Aka Teraka has been described as “a postmodern polyglot, a man of many forms” who writes in three languages: Igbo, English and German. He is the author of several poetry collections and works of prose.
He grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and worked for over ten years in the aviation industry before recently turning his attention fully to literature and the arts. He currently lives in Frankfurt, Germany.
Razaq Ivori is a prolific writer who began his career in writing as a ghost pen for the rich and famous. He wrote their auto biographies for a fee until his last book Elevating the Women for Mrs Titi Atiku. He moved on to the institute of journalism where he studied multimedia techniques and began working for an Abuja firm soon after his HND in journalism.
His literary works include blood and kin a Sci-Fi African drama piece and the adventures of illinick slyed a radio drama written for the BBC but was never submitted.
His current literary scheme is to bring back the art of the quintessential Town Crier poetic semantics: he dubs narrative news. A system where actual news content is infused in free flow prose rendition though in English but not without the characteristic melodic chant of the past.
For six months Ivori premiered this art at the Bogobiri lounge in ikoyi, where some say the uproar it generated prompted the proprietors to establish a full scale stage house next door for performance poetry.
Today the poet, writer, journalist has put all away to make his theatric experiment a reality. The full content like he humbly puts it will give birth to SAO [THE STANDERD AFRICAN OPERA].
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1981 and raised in Nairobi, Kenya from the age of 11, Imani has worked as a multidisciplinary artist since 2000. As a performer, teacher, radio presenter, author, producer, recording artist, and co-founder of the Slam Africa Movement, Imani has played an integral role in the spread of the Spoken Word art form in East Africa. She is the author and producer of two poetry books and Spoken Word audio albums, Morning Rain (2006), and Pearls (2009).
Imani has delivered multiple performances and workshops at festivals, theaters, schools, and universities throughout the world. Blessed with the ability to move diverse audiences, she has worked closely with the United Nations Habitat for Humanity, as well as with Africa’s leading underground Hip-Hop art’s platform, WAPI. Over the past 10 years, she has had extensive experience working with youth as a mentor and poetry teacher both in and beyond school systems, and has written, directed, and produced a number of successful youth poetry theater performances including Poetic Identity (2004), Morning Rain (2006), Internal Imani (2007), and Free Verse (2010).
Imani has lit up stages as a featured artist in cities across the globe such as Minneapolis, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Bangkok, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Salvador da Bahia, and New York City; including the legendary Nuyorican Poets Café where she held the stage as a featured poet in 2006. In addition, she has worked as a radio presenter at one of Nairobi’s top radio station’s, Capital FM, for over three years, producing and presenting the World Groove Show.
Ife Piankhi is a versatile artist whose creativity knows no bounds. An accomplished poet, singer and dancer Ife has collaborated with artists such as Keko, Nneka, Mamoud Guinea, Geoff Wilkinson, Michael Franti, Jonzi D, Wynton Marsalis, Floetry to name but a few.
Ife has toured internationally for the past 22 years visiting Canada, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zanzibar, Zambia, Romania, Italy, Holland, and USA.
Always an inspirational artist whilst living in London she was a regular on Colourful Radio founded by Henry Bonsu. She has been featured in the documentaries 500 years later by Owen Shahadah and Nubian Spirit by Louis Buckley which highlight her knowledge of Nile Valley Civilisations.
Her music and poetry is influenced by African Stories of migration, relocation and the search for identity.
A formidable educator and creative facilitator, Ife fuses her knowledge of Ancient Africa, esoteric teaching and environmentalism with her music/poetry which is a rich blend of jazz, reggae, and soul. Her stage persona is confident, humorous and participatory with the audience always learning something new. This ability to naturally interact with the audience saw her not only collaborate, but MC the concert of International Artist Nneka who made her first visit to Uganda in 2012.
Ife Piankhi is also a social entrepreneur. Seeing the need for different performance platforms for emerging Ugandan artists Ife created Ife’s Fusion Party (Tilapia, Bunga) and Triple C (Kawa Lounge, Nakumatt). She is also resident poet and MC for Poetry in Session the longest running poetry event in Kampala to date.
Pitika Ntuli is an internationally renowned poet, fine artist and academic. He is widely sought-after as a public speaker and commentator on arts and culture, indigenous knowledge systems and African scholarship. As an acclaimed poet, his poetry has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies.
Ntuli holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute in New York, USA. He spent his exile years in the U.K. where he helped establish one of Europe’s leading poetry circuits, Apples & Snakes in London. While in London, Ntuli also lectured in Fine Art and English Literature and he worked closely with Amnesty International and Index-on-Censorship.
Ntuli returned to South Africa at the end of 1994 and lectured at the former University of the Witwatersrand before joining the staff of the former University of Durban-Westville in 1995 as Head of the Fine Art Department.
Pitika Ntuli has held several portfolios on boards including the BAT Centre Trust, Universal Creative Arts and Artists for Human Rights. Ntuli was also co-director of the Awesome Africa Music Festival. He is currently Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
Pitika Ntuli has performed his poetry with leading musicians like the late Dudu Pukwana, Mervin Africa, Julian Bahula, Lucky Ranku and Eugene Skeef and has toured Europe several times with his poetry. His poetry has received critical acclaim around the world. In 2004, Ntuli performed at the inauguration of former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Also a sculptor, Ntuli recently held a solo exhibition Scent of Invisible Footprints in Moments of Complexity at Museum Africa in Johannesburg. His book Scent of Invisible Footprints: The Sculpture of Pitika Ntuli is also an exploration of his art form.
Pam Dlungwana is a transplant Capetonian by way of Durban, South Africa. She spends much of her time behind pink rimmed glasses, tea colored pages and when spoken to speaks of herself in the third person, always.
A television writer/researcher and producer she expresses her Swiss cheese opinion best in poetry and has collaborated with visual artists using the media to educate, liberate and incite.
Pam has published in online journals (Poetry Potion, Itch and her wordpress blog) and has used Facebook as her personal bulletin board, screaming her politic, annoyances and passion through verse in the notes section.
Raya Wambui started writing poetry consistently thirteen years ago. She began performing in July 2011 competing in the Carnivore Star Search of that year. She began her blog in March 2012, where she has been sharing her poetry and some other writing since then (rayawambui.wordpress.com). Her poetry tends to fall under revolutionary poetry, but is not exclusively in that genre.
Since she began performing, she has performed at the following events:
* Carnivore Star Search of 2011- Auditions, Semi Finals and Finals
* Wamathai Spoken Word- Severally since 2011
* Slam Africa- Performed severally, competed five times: I am the 39th Slam Queen
* Kwani Open Mic- performed three times, was the April 2013 featured poet
* Word Up Live- Severally
* Panari Ice Skating Festival
* Chords For Cords
* Streams, Where Haven Art
* Creatives Garage Portfolio Review
* POWO
* Teto Tetuma and the Purple Warriors Band, Live at Kitengela
* Global Voices Summit 2012
* The BOGOF
* Sitawa Ignited
* GBC show: JCs love letter
* Sentimental Spot (Arts Talk Show)
* Nairobi University Chiromo Campus Cultural Day
* Nairobi University Main Campus, Class presentation
Rachel is a 21 year old student completing her BA in English and History, with the hope of pursuing an honours in English in post-modern literature, creative writing and poetry.
Rachael has been doing poetry for most of her life, but only recently has she been exposed to the Durban poetry circle and culture. A lover of all types of poetry, specifically performance and spoken word poetry, and the conversational tone these styles create. Rachel’s love for words, rhythm and delivery originates from her childhood experience of listening to Jazz with her father. A love that would later shape into Rap and Hip Hop. She has performed in various open mic sessions and participated in a number of poetry sessions with the Word Architeks.
Roger Bonair-Agard is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, a Cave Canem fellow and author of two collections of poetry, tarnish & masquerade (Cypher Books, 2006) and GULLY (Cypher Books, Peepal Tree Press, 2010).
He is co-author of a third collection, Burning Down the House (Soft Skull Press, 2000). An MFA candidate at the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast program, Roger is also a 2-time National Poetry Slam Champion and the co-founder and Artistic Director of the louderARTS Project. He is poet-in-residence at Young Chicago Authors and teaches at the Cook County Juvenile detention Center. He lives mostly in Chicago.
Mozambican writer and essayist Raul Alves da Silva Calane was born in the city of Maputo on 20th October 1945. He grew up and studied in the city. Very early in his life he began and was involved with journalism and literature. He led the Gazeta Artes e Letras da revista Tempo (Gazette of Arts and Letters of the Time Magazine) in 1985, and was appointed in 1987, head of the editorial board of the national television, then called “Televisao Experiemental de Mocambique” (Experimental Television of Mozambique). He also became a founding member and board member of the Association of Mozambican Writers.
He earned a master’s degree in Portuguese Linguistics from the University of Porto, with a dissertation on “Pedagogia do léxico : as escolhas lexicais bantus, os neologismos luso-rongas e a sua função estilística e estético-nacionalista nas obras Xigubo e Karingana wa Karingana de José Craveirinha” (The Pedagogy of the lexicon: the Bantu lexical choices, the neologisms Luso-Ronga and its stylistic and aesthetic function in the works and Xigubo Karingana wa Karingana of Jose Craveirinha).
Calane da Silva is currently a lecturer at the Language Centre of Universidade Pedagogica (Pedagogical University) and the Director of the Centro Cultural Brasil-Moçambique (Cultural Centre Brasil-Mozambique), both in Maputo. He is also the author, editor of several essays, novels and anthologies, which include: Dos meninos da Malanga. Maputo, Cadernos Tempo, 1982 (Poetry); Xicandarinha na lenha do mundo. Maputo, Associação dos Escritores Moçambicanos, 1988. Colecção Karingana (Short Stories). Gotas de Sol. Maputo, Associação dos Escritores Moçambicanos, 2006 (novel); A Pedagogia do Léxico. O Estiloso Craveirinha. As escolhas leixicais bantus, os neologismos luso-rongas e a sua função estilística e estético-nacionalista nas obras Xigubo e Karingana wa Karingama. Maputo, Imprensa Universitária, 2002 (Thesis Publication); Nyembêtu ou as Cores da Lágrima. Lisboa. Texto Editores. 2008 (Novel).
Rachael Kainyu Njeri is a Kenyan poet who began writing, as most do, in high school to help her through adolescence. With time it became more than just venting and now she has a blog where she posts her work. She is quite young in the performance scene but has performed with the Sanaa Fusion. Her work has been featured on a couple of sites including Wamathai.com and B-Gina Reviews.
Sydney Fiifi Sam is a Ghanaian undergrad studying Human Resource Management at the University of Ghana, Legon.
He is the co-founder of Trademarkers Inc.; a network that develops business concepts designed to uplift talent and entrepreneurship. He is also the program co-ordinator for Moonlight Cafe, a poetry,comedy and live music show that runs in University campuses around the country.
Solomon Koikoi Nkadimang was born in Postmasburg, Lohatlha, in 1964. Nkadimang’s commitment and love for the arts was confirmed when, in the early 1980s, he joined forces with Hilda Bernstein – author of Death is Part of The Process and For Their Triumphs and For Their Tears – to re-establish the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, Young Writers Association. After a need to strengthen the performing arts was identified, the author formed the Ahmed Kathrada Theatre Unit, with the help of Philiswa Biko, Theresa Bailey and Allen Marsden. Whilst Biko, Bailey and Marsden left South Africa to promote anti-apartheid oriented causes abroad, NKadimang remained – in East Africa – to script plays for delegations to Europe and other parts of the world.
In the mid-eighties, the author toured Europe and Asia with cultural productions that sought to educate the world about the plight of South Africans and the anatomy of apartheid as a crime against humanity. The author was also acknowledged in a documentary – that commemorated the tenth year of their slaying of Solomon Mahlangu – as a resourceful arts-and-culture practitioner in Tanzania; NKadimang co-organized the cultural programme of the ANC’s first international Conference at Arusha, in Tanzania, with Sanki Mthembu and Seiso Morapedi.
The author was appointed Deputy Regional Cultural Coordinator of the ANC in East African, towards the late 1980s and thereafter was commissioned by the ANC President, Oliver Reginalt Tambo, to join the National Cultural Ensemble of the ANC (Amandla) in Angola, where he was expected to write the post-production script of the ensemble. Most of the work had already be dome, by the president himself, in respect of choral music adaptions of great choral pieces – including the adaptation of Nelson Mandela’s Rivonia Trial speech, for stage recital.
NKadimang worked tirelessly under the mentorship of Mr. Jonas Gwanga and his fellow cast members to rewrite the script. The author then stayed on as an actor, later moving to Harare, Zimbabwe, with the ensemble, until it was repatriated – in its entirety – in the early 1990s.
Shabbir Banoobhai’s poetry is spiritual, political and personal with the three themes interwoven, the personal poems often having a political dimension and the political, a spiritual. A child of parents who came to South Africa from India, he was born in Durban in 1949, where he lived for most of his life until he moved to Cape Town in 1995. He Of necessity he shared the fate of the larger black community of South Africans, his poetry reflecting that struggle. He qualified as a teacher in 1970, as a Chartered Accountant in 1978, and as a Chartered Management Accountant in 1983. Lectured at the University of Durban-Westville from mid 1977 to the end of 1982; ran a management consultancy practice in Durban from 1983 to 1995; and joined Old Mutual in Cape Town in January 1996.
Retired in November 2005; and is now a full-time writer. Some of his works, in full, include: echoes of my other self; shadows of a sun-darkened land; inward moon outward sun; if i could write: Ramadan letters that can be read at Christmas or on any other day; and lyrics in paradise. He is the recipient of the Thomas Pringle Award for Poetry. What is particularly striking about his poetry is its complete sincerity, described as, “a luminous work of the heart containing profound reflections on the nature of the Divine, Prophetic and human consciousness, love, justice, peace and war. A genuine and original Sufi primer for the 21st-century seeker, reflecting an important development in contemporary ‘South African spiritual thought'”.
Sandile Dikeni was born in Victoria West in 1966. He studied at the University of the Western Cape where he served on the SRC. He began writing seriously while in detention in 1986, and was a popular performer at political rallies and community cultural events. Since the coming of democracy, he has worked as a journalist and political commentator. In addition to Planting Water, he has published two previous collections of poetry, Guava Juice (1992) and Telegraph to the Sky (2002), as well as a collection of his articles featured in the Cape Times, titled Soul Fire: Writing the Transition (2002).
Sandhya was born on the North Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal in 1987. She grew up in the quaint village of Seatides which is situated along the sugar-cane belt of the Tongaat district. As a child her irrepressible curiosity often resulted in painful consequences. She was not content with the banal knowledge that the switch turns on the light. No. She had to know how hot the bulb actually burnt. Fortunately this precocious, mischievous mind was soon harnessed by the creative outlets of poetry and short story writing. She matriculated from Seatides Combined School at the age of 16. After working an assortment of part-time jobs she moved to Cape Town to complete a diploma in Audio Engineering at the Cape Audio College. Since then Sandhya has completed a B.A. (Hons) degree in English Language and Literature Studies at the University of Cape Town.
She has always written poetry, sometimes in secret, sometimes for the amusement of friends and family. Most often her cautious, quiet scribblings were the cathartic, emotional outpourings borne of personal trauma or victory. Now she writes outside of herself. Some of these latest poems form a triptych of sorts which probe and subvert idiosyncratic aspects of diasporic Indian culture. Persistent themes in these pieces include: the patriarchal appropriation of Hindu scriptural teachings, the conflation of fear and respect by young ones” towards “their elders”, and finally the preoccupation with masking familial discord and domestic abuse in order to keep up appearances within one’s community.
Sandhya currently plans to forge links with local NGOs that share her vision for equitable access to tertiary education across the nation’s polarised socio-economic landscape.
Samantha Thornhill travels the globe performing poetry, delivering lectures, and facilitating writing workshops. Both a poet and published author, Samantha is a rising voice in the world of words. Her performance poem, Little Odetta, inspired by the late folk legend, is forthcoming from Scholastic Press in the form of a picture book. Also, her young adult novel Seventeen Seasons is soon to be published by Penguin Books.
Samantha earned her Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Virginia while coaching the VA slam team. A sought-after educator, Samantha believes that inside each person exists a lover of words.
In New York City she fulfills her position as poetry professor at the Juilliard School. She also serves as writer in residence at the Bronx Academy of Letters where she teaches creative writing and journalism courses to middle and high school youth.
She presents her work in schools, universities, festivals, conferences, museums, places of worship, and poetry venues.
Raw and refined, diverse in subject matter and style, Samantha relates to a wide spectrum of audiences.
She is a native of Trinidad & Tobago.
Sabrina Moella is a writer, a poet and a filmmaker based in Toronto, Canada. Born in France from Congolese parents, she started writing as soon as she was old enough to hold a pen. She now lives in Canada and writes both in English and in French.
Sabrina’s poetry is based on reflective thoughts about her own life. Her films focus on studying and narrating the everyday life, traditions, and culture of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora.
She is a member of ‘I Get Out’, a collective of black female storytellers from Toronto. She is also a yoga practitioner who strongly believes in healing through the arts.
Sabrina is currently writing a collection of short stories entitled Mayi.
Suné Ashlulita van Rooyen was born in the small town of Brandvlei in the heart of the Northern Cape. In 2010 she started her BA degree in Afrikaans and Nederlands and Psychology at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), which she completed in 2013. Currently she doing her Honours in Afrikaans and Nederlands also at UWC.
Suné aspires to be a teacher with the option of becoming a paediatric psychologist.
SIPHIWE KA NGWENYA was born in Soweto in 1964. He is a writer, theatre director and performer. He has a diploma in Speech and Drama from Fuba Academy and participated in a Voter Education play commissioned by the Matla Trust in 1994. He was a member of the Rishile Theatre Project that presented plays by Nadine Gordimer and Don Mattera and since 1994 has been a member of the Botsotso Jesters poetry performance group.
Ngwenya has performed internationally in countries as diverse as Denmark and Pakistan. A selection of his poetry was published in the 1992 anthology, Essential Things. Other publications that have included his work are Ingolovane, Botsotso, New Coin, Timbila, Kotaz, It All Begins and Writing from Here. A collection of his poems, Soul Fire, was published in 2005 by Botsotso.
A native of the Transkei, she grew up in a township near Cape Town, where she worked as a domestic and completed her secondary education by correspondence. Magona later graduated from the University of South Africa and earned a graduate degree from Columbia University. She retired from the United Nations in 2003 and currently lives in South Africa.
She published her autobiography To My Children’s Children in 1990. In 1998, she published Mother to Mother, a fictionalized account of the Amy Biehl killing, which she adapted to a play. This was performed at the Baxter Theatre complex in late 2009 and the film rights to the novel were acquired by Type A Films in 2003. She has also written autobiographies and short story collections. Her novel Beauty’s Gift was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best Book, Africa Region. In 2009, Please, Take Photographs, her first collection of poems, was published.
Kenyan poet SHAILJA PATEL was trained as a political economist, accountant and yoga teacher. She honed her poetic skills in performances that have received standing ovations on four continents.
Her US publishing debut, Migritude, based on her acclaimed one-woman show, went to #1 on Amazon’s bestsellers in Asian Poetry, and was a Seattle Times bestseller – extremely rare for a poetry collection.
Patel has been African Guest Writer at Sweden’s Nordic Africa Institute and poet-in-residence at the Tallberg Forum, Sweden’s alternative to Davos. She has appeared on the BBC World Service, NPR and Al-Jazeera. Her work has been translated into 16 languages. Honours include a Sundance Theatre Fellowship, a Creation Fund Award from the National Performance Network, the Fanny-Ann Eddy Poetry Award from IRN-Africa, the Voices of Our NationsPoetry Award, a Lambda Slam Championship, and the Outwrite Poetry Prize.
Patel is a founding member of Kenyans For Peace, Truth and Justice, a civil society coalition which works for an equitable democracy in Kenya. In 2011, the African Women’s Development Fund named her one of Fifty Inspirational African Feminists for the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, ELLE India Magazine selected her as one of its 25 New Guard Influencers, and Poetry Africa honored her as Letters To Dennis Poet, continuing the legacy of renowned poet-activist Dennis Brutus.
Queen Lariuskus, aka, Lara Mondlane is a Mozambican born poet, photographer and film professional. She moulded herself and her passions in the course of her travels around the world, particularly whilst living in London, and Cape Town. In Cape Town, Queen Lariuskus formed the group LAGAMA, together with Gabriela and Marina, two close friends. They performed live in various spots in Cape Town and brought the project to Maputo.
Now back in Maputo for an indefinite time, Queen has been involved in promoting various artists and cultural events. Recently, she worked as a continuity supervisor in prize winning Short Films produced by Mahla Filmes for Nweti-Communication for Health (an affiliate of SOUL CITY INSTITITUTE). Queen has chosen cinema and photography to express what she often would say in words and is enjoying the ride.
Tswarelo Mothobe h.t.b.k.a (Happy To Be Known As) A Scribe Called Tswa is a Bulawayo born and based writer, dramatist and poet.
He has graced the Mlom’Wakho Poetry Slam Stage, The House of Hunger Poetry slam, major local festivals like HIFA, Intwasa, Shoko & Ibumba Arts Festivals and has performed at SANAA in South Africa.
He has also facilitated various writing and performance workshops with school children over the years resulting in new generations of poets being born in Bulawayo. Currently hosting Mlom’Wakho Poetry Slam every month, he is working on his 1st poetry and music project with the working title, Remember and has written and is directing a series of plays.
Toni Stuart is a poetry writer, performer and developer. Her poetry has been published in numerous anthologies including The Ground’s Ear (Quickfox Publishing, 2011) and Agenda Journal on Teenage Fertility and Desire (Unisa Press and Routledge, 2011).
As a performer she was part of And the Word Was Woman Ensemble, from 2004 – 2007, with Malika Ndlovu and the 2010 Ingrid Jonker Prize winner Tania van Schalkwyk among others. She has performed locally and internationally, at numerous events including Urban Voices International Poetry Festival in 2010, Bridgewater International Poetry Festival in 2013, and alongside UK poet Lemn Sissay in 2012. Her work uses poetry to interrogate a range of social issues such as the stories of place and displacement (The Calllings Performance as part of GIPCA’ Exuberance Project, Emancipation Day Commemoration at Reminiscence Theatre Festival), HIV/Aids (commission of Breath and Blood for University of Cape Town) and gender-based violence (Woman.Object.Corpse exhibition for Centre for African Studies, UCT).
She is the curator of Poetica, at Open Book Festival 2013 and runs The Silence That Words Come From – writing workshops that enable people to explore their own voice.
In 2013, she was named in the Mail and Guardian’s list of 200 Inspiring Young South Africans for her work in co-founding I Am Somebody! – an NGO that uses storytelling and youth development to build integrated communities.
Tina Mucavele is a young Mozambican woman, social activist, writer and a mother of one son. She lives in Maputo, Mozambique, after living in Johannesburg for most of her adolescence and early adulthood.
Her day job is with rural civil society movements, in an attempt to raise consciousness and provide skills for political participation, monitoring of state budgets and quality of social services. In the city, she works with poets and musicians, and is part of the SEM CRITICA MOVEMENT, a performance space created for free artistic expression.
Tina’s poems and short stories are in the editing process, and she hopes to publish a collection of short stories by the end of 2011. Her travels around the African continent, Europe and South America have turned her into a strong Pan-African Citizen, and she loves and advocates for an eclectic African Identity. Tina began seriously writing her poetry in English, given the strong influence of English speaking authors such as Ama Ata Aidoo, Ben Okri, Alice Walker, Ngugi Wa Thiongo amongst other African writers.
However, coming back to Mozambique forced her to learn the Portuguese language as a tool to tell the stories that follow her around like friendly ghosts!
Tanya Evanson is an Antiguan-Quebecoise Woman
Multilingual Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Vocalist
Whirling Dervish, Arts Organizer, Educator
Montreal-born and based in Vancouver BC Canada
Done five poetry chapbooks
Two spoken wor-l-d music CDs
Performing across Canada since the 90s
Featured in videopoems, documentaries,
Anthologies, international recordings,
National TV and radio
Often backed by musicians
Classically trained Whirling Dervish
Performed across Europe, Turkey and Japan
As Mother Tongue Media,
Produces art events that bridge
Disciplines and cultures
Open your arms if you want to be held
Tshepiso Konopi is an academic and Wits Graduate, actor, poet, drama and voice trainer and theatre director. He has been a theatre practitioner for a number of years. Over these years he’s had the opportunity to present his work to a myriad of audiences nationally and internationally. He’s also collaborated with acclaimed artists and academics who have helped to carve his career in the arts.
His interest and focus in theatre has been directed toward developing artists who are skilled enough to compete on national and international platforms. Currently he is involved in the development of an actor training model which concentrates on helping actor peak their performance abilities. With this model he has since produced a number of articles, actors and productions.
Also, he is a Senior Drama Tutor at Mmabana in Mafikeng, a co-founder of Konopi Media – a company that specializes in the production of various media solutions ranging from, publications, audio-visual products to drama based training simulations for sales representatives and managers in the corporate sector.
Tracy K. Smith (born April 16, 1972) is an African-American poet and educator. She has published three collections of poetry. She won the Pulitzer Prize for a 2011 collection, Life on Mars.About this collection, Joel Brouwer wrote in 2011: “Smith shows herself to be a poet of extraordinary range and ambition. … As all the best poetry does, Life on Mars first sends us out into the magnificent chill of the imagination and then returns us to ourselves, both changed and consoled.”
Smith is a native of Falmouth, Massachusetts.She was raised in northern California in a family with “deep roots” in Alabama. She received her B.A. from Harvard University in 1994, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 1997. From 1997 to 1999 she was a Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford University. She has taught at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University. In 2005 she joined the faculty of Princeton University, where she is professor of creative writing.
Tinashe Tafirenyika is currently a student at the University of Zimbabwe studying Medical Laboratory Sciences. She is one of the newest spoken word artists in Zimbabwe having stepped onto the scene less than a year ago. A regular at the House of Hunger Poetry Slam and Sistaz Open Mic sessions at the Book Café. She has already been the “Luckiest Poet” five times in a row a feat that saw her performing at the Shoko Slam in September, 2013. In November Tinashe travelled to perform at the Word N Sound Festival in Johannesburg.
Timothy Wangusa (born 1942) is a Ugandan poet and novelist.
Wangusa is an ethnic Mumasaaba, born in Bugisu, in eastern Uganda. He studied English at Makerere University where he later served on faculty, and the University of Leeds (UK). He wrote his MA and PhD on British and African poetry, respectively.
Wangusa started working at Makerere University in 1969. He was appointed as Professor in 1981 (the first from his Bugisu. In his acceptance speech ‘A Wordless World’ he looked at how words were starting to lose meaning and there was a continuous shift from words and speech. Later Wangusa served as Head of Department of Literature and Dean of Faculty of Arts. He was also Minister of Education in the Ugandan Government (1985–86) and Member of Parliament (1989–96). Presently, he serves as Senior Presidential Advisor In Museveni’s government. Wangusa played a pivotal role in establishing the Department of Languages and Literature at Uganda Christian University, an Anglican University in Mukono.
His collection of poems Salutations: Poems 1965-1975 (1977), reissued with additional poems as A Pattern of Dust: Selected Poems 1965-1990 (1994), reflects his rural origins. The novel Upon This Mountain (1989) tells the story of Mwambu, who is determined to touch heaven, and describes his journey towards adulthood. The novel combines African folklore and proverbs with Christian symbolism. Its main theme is that of growing up in the Ugandan society and what challenges come with growing up in the traditional setting.
Wangusa was chairman of Uganda Writers Association and founder president of International PEN Uganda Centre.