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

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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.

James Matthews

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James Matthews, poet, writer and publisher, has produced five books of poetry, a collection of short stories, a novel and an anthology of poetry, which he edited. Most of his work was banned under the previous government and was translated and published overseas. For 13 years he was denied a passport and was placed in detention from September to December 1976. Solitary confinement was widely used during the apartheid years; its purpose being to disorient, to dehumanize, to undermine the detainee’s sense of self-identity. James Matthews waged a struggle against this agenda with the one weapon the jailers couldn’t take away from him – his ability to turn words into poems.

In 1980 Matthews participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair, and in 1982 he participated in the Cultural and Resistance Conference in Gaborone. He was awarded a Fellowship at Iowa University, U.S.A. and was the founding member of the Vakalisa Art Association and founding member and Patron of the Congress of South African Writers. James Matthews is the first black person to have established an art gallery (Gallery Afrique) in South Africa, and is the first black to have established a publishing house (BLAC Publishing House 1974 -1991) The publishing house closed in 1991 due to constant harassment by the previous government. Matthews is the recipient of the Woza Afrika Award (1978), Kwaza Honours List – Black Arts Celebration, Chicago, U.S.A.(1979) and the Freeman of Lehrte and Nienburg, Germany (1982). In 2010, he was given an award by the City of Cape Town.

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JahRose

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JahRose is a poet, mentor, performer, an author, social entrepreneur and art activist. JahRose Productions is an umbrella where all these come together. She self published and launched her debut poetry compilation book: Rooted from the heart in 2010. She recently published Free State of Mind Anthology, with an audio book and a DVD. Free State of Mind Anthology has subsequently been turned into a documentary.

Jessica Mbangeni

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Born and raised in the Eastern Cape, Jessica Mbangeni is one of South Africa’s most sought after female Imbongi (praise singer), and has made her mark in male dominated cultural terrain. Invoking the role of this ancient tradition, largely influenced by her grandmother’s isiXhosa storytelling in the village of Nqamakwe, she offers insightful commentary on contemporary affairs. She has performed alongside numerous musical icons, such as Dolly Rathebe and Dorothy Masuka.

Jacques Coetzee

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Jacques Coetzee tutored English literature at the Universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch for several years before becoming a full-time poet and musician. In 2003, he obtained an M.A. Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town with a collection of poems entitled Singing Through. His English translation of Eugene N. Marais’ Dwaalstories, published by Human and Rousseau as The Rain Bull and Other Tales from the San in 2009, was nominated for the 2009 SATI Award for Outstanding Translations and Dictionaries.

In June 2008 he performed at the Grahamstown Arts Festival alongside Tossie van Tonder in an improvisational piece called Intiem Et Cetera, making use of both movement and voice. Together with poet Barbara Fairhead he is currently involved in a musical project, Red Earth & Rust, which released its first album of original songs, Look For Me, in 2008.

Lyrical poet and musician, Jacques Coetzees poems are born out of the need to surprise himself now and then. In his words: “Writing them is like taking a walk without knowing where it will lead”. His evocative and sensory poetry comes from a desire to bring attention to the place where the inner experience and the world meet.

Geoffrey Haresnape

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Credentials
* Emeritus Professor of English and Creative Writing, University of Cape Town
* Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, UK

Occupations
* Poet and Writer of Fiction
* Vice-President of the SA PEN Centre
* Literary Patron of New Contrast magazine – together with Andre Brink, Nadine Gordimer, JM Coetzee, Dan Jacobson, Zakes Mda & Zoe Wicomb

Publications
* Collections of Poetry
o Drive of the Tide (1976)
o New-Born Images (1991)
o Mulberries in Autumn (1996)
o The Living and the Dead: Selected and New Poems 1976-2005 (2005)
o Where the Wind Wills (2011)

* Works of Fiction
o Testimony – a novel(1992)
o African Tales from Shakespeare – short stories (1999)

Literary Prizes
* SANLAM National Literary Competition (1989)
* The Heinemann/Weekly Mail Literary Award (1990)
* The Arthur Nortje Memorial Award (1991)

Gcina Mhlophe

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Iconic and award-winning Kwazulu-Natal storyteller and poet, Gcina Mhlophe has been writing and performing for over twenty years. Known for her engaging stage presence, she has written numerous award-winning childrens books as well as poetry, short stories and plays, including Nozincwadi Mother of Books, African Mother Christmas, Fudukazi’s Magic and Love Child. Gcina Mhlophe has received Honorary Doctorates from the London Open University as well as the University of Natal and awards from BBC Africa Service for Radio Drama, The Fringe First Award in the Edinburgh Festival, the Josef Jefferson Award in Chicago, and OBBIE in New York. Her work has contributed to the revival of indigenous storytelling in South Africa.

Gabeba Baderoon

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Gabeba is the author of the poetry collections The Dream in the Next Body (2005), The Museum of Ordinary Life (2005), and A hundred silences (2006). The Silence Before Speaking, a volume of her poetry translated into Swedish, is published by Tranan publishers. The Dream in the Next Body was named a Notable Book of 2005 by the Sunday Independent in South Africa and was a Sunday Times Recommended Book. A hundred silences was short-listed for the 2007 University of Johannesburg Prize and the 2007 Olive Schreiner Award.

In 2005, Gabeba received the DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Poetry and held the Guest Writer Fellowship at the Nordic Africa Institute, the second person after Ama Ata Aidoo to receive this honour. In 2008, Gabeba was the recipient of a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship in Italy and a Writer’s Residency at the University of Witwatersrand. Gabeba has read at international literary festivals such as Winternachten in the Netherlands, Poetry International in Rotterdam and London, the Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica, the Stockholm Poetry Festival, the Bristol Poetry Festival, the Franschhoek Literary Festival, Spier and Poetry Africa. Her fiction appears in Chimurenga, Twist (Oshun, 2006), Cape Town Calling (Tafelberg, 2007) and Art South Africa (6.2, Dec 2007). Gabeba is also a scholar, and writes for the media. Details of her academic writing and her articles in Newsday, the Sunday Independent, Mail & Guardian, Oprah and Real Simple magazines can also be found on gabeba.com.

Gus Ferguson

South Africa No Comments

Gus Ferguson has been writing poetry for the past 20 years and has acted as a publisher of mainly South African poets since 1979.

He has several collections published by a broad range of publishers – his latest collection Holding Pattern was published in 2009.

He is the recipient of a Molteno Silver medal and the English Academy Gold medal, both for services to poetry and as a poet.

Gert Vlok Nel

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Gert Vlok Nel came to the attention of South Africans in 1994 with his debut work Om te Lewe is Natuurlik (To Live is Natural), for which he received the coveted Ingrid Jonker Prize for exceptional debut poetry. Vlok Nel paints personal portraits of his childhood in Beaufort-West and writes lyrics that are of a haunting, bewitching, almost hypnotic quality in unusual, innovative Afrikaans.

Genna Gardini

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Genna Gardini is a writer based in Cape Town. She won the 2012 DALRO New Coin Poetry prize and was chosen as one of the Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans for 2013. Gardini has had two plays produced at the National Arts Festival, WinterSweet(2012) and Scrape (2013), both of which won Standard Bank Ovation awards. She was selected for the Royal Court Theatre’s South African Playwright 2013 – 2014 programme. Her work as a poet has been published widely, both locally and internationally. She works as an arts writer for various publications, including the Cape Times. Gardini is currently completing her MA in Theatre-making (Playwriting) at UCT.

Gail Dendy

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Gail Dendy has published seven collections of poetry, her most recent being Closer Than That (Johannesburg: Dye Hard Press, 2011). Her first collection, published by Harold Pinter, was Assault and the Moth, Greville Press (UK) 1993. This was followed by People Crossing (Snailpress, 1995), Swimming in the Long Dark Sound (Stride, UK, 1998, Painting the Bamboo Tree (Arc, UK, 1999), The Poetry of Norman Corwin and Gail Dendy (Shirim, USA, 2002), and The Lady Missionary (Kwela/Snailpress, 2007). Her poetry regularly appears in journals and anthologies both in SA and overseas.
Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s Gail pioneered Contemporary Dance in South Africa and was nominated for the inaugural AA Vita Award for Best Performer. In her writing career, she was a Finalist in the South African Science Fiction Society’s Short Story competition, 1992; Finalist, Dalro Award 2007, Winner of the “Playwriting” category, SA PEN Millennium Competition, 2000; and Joint Winner of the cash prize for the Herman Charles Bosman Literary Award, 2008. She has also been long-listed for the Plough Prize (UK, 2008), shortlisted for the Thomas Pringle Award for Prose (Category: Short Story), 2010, and shortlisted for the EU/Sol Plaatje Poetry Prize in both 2011 and 2012.

The most recent anthologies to feature Gail Dendy’s work are: Anthony Astbury (ed) A Field of Large Desires (Manchester: Carcanet, 2010; Liesl Jobson (compiler) The Sol Plaatje/European Union Poetry Anthology 2011 (Cape Town: Jacana, 2011), and Patricia Schonstein Pinnock (ed) Africa, My Africa! (African Sun Press, 2013), and Harry Owen (ed) For Rhino in a Shrinking World: An International Anthology (East London, SA: The Poets Printery, 2013).

Over the years Gail has worked, inter alia, as a university lecturer, copywriter, and radio news writer. She is currently the Information Specialist for an international corporate-law firm.

Gail is passionate about environmental- and animal-rights issues. She lives in Johannesburg together with her husband, pets, a law library, and a collection of ballet, dance, classical, and Rock ‘n Roll CDs and DVDs.

G.O

South Africa No Comments

G.O is a Cape Town based poet who has performed at places such as Touch of Madness, Tagore’s, and Zula Sound Bar. He has appeared on Bush Radio, UCT Radio and Vibe Radio. He has  been published in IAM Magazine, Zazi Magazine and IMBO Online Magazine.

He coaches a poetry team called Word of Mouth that won an entry to compete in the Annual Brave New Voices Slam Poetry Competition in the United States.

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Ewok

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Ewok — a.k.a. Iain Gregory Robinson, Creamy Ewok Baggends, Hused Whut? and more — is a star in the South African Hip Hop scene. He has been seen and heard at numerous, sold-out shows in his hometown, Durban, and in Cape Town and Johannesburg. He has appeared in numbers of countries overseas. He has been widely praised by the public and the press for his spellbinding verbal control, gripping imagery, forceful vision, sharp insights, and critical voice.

Pimp My Poetry is the second collection of Ewok’s performances on stage brought to the page—it follows his very successful Word: Customized Hype, published in 2007 by Echoing Green Press.Pimp My Poetry had an electrifying launch at the Schools Festival, after the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, where he had again performed to much acclaim.

Ewok is a performance poet of a rare kind—his words really deserve close attention. Those who see and hear him perform are eager to capture his verbal dexterity on the page. His popularity as a Spoken Word Artist, MC and SLAM Champion continues to rise nationally in South Africa and globally.

Ernestine Deane

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Affectionately known to her fans as ‘Ernie’, Ernestine Deane gained huge popularity in South Africa as lead vocalist for S.A. super group, Moodphase5ive.

Having released two albums with the live hip-hop band, Steady On and In Superdeluxe Mode and with several performances on local and international recordings, she independently released her debut solo album, Dub for Mama in 2007.

A natural storyteller, Ernestine’s lyrics cut to the bone. It is the combination of her honest song writing skills and unforgettable melodies that earns her royalties off several international and local compilation albums, commercials, soundtracks, documentaries and film scores. Born in 1974, Ernie grew up on the Cape Flats in Grassy Park, Cape Town and started singing professionally with Hip Hop legends, Black Noise, at the tender age of 15. Ernestine is herself a freelance arts journalist, contributing to publications such as the O Mag and South African arts quarterly, Rootz.

She has appeared on several television and radio shows locally and abroad. A former drama student, she put her acting skills to work playing the mother of Twist in the feature film Boy called Twist in 2003, a Cape Town take on the Dickens classic by acclaimed director Tim Greene. Her voice and original music also grace the film score. The film was warmly received at the 2005 Cannes film festival.

Ernestine has collaborated and shared the stage with top S.A. artists as diverse as poet Breyten Breytenbach, Arno Carstens, Mac Makenzie, Blk Sonshine, Hilton Schilder, Tamara Dey, Max Normal, Goddessa, Tasha Baxter, Concorde Nkabinde, Black Coffe, Simphiwe Dana, Barry van Zyl, Freshlyground, and Bongo Maffin. She has supported international artists, African stars: Cesaria Evora, Khadja Nin, Manu Dibango, Ismael Lo, Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela. Poets Sarah Jones, Saul Williams, Jamaican dub poet Mutabaraka. As well as English acts Morcheeba, Basement Jaxx, Mica Paris, Omar and Brand New Heavies. Some of the international festivals she has performed at are the Harlem Jazz Festival, Womad, Hove Live Festival, Pukkelop, Westerpop, Global Connection, The Lowlands Festival and The North Sea Jazz Festival.

During her first pregnancy in 2003, Ernestine was inspired to write an introspective account of her family’s history as landowners in the now affluent Cape Town wine land, Constantia, before they were forcibly removed by the Group Area’s Act instituted by the Apartheid government. This led to collaboration with filmmaker Kali van der Merwe of Otherwise Media to create the musical documentary, Brown. Their combined efforts resulted in a heartwarming and sensitive tale of triumph over suffering as punctuated by Ernie’s lyrics and script. The documentary film premiered at the 2004 Encounters Documentary Festival and garnered prestigious film awards at the 2005 Milano Film Festival in Italy (Best Afro/Asian/Latincategory), the annual Durban Film Festival and the Apollo Film Festival as Best African/South African Documentary. The film has traveled to international film festivals in Zanzibar, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, and Australia and has been licensed for broadcast on SABC, DSTV and CTV.

In 2009 Ernestine produced White Paper Boats- an ongoing healing performance ritual that fuses music and origami-journeying through the impact of the slaveship route to South Africa

Her current projects include working on a second album, writing for her first Afrikaans release, hosting discussions/workshops using the film Brown as a tool to encourage men, women and youth to find their creative expression and explore their heritage as she does in the film, in an effort to better understand the origins of the challenges that face the so-called coloured community today. Ernie is currently fund-raising for her second musical documentary, Arikan Son as she spreads her wings as filmmaker, producing and co-directing the film. One of her well- loved music collaborations is an ongoing project called Womantide, where she joins forces with two other phenomenal female artists: singer/songwriter, Tina Schouw and playwright/performance poet, Malika Ndlovu. Womantide’s debut album, Yemenya’s Call, was launched in August 2009 at the Women Speak Festival, Artscape Theatre, Cape Town.

Evolution

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Evolution is an artist, poet, musician and creative head who credits all her work to her ancestors. She speaks only the truth which they provide. She mediates between the spirit world and that of physical existence.

Erin Bosenberg

South Africa No Comments

Erin Bosenberg is a multi-disciplinary media and performance artist living in Cape Town. She has an Advanced Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from Humber College (Canada), where she received several awards for radio production and magazine writing. She also has a BFA, majoring in media arts, from NSCAD University.

Her art engages predominantly with place, identity, and bodily experience. She has contributed to numerous group shows, and has also had two solo gallery performances: While I Was Walking (2006) and Gestures for Longing (2008). She recently completed a residency with YEMOYA.  

Eric Miyeni

South Africa No Comments

Multi-talented writer, poet, actor, media personality Eric Miyeni’s third and latest offering Mandingo! A Poetic Journey with Eric Miyeni, has been described as honest, raw and compelling. It follows the success of O!Mandingo!, The only black at a dinner party and O!Mandingo! Before Mandela was Mandela, which were launched following the phenomenal response to his e-zine. The work of Soweto-born Miyeni centres on black pride, black strength, black unity and black prosperity.

Emile Jansen

South Africa No Comments

Hailing from the Cape Flats, Emile Jansen aka Emile YX, B-boy War-lock or A-free-Can I, has been involved with Hip Hop Culture since 1982. He is widely recognised as one of the pioneers of South African Hip-Hop, making his name as a founding member of legendary Hip Hop ensemble, Black Noise. Emile has released several CD compilations, appeared on stages world-wide and has associations with celebrated performers in his genre.

Dr Menzi Duka

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Dr Menzi Meshach Minsie Duka was born in Cradock on 11th November 1948.

In 1984, Dr Duka completed his first anthology of isiXhosa poetry IBETHO (a song of victory)

In 1996 he established Cradock Writers Association. The Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council funded the programmes of this association of which Dr Duka was the leader. Through such funding he produced books such as: Amavo Obuntu (essays), Ubusi (short stories), Imidlalwana Encasa (Three – one – act plays), Isihobe seAfrika Entsha 1 (Anthology of poems), Isihobe seAfrika 2 (Anthology of poems), Iingqwebo Zoluncwadi Lwanamhlanje (analysis of IsiXhosa literature) and Isihobe seAfrika Entsha 3 (An anthology of poems yet to be published).

Some of his poems are in various anthologies such as Intambanane, Umthombo, Vukani Kusile and others.

In 1999, Dr Duka obtained  his Masters Degree with distinction from the  University of South Africa (UNISA). His research was in ZS Qangule’s poetry. Three years later, he obtained a doctorate in Literature and Philosophy from the same university. In his thesis he interpreted and analysed Professor Ncedile Saule’s novels using formalism, structuralism and post – structuralism.

He is the chairperson of Vusubuntu Lodge and Cultural Village (Cradock) and the Cradock Socio-economic transformation Forum in Cradock.  He is also the Senior Pastor of Holy Trinity Ministries and is currently writing Christian books and another anthology of isiXhosa poems.
He also participated in the African Renaissance of South Africa from 2002 to 2010. He was the chairperson of Eastern Cape African Renascence Chapter and a board member of the South African Chapter of African Renaissance. He delivered speeches during some seminars of this movement.

He has also read a paper in the SEK Mqhayi conferenceof 2010. In July 2012 ISER (Rhodes university) summer seminar he also read a paper on the legacy of Matthew Goniwe as well as  many papers on James Arthur Calata and during other occasions organised by the Departments of Arts and Culture. During Grahamstown Wordfest he read some of his IsiXhosa poems and also launched his books.

Currently Dr Duka is an educationist, academic, author of books, community builder and a church leader. He is an inspector of schools, that is, a circuit manager in the Cradock district in the Eastern Cape South Africa.

Deza Magqabi

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Deza is a 26 year old South African male, who has been in love with poetry since his formative years.

Deena Padayachee

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MB Ch B(Natal)

Winner: Olive Schreiner Prize for prose (1994)

Winner: Nadine Gordimer Prize for a short story (1991).

Winner of the Fay Goldie Award (three times) and a prize from the Grahamstown Eisteddfod for prose writing.

Short stories and poems broadcast on SAFM and LotusFM, again in 2013, and published in literary journals in India, the UK, USA, Canada and Australia and translated into Tamil and Hindi.

Short stories published in over 12 literary anthologies including  A century of South African short stories, the University of Cambridge’s New Writing from South Africa, Penguin’s contemporary short stories and Reader’s Digest’s Best South African short stories.

Prescribed author for KZN matrics in 2004/2005.

Monthly Columnist for the Sunday Times Extra till 2008.

Invited author at the university of Copenhagen (1999), university of Tuebingen (1999), Teacher’s college of Mauritius (2007), State university of Louisiana (2008), University of Zululand (2012)

Poems and prose published in 2011/2012 by Rhodes university, Wits university and the university of Oklahoma as well as in other literary anthologies.

Dumisani Slinger

South Africa No Comments

Dumisani Slinger is a spoken word artist, writer and performer who hails from the dusty streets of KwaZakhele, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

His love for all things poetic stemmed from his passion for hip-hop. A friend introduced him to the world of poetry & he hasn’t looked back since.

His ferocious delivery and clever wordplay draw the audience in as he continuously drops hard facts on topics ranging from socio-political issues right down to the struggle to know thy self. Like many a writer, his poetry is sometimes inspired by the literature he consumes and also by the toil of life.

He has performed on various stages and platforms in and around PE and has even made an appearance on BayTV. The highlight of his journey in poetry came in 2012 when he was chosen, along with 3 other poets, to facilitate a workshop on Poetry & Creative Writing, which was held at the Red Location Museum during National Book Week.

Using the power of the spoken word, the young man aims to inform, inspire & change perceptions.

Diana Ferrus

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Diana Ferrus was born in Worcester in 1953 and completed her high school career in 1972. She completed a postgraduate degree in Women’s and Gender studies at the University of the Western Cape where she works as an administrator in the Dept of Industrial Psychology.

Diana is a writer, poet, performance poet and story-teller. Her work in both Afrikaans and English has been published in various collections and some serve as prescribed texts for high school learners. Her publishing house, Diana Ferrus Publishers has published various publications including her first Afrikaans collection of poetry, Ons Komvandaan. Diana co-edited and published a collection of stories about fathers and daughters, Slaan vir my ‘n masker, Vader in 2006. The mission of her publishing company is to publish writers from previously disadvantaged communities. Her company in association with the University of the Western Cape has published life stories of three former activists and unionists namely, Liz “Nana” Abrahams, Zollie Malindi and Archie Sibeko. These publications contain rich material about South Africa’s past and some are prescribed texts at the University of the Western Cape.

She is a founder member of the Afrikaanse Skrywersvereniging (ASV), Bush Poets (all women poets) and Women in Xchains (grassroots women writers).

Diana has attended numerous literary festivals locally and abroad. In 2006 she performed her poetry at the Klein Karoo Kunstefees with the Mamela band. They received a Kanna-award for the best contemporary music. At this very festival Diana received a Kanna-award for her contribution to Afrikaans.

However Diana Ferrus is internationally known and acclaimed for the poem that she wrote for the indigenous South African woman Sarah Bartmann who was taken away from her country under false pretences and paraded as a sexual freak in Europe.

Diana’s work has had and still has a bearing and influence on matters of race, gender, class and reconciliation. She is popular amongst South Africans of all race groups. She believes in her country’s future and works tirelessly for her people’s emancipation from racial, sexual and class exploitation as well as reconciliation.

Dejavu Tafari

South Africa No Comments

Dejavu Tafari has been involved in the performing arts since her high school days. Having discovered her abilities as a writer at an early age, she has honed her skills in creative writing and used them as a means of social commentary, making a name for herself in the slam poetry scene as a writer and performer of note.

Having completed a Live Performance course at Cape Town’s A.M.A.C in 2004 and gone on to further her studies in Theatre Performance at UCT, her work fuses elements of physical theatre, contemporary live performance, music and story-telling to deliver impactful social commentary on issues such as spirituality, cultural heritage, child abuse, peer pressure, love and various other issues which affect the youth.

She currently co- owns NTUTOPIA PRODUCTIONS- a township-based production company and uses this platform to generate theatre and television productions which focus on telling stories that empower the black youth demographic by reinforcing positive values. She has gained popularity within the Slam Poetry scene as a result of her consistent performances at events such as UNCUT (Cape Tech); AFRO (UCT); Kopano (Langa); All N.YZ (Guguletu); GOEMARATTI (Cape Town) and various other youth- orientated initiatives around the Western Cape. She has recently collaborated with an acoustic ensemble called the Umthwakazi Band; adding indigenous Xhosa music to her witty lyrics to create a kaleidoscope of experimental word-sound-power that has been well received by her widening audience base.

Other performances include the Speak The Mind Poetry Extravaganza (Artscape Theatre Sept. 2009); Poetry on Long (New Space Theatre Jan. 2010); Verses (Feb. 2010); Badilisha Poetry’s 100 000 Poets for Change( 2011) and Woman To Woman( 2012). Dejavu is currently working on her debut album.

croc E moses

South Africa No Comments

Clever fooligan has made all the right mistakes and has self-realised his irrelevance.

Mr. Moses has attempted integrating his infinite personality and has even taken it to the stage! He fancies himself a bit of a nectar connector, talking songist,rhythm driven wordsmith, wordle doodle is heart headed hartist at heart, borderline magician dubious flowtician. For the last 9 nine years croc E moses has been planting word seed. With an activated sense of scooberty this poem ranger has been inciting da in sight, transposing consciousness,returning words to their source.

His works are serious, sensitive, deep, sometimes profound, equally flippant and possibly humorous. He takes many risks in content and in imagination. He draws upon exposure to extremes. His word strings are tasty tangents – His accent, soothing moon root liquorice, sub-dub dollop delicious, treating you to a little bit of everything you like. His performance is mysterious dragonfly capoeira!

Surprisingly and unsurprisingly he has appeared at festivals, conferences, schools, open mics, fund raisers, dinner party’s, exhibition openings and solo gigs mainly in South Africa, but also as far as New York, Dublin, Copenhagen, England, Mozambique, and Swaziland! Highlights include the Support act for Linton Kwesi Johnson, Cape Town, South Africa(2009) Poet On Strike Tour, Southern Africa (2009) Kgotla Youth Conference, South Africa(2009) Bushfire International Arts Festival, Swaziland (2008) Latitude Festival, UK (2007) The Aldeburgh Music Festival Fringe, UK (2007) The Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, New York City, USA (2003) The Herman Charles Bosman Literary Festival, South Africa (2002) and the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, SOUTH AFRICA (2001).

Koleka Putuma

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Performance poet,  Koleka Putuma, is based in Cape Town and currently pursuing a degree in Theatre and Performance at the University of Cape Town. She  facilitates and hosta writing and dialogue workshops at schools, community projects and interfaith programs in and around Cape Town.

She has headlined at SliPnet’s Inzync Poetry Sessions, JamThat Session and at Off The Wall. She is a resident poet of the collective Lingua Franca. In 2012 she took second place in the Cape Town leg of the Drama for Life Lover + Another National Performance Poetry Slam Competition and represented the city at the national finals.

Her work has travelled to Scotland and New York.