Banda is the DCES for Quality Assurance under the Mpumalanga Department of Education.
He has been writing since 1977 and has since then published various articles, essays, books, and poems. His current collection of poetry entitled Poems and Stories from the Countryside, is due to be published in 2015.
Jacob Sam-La Rose is a published poet who devises and facilitates projects for schools and other institutions, emerging poets, teachers, literature professionals and other creatives. His work is grounded in a belief that poetry can be a powerful force within a community, and that it’s possible to combine the immediacy of poetry in performance with formal rigour and innovation on the page. His work has been featured in a range of journals and anthologies. Breaking Silence (2012) is his first book length collection of poetry.
Ndivhuho Aluwani Mabonyane, popularly known as Dzomolavenda, is an award winning traditional praise poet from Limpopo, South Africa. His talent and passion were evident from a very young age; in grade three he could effortlessly recite poems like Ramaremisa written by legendary Z Matsila.
In 2006 he started penning his own poems including Tshivhoni and Zwa lino shango. After graduating from high school in 2010 he trained and mentored people in poetry and stage drama and still continues to do so now.
His first poetry album titled Vhalemba includes hits like Shandukani, and Luvha la Africa. In 2013 he won an award for best poetry song/album at the prestigious Tshivenda Music Awards.
Peggie Shangwa known as Umind is a spoken word artist who thrives on word passion and speaks her mind in connection with her spirit, laying down heart issues on any platform. She is a performance poet as well as a slam poet. She started performing poetry in October 2012 at the House of Hunger Poetry Slam and has graced platforms like FLAME PAMBERI’s Sistaz Open Mic, International Poetry Celebrations, national television, national radio stations to name just but a few. Peggie has also performed at the National youth Slam at Shoko Festival 2012 and Jacaranda Young Women’s Festival in 2013. She opened for Grammy nominee, Da TRUTH at his Love, Hope and War Tour Africa and featured in a music album with Zimbabwean Artist Ney. Some of her poetry has been published in Nigeria and in local Magazine, The Voice.
Matshedisho Aletta Motimele has been writing poetry for over two decades. She is the author of Peu tsa lerato and Re thankgetse. This talented actor and playwright has also written for radio and television productions.
Keith Oleng also known as K.O.K.O is a 29 year old poet, performer and creative director from Kenya.
His journey into the arts started when he was in the theatre arts club at Kakamega High School, where he learned about theatre directing, acting and creative writing. He then went on to study mass communication and film arts in Cetral TAFE College [Australia] and New York Film Academy [USA].
Later he started a communication organization called Oleng Communication, which focuses on understanding and communicating the interests of young people in Africa.
His first poetry collection, titled LOVE, Taken to a Mysterious Place is available for free download on his artist website.
When Titilope first stepped to the microphone in 2007 at a local open mic, to gracing stages from Lagos to Cape Town, New York to California, Edmonton to Toronto and places in between, her goal has been to remind people that the ties that bind us transcend all of the borders we have created. She will tell you that no poem is brand new. In the telling and re-telling we are reminded that someone has walked this path before.
Titilope is a Nigerian born civil engineer, author and spoken word poet and the winner of the 2011 Canadian Authors’ Association Emerging Author Award for her first collection of poems, Down To Earth. In 2013 Titilope released her first spoken word album Mother Tongue and her second collection of poetry, Abscess, in 2014 with Geko Publishing in South Africa.
She was a resident artist at the 2011 Yemoya Artist Residency under the mentorship of acclaimed Jamaican-Canadian Dub poet and educator, D’bi Young. She was the recipient of the 2013 RISE award for achievement in the arts and the 2014 National Black Coalition of Canada Fil Fraser Award.
She has featured on stages across Canada and internationally, performing with Sonia Sanchez, Jayne Cortez, Yusef Komunyakaa, Obiora Odechukwu, Bassey Ikpi, Twin Poets and Offiong Bassey, at the 2011 Achebe Colloquium on Africa at Brown University. In 2013, Titilope was selected from over 200 writers to meet legendary poet and author, Dr. Maya Angelou.
She is the creator of Rouge Poetry, a weekly open mic that has feature local and international poets and musicians for over 5 years. She is the founding member of the Breath In Poetry Collective, home of the 2011 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (CFSW) championship winning Edmonton Slam Team. Titilope also adds acting to her list of accomplishments, starring as Eki in the Ndani TV hit series, Gidi Up that will air across Africa in 2014.
Even with the soil of continents beneath her feet, the stories that are surer with each passing year, she has not forgotten where it all began. She will tell you it is simple; when your heart is cracked open and a multitude of words begin to leak from your chest, before you stain everything you dare to touch, put it in a poem.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Dawn Garisch has had five novels, a collection of poetry Difficult Gifts and a memoir/popular science work Eloquent Body published. Both short stories and poetry have been published in anthologies, journals and magazines. She has had a short play and short film produced, and has written for television and newspapers. Three of her novels have been published in the UK.
In 2007 her poem Blood Delta was awarded the DALRO prize. In 2010 Trespass was short-listed for the Commonwealth prize for fiction in Africa, and in 2011 her poem Miracle won the EU Sol Plaatjie Poetry Award.
Her interest in interdisciplinary work in all art forms and psychology has led to her running both memoir writing and creative method courses. She is a practising medical doctor and lives in Cape Town.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Black pearl was born and raised in Zimbabwe. The 25 year old poet emerged on the performance scene in June 2010. Her poetry is impeccable and captivating to all poetry lovers. Her work depicts life as she experiences it, pointing out beauty, and humor. Blackpearl has taken part in events that include Harare International Festival of the Arts, 16 Days of Activism against Gender based violence, Acoustic Nights (hosted by Zimbabwe German Society and Wildfire Events), Intwasa Festival, Sistaz Open Mic, Bocapa amongst others.
Billene “Bilu” Seyoum – avid word lover and travel enthusiast has been splashing words to paper since the age of twelve capturing her experiences of faces, places and spaces. Her poetry aims to take listeners and readers on a journey of re-imagining different imaginings of everyday existence. Having lived in five countries and traveled wide, Bilu’s poetry embraces her global identity.
Bulelwa Basse is the Founder of Lyrical Base Project, an arts and culture organisation which seeks to elevate the profiles of writers from marginalised communities through community-publishing projects and performance poetry (merged with music, dance, visual arts) at cultural and corporate events.
She has collaborated nationally with various arts education institutions and literary establishments, such as Kgare Ya Africa, Centre for the Book, Iziko Museum’s Education Department, Cape Town Language Committee, Artscape Theatre, Badilisha Poetry and the City of Cape Town, in the capacity of Language Facilitator, Published/Performance Poet, Guest Speaker and Events Co-ordinator.
Her writing has been published by the Poetry Institute of Africa, University of KwaZulu Natal Press, Department of Arts and Culture, The British Council and Oprah Magazine.
Basse is passionate about aligning herself with women empowerment projects such as Bona Magazine’s Women Empowerment Club, True Love Magazine’s Winning Style and Move Magazine’s empowerment initiatives, for which she’s both hosted and performed her poetry as a motivational tool.
Bulelwa is former Editor of Muse, an online poetry publishing and profiling magazine, and has earned herself a performance platform on, Poetry Delight, where she’s affectionately known on stage as, Miss “Sassy” Basse, following her satirical poem entitled: My Lyrical Sass, which confronts the societal nature of portraying women as sex-objects.
Her creative and business path has seen her represent her country as an arts and cultural-exchange ambassador in India (Coimbatore and Kerala) and tour the UK (England). But South African stages have always been her favorite arena of her work at play.
Bassey Ikpi is a Nigerian born poet/writer who was a featured cast member of the National Touring Company of the Tony Award winning Broadway show, Russell Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam. Not a stranger to the stage, her poetry has also opened shows by Grammy Award winning artists. Recently, Bassey appeared on the NAACP Image Awards as part of a tribute to Venus and Serena Williams and was a featured performer for Johannesburg, South Africa’s annual arts festival, Joburg Arts Alive. Bassey has been seen gracing the pages of magazines such as Nylon, Marie Claire, Glamour and Bust.
With social commentary being a focus of her work, Bassey recorded an original poem for the Kaiser Foundation’s, HIV/AIDS campaign, Knowing Is Beautiful. Bassey’s personal and heartfelt work has made her a much sought after performer. She is currently working on various screenplays as well as freelance writing for social media outlets. Her first completed collection of poetry and prose entitled, Blame My Teflon Heart: Poetry, Prose and Post-Its For Boys Who Didn’t Write Back will be released soon. In addition to her writing, this summer Bassey is also embarking on a 5 city tour, appropriately called “Basseyworld Live”, where each show will infuse poetry and interactive panel discussions on everything from politics to pop culture. Not only will she headline each show, but will also moderate the panel discussions, which will include special invited guests from various industries such as art, film and journalism.
Blaq Pearl has performed with her band at Jazzathon and various city concerts particularly in Mitchell’s Plain. Having featured on television program Hectic 9nine and Keeping it Real, she is working on releasing unique designed T-shirt merchandise on www.sabandmerchandise.com. Currently Blaq Pearl is in the studio completing her album to be released this year.
She aspires to contribute to positive change in South Africa’s current state regarding the music industry and youth empowerment. To be successful and inspire upcoming artists & musicians and to to grow immensely and continuously in her musical talents and self.
Her poetry and music entails social content, controversial /tabooed issues and is about empowerment and real experiences + strength and motivation. She describes her music genre as a fusion of African/ Soul / Jazz / Hip Hop/ R&B.
The work of Breyten Breytenbach includes numerous volumes of poetry, novels, and essays, many of which are in Afrikaans, many translated from Afrikaans to English, and many published originally in English. In 2000, Breytenbach published Lady One: Of Love and Other Poems, a collection of poems for his wife that includes images of east Asia, southern Africa, and Morocco. The combination of the personal and the global in the poems reflects a marriage that, because it was considered taboo under South African apartheid laws, led to the poet’s original exile.
Known as the finest living poet of the Afrikaans language, Professor Breytenbach’s verse volumes include The Iron Cow Must Sweat (1964) and Footscript (1976) and they feature rich visuals, a powerful use of metaphor, and a complex blending of references from Buddhism, Afrikaans idiomatic speech, and recollections of the South African landscape. He has been honored with numerous literary and art awards, including the APB Prize, CAN Award (five times) Allan Paton Award for Literature, Rapport Prize, Hertzog Prize, Reina Prinsen-Geerling Prize, Van der Hoogt Prize, Jan Campert Award and Jacobus van Looy Prize for Literature and Art.
South African- born artist Mpho ya Badimo, which translates into Gift of/for the Gods, hails from South Africa’s North West Province’s capital, Mafikeng.
She expresses her art through an unconventional style of delivery which fuses her native tongue SeTswana, colloquialisms, music and the use of movements to interpret words. Through her use of localised expression, she challenges the audience to become actively involved in piecing together the meaning of the poetry as they would a puzzle – despite the absence of commonality in language.
She co-founded the 5th Grove Poetry Movement while studying towards her degree. She is a creative member, performer and at times program director of performance art foundations such as Lefoko Naughty West Hip Hop Movement and Xpressions under Lyv Records. These affiliations saw her perform for Mutabaruka and Haile Garima on their 2003 Sankofa Promotional Tour. She co-wrote the play Blood Love which was staged at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown (2007).
She is the creator and sole designer of Black Lezoti jewellery, bags and wall art.
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye is one of the most prolific women writers, not only in Kenya, but also in Africa. She has distinguished herself as a writer of novels, poetry, and children’s stories. She was born in Southampton, England, in 1928 and came to Kenya as a missionary bookseller in 1954. She married D.G.W. Macgoye in 1960 and subsequently integrated into her husband’s extended family and the Luo community. This feature is well manifested in her literary works which have been acknowledged all over the world. Coming to Birth won the Sinclair Prize for fiction in 1986, while Homing In won second place in the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1985.
Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie is a writer, educator, and performer. She has been a featured speaker at universities, festivals and events throughout Europe and North America. She is the Poetry Editor of the literary magazine African Voices.
Her work deals with silence, sexism and racism and it has been published in Crab Orchard Review, BOMB, Paris/Atlantic, Go, Tell Michelle (SUNY), Listen Up! (One World Ballantine) and Revenge and Forgiveness (Henry Holt). Tallie’s work has been the subject of a short film “I Leave My Colors Everywhere.” Her first collection of poetry, Karma’s Footsteps, was released by Flipped Eye Publishing in September of 2011. She is the recipient of a 2010 Queens Council on the Arts grant for her research on herbalists of the African Diaspora. She has taught literature and composition at York College and Medgar Evers College in New York City.
The Cave Canem Fellow is the author of several books including Swag & Dear Twitter: Love Letters Hashed Out On-line, recommended by Small Press Distribution & listed as About.com Best Poetry Books of 2010.
She has released five LPs including the live album Sheroshima. As co-founder of the Off Broadway poetry production, Jam On It, and co-producer of NYC’s 1st Performance Poetry Festival: SoundBites Poetry Festival, Mahogany bridges the gap between lyrical poets and literary emcee.Browne has toured Germany, Amsterdam, England, Canada and recently Australia as 1/3 of the cultural arts exchange project Global Poetics.
Her journalism work has been published in magazines Uptown, KING, XXL, The Source, Canada’s The Word and UK’s MOBO. Her poetry has been published in literary journals Pluck, Literary Bohemian, Bestiary Brown Girl Love and Up The Staircase. She is an Urban Word NYC mentor, as seen on HBO’s Brave New Voices and facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country.
She is the publisher of Penmanship Books, a small press for performance artists and owns PoetCD.Com, an on-line marketing and distribution company for poets. Mahogany is currently host and curator of the Friday Night Slam at the famous Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
Maakomele Manaka , was born in Diepkloof zone 6, Soweto in 1983. The first of two boys born to artistic parents. Mak, as he is widely known is the son of the late Matsemela Manaka a well known visual artist, poet, play write and black consciousness activist . His mother, Nomsa Kupi Manaka is a pioneer of African dance, an established dancer,choreographer, and actress in South Africa. With a natural artistic gift as a poet and writer and a strong artistic heritage , Mak was destined to be an artist.
South African icon Don Mattera says, “If genius can be genetically connected and if it flows from generation to generation, then Mak Manaka is the epitome of it. He comes from a dynasty of talented, creative and gifted people Nomsa and Matsemela”.
At the age of 5, he received a Young Artist Award at the once famous Funda Arts Center in Soweto . He started writing poetry at 14 yrs old , just two years after his near fatal accident which left him in a wheelchair for a year and a half. He started performing at the age of 15 on crutches, debuting in 1998 in Lugano, Switzerland at a tribute for his late father.
In 1999, he performed at the Windybrow Arts Theater with British poet Benjamin Zephaniah and South African poet Dr Don Mattera. In 2000 he performed for Arnold Shwaznager on his visit to South Africa at the Takalani Home for the mentally Handicapped school.
In 2001, he performed at Horror Café in a show called Urban Voices with Grammy award winning American poets Sarah Jones and Steve Coleman along with other young and aspiring South African poets. This was to become a milestone poetic performance for Mak – as it formerly introduced him as an integral part of the local spoken word scene .
In 2002 he performed for the former president of South Africa Mr. Thabo Mbeki at the SABC in a live program called In conversation with the President hosted by Tim Modise and during that year he compiled all his works for publication of a poetry book, If Only. During the subsequent years he become a sought after poet as well as headliner for various festivals and events including the annual international Urban Voices Poetry Festival which took place nationally in SA. Over the years on various Urban Voices stages he has performed with international and locally acclaimed poets including the likes of Mutabaruka, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Saul Williams, the Last Poets, Ursula Rucker, Lesego Rampolokeng , Keorapetse Kgositsile and various other poetic icons.He was commissioned to perform for the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela at the launch of a primary school in Soweto. Later that year, Mak toured Cuba and Jamaica with poets Don Mattera and Lebo Mashile representing South Africa in celebrating 10 years of democracy. .
In the 2004 he was nominated for The Daimler Chrysler Poet of the Year 2005 Award. This year also saw Mak Performing in Holland, at the Crossing Borders Festival.
In February 2005 he spent a month in Germany on an island called Sylt and performed in Hamburg and Berlin. Later that year he played a character also called Mak and who was facing disability issues in the children’s television program Soul Buddies on SABC.
In June 2006 he performed at schools around Soweto as part of the campaign for the We Remember June 16. In the same year, he performed in Germany, Berlin for the
heads of state at the closing ceremony of the 2006 World Cup. In Kohln he shared the stage with talented poets, Lebo Mashile and Gcina Mhlophe, He also shared the stage with some of South Africa’s legendary artists, Johnny Clegg, Jabu Khanyile, HHP and
Freshly Ground.
In 2008, in pursuance of this goal, Mak launched his debut cd entitled Word Sound Power!!. Word Sound Power!! an album of quality music and Conscious lyrics, was certainly a milestone album for spoken word in South Africa. Produced by Melody Muzik Sound Productions, the music reflects a deep range of reggae rhythms together with hip hop and jazz. International and local musicians have contributed and collaborate on Word Sound Power!! including The Royal Kushite Philharmonic Orchestra featuring L Michell, H Izachaar, L Beckett and mixed by K M Tafari
In 2009 Manaka launched his second anthology In Time, in Italy at a Literature festival in Mantova. The anthology sold out months after its release.
In 2010 he performed at the Zwakala Festival for deaf children, and he also performed at the annual languages awards, The Pen-Salb Awards. He also launched a writers program in the same year to encourage self-esteem in young people
In 2011 He performed at the MNET awards, the Television awards for Good (TAG).
In 2012, Mak performed in Padova, Italy at the Porsche Live Festival. In June 2012, Mak represented South Africa at the 18th Genoa International Poetry Festival in Italy. In the same month he performed at the Listros Gallery in Berlin, Manaka also facilitated workshops at the prestigious Humboldt University called Poetry 101 with Mak Manaka. He also performed at The Moving Poets in Berlin with an installation of a Berlin based South African visual artist, Liz Crowley. He also performed at Badilisha Poetry X-change’s 100 Thousand Poets for Change.
Mzi Mahola was born in 1949 as Mzikayise Winston Mahola. Mzi Mahola is his nom de plume. He started writing while he was at school. The Special Branch confiscated his first poetry manuscript in 1976 (That year, South African students rebelled against the government, which cracked down without restraint. Read more about the 1976 Soweto Uprising. Ed.) and he lost interest in writing for twelve years. After this period he started writing again, submitting work successfully to national and international journals, magazines and publications. His work has been published in more than eight anthologies.
His first book with poems is titled Strange Things and was published in 1994 by Snail Press. This volume received positive reviewing and was amongst those to represent South Africa in Geneva in a World Book fare in 1995. There was interest in translating the book into German and Danish, but this has not materialised to date.
His second volume When Rain Comes was published in 2000 by Carapace and won the Olive Schreiner Book prize.
At the moment he is editing and finalizing a semi-biographical novel called The Broken Link.
He has presented papers and given speeches at the National Arts Festival and at other venues for school children. He gives poetry readings for University groups and community projects. Now and then he runs poetry workshops for interested groups of writers.
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.
Mufasa is a spoken word artist, actor and singer born and raised in Kenya. He popped into the spoken word scene after winning a spoken word slam competition. Since then Mufasa has been performing in all major poetry events in Kenya. Raised by a single mother, Mufasa is a passionate performer on stage and hides no emotions when he speaks about his life and disturbing issues in the society.
Memory Chirere has been writing poetry since his boyhood in the Zimbabwean countryside. His poems were first published in Tipeiwo Dariro (1994). He has also published three short story books in English and Shona. His short-short stories estimate the delicate midway between prose and poetry. He has read his poems at festivals and conferences in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Malawi and Germany. He lives in Harare where he teaches Creative Writing at the University of Zimbabwe.
Mbali Vilakazi is a child of the city by the sea, who came into being under the watchful eye of a silent mountain. She is born on the 9th day of the 9th sign. The Archer.
She is Nona’s daughter, Mzamo’s sister and Avumiles aunt. A woman who holds the gaze and the spectator in her own life.
Tracing her beginnings as a patient journey into herself, she holds the dream of a youth that rises to assume both its relevance and place. Touched by the wisdom in children, she remembers that it is always the little things.
Soul Activist, Poet, Flower. She is a Fairy. And the Queen in exile. With pen as sceptre and her throne a cloud. On a mission to answer the call.
She hears voices, sees in the dark and when she gows up, she wants to be Sade.
Durban poet Marí Peté writes in Afrikaans and English. Marí was born and schooled in the Mpumalanga province in South Africa.
Marí wrote her Street Poems Collection while driving to and from various campuses of the Durban University of Technology where she has worked as an e-Learning specialist for almost twenty years. During Poetry Africa 2010, the Mail and Guardian described Marí’s performance of the poem Durban Taxi (a conglomeration of taxi names) as “a delicious success”. The poem Warwick Junction was shortlisted for the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award in 2012.
Various tensions and juxtapositions arise from Marí’s Cambridge Poetry Collection, which could be ascribed to the fact that the poems were originally written in Afrikaans, during the year before South Africa’s first democratic elections. Halfronde / north and south was written upon receiving the news of the death of Chris Hani.
Marí has published two bilingual poetry collections namely Amytis (2007) and Begin (2002). With Bianca Bothma, Marí was editor of Art for Humanity’s book Women Artists and Poets Advocate Children’s Rights.
Born Tendekai Tati, Madzitatiguru is a Zimbabwean bi-lingual spoken word poet who recites poetry in the English and Shona. His Shona Poetry is recited in a style which he terms Urban-Ancient Poetry that consists of a mixture Conventional Shona and Modern Urban Street Language and focuses on local experiences. His English Poetry focuses on issues that affect the globe as a whole.
He debuted in 2011 at the House of Hunger poetry slam at the Book cafe in Harare where he was crowned the slam champion, he also performed at the Afro Slam and Poetry Slam that was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2011.
In 2012, Madzitatiguru performed during the Shoko festival . A month later, in the same year, he performed during Poetry Africa in Harare. He has also been featured at the Spoken word and Hip Hop event Mashoko and has twice appeared on local radio, Star Fm’s Wednesday Poetry sessions.
The poems Skeletons, Speaker and Nhau dzePadare are found on collection of Performance poems titled NhauDzePadare that are part of his performance arsenal.
Nina Femme is a poet-feminist who is trying to master writing, protesting and finding balance in the pursuit of love and justice. Flowers and Feminism, a personally inspired poem, earned her second place in the national Drama for Life Lover and Another poetry competition in 2013. “I wrote my first piece ten years ago, but it never gets easier because the issues never get easier.” When she isn’t in an existential state, she contests her title as “the worst pool player in the Westrand”.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Nduta Kariuki is an artist working and studying in Nairobi, Kenya. She paints primarily, in a personal style that is derived from pop art, but dabbles extensively and has working knowledge of most art forms.
Nduta is currently a fourth year Fine Arts student at Kenyatta University. She is a freelance artist and has worked with Samsung and various high schools for the annual Music and Drama festivals. She enjoys writing, as it allows her to express her quirky sense of humor, and has performed at the Slam Africa, Word Up Live, St. Andrew’s Eve of Poetry and Wamathai events.
Her work has been shown in the following venues: The Michael Joseph Centre, Kenya Railways Museum Gallery, the National Museum, Paa ya Paa Gallery, The Kenyatta University’s Culture and Career weeks, International School of Kenya.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Marvin Trimm aka (Native Son) is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, motivational speaker and musician. He has been engaged in the world of literary and performance art for 20 years. It is this passion for the arts that has led him to be showcased globally in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean.
A native of the small island of Bermuda, it was there that he honed and developed his craft his craft. In the late 80’s he was able to write, produce and direct his 1st one man show entitled “Life Signs on Planet Earth” a collection of monologues depicting real life characters in social situations.
Today, he continues in the capacity as a writer of performance poetry/spoken word, which he performs at various venues such as spoken word series, poetry slams, music festivals, community events, conferences, universities and prisons. Marvin describes his poetic literary speech as spontaneously truthful. A self pro-claimed “Empowerment Poet”, he often writes about self development, self awareness and self improvement. Marvin is a charismatic storyteller that combines history , social, political issues to enlighten and bring new perspectives about the world we live in.
Natalia Molebatsi is a writer, performance poet, workshop facilitator and programme director who has presented shows such as An Evening with Alice Walker, Urban Voices International Spoken Word Festival, and an evening with the father of Ehio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke.
The Tembisa-born and raised Natalia has performed in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Holland, Italy, Nigeria, Senegal, Arzerbaijan and England. She is founding member of the South African/Italian band Soul Making.
Nandi Nothando Mabel Khumalo became a poet under the teachings of Mr Edmund Mhlongo of Ekhaya Multi Arts Company in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.
In 2008 she performed at the IIC for the former President Thabo Mbeki sharing the stage with the famous Lady Smith Black Mambazo, and also appeared on SABC1’s SHIFT, Street Journal by Night and on Izwi Labantu.
During 2010-2013 she coordinated for Durban International Film Festival.
During the FIFA world Cup 2010 South Africa Nandi was one of the program directors for the Durban North Beach Fan Park.
She owns her own company called Legends of Purpose which promotes artists in her province.