Tag Archives: Inspiration

Chirikure Chirikure

Zimbabwe No Comments

Chirikure Chirikure was born in Gutu, Zimbabwe, in 1962. He is a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe and an Honorary Fellow of Iowa University, USA. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany, as a fellow under the 2011/12 DAAD Berliner Kunstlerprogramm (Artists in Berlin Programme). He also works as a performance poet and cultural consultant.

He worked with one of Zimbabwe’s leading publishing houses as an editor/publisher for 17 years, until 2002. After working as a consultant for a while, he went on to work for an international development agency as a programme officer for culture, for Southern Africa, based in Harare, until April 2011.
Chirikure has published the following volumes of his poetry: Rukuvhute (1989, College Press, Harare); Chamupupuri (1994, College Press, Harare); Hakurarwi – We Shall not Sleep (1998, Baobab Books, Harare) and Aussicht Auf Eigene Schatten (Shona and English poems with German translations) (2011, Afrika Wunderhorn, Heidelberg, Germany).

He has also contributed some pieces in a number of poetry anthologies, including Zviri Muchinokoro (2005, ZPH Publishers), Intwasa Poetry (2008, AmaBooks Publishers), Schicksal Afrika (ed. Horst Kohler) (2010, Rowohlt Verlag), No Serenity Here – An Anthology of African Poetry in Chinese, (2010 Moonchu Foundation).
His poetry has been translated into a number of languages. He has also written and translated a number of children’s stories and educational books.

Chirikure’s first three poetry books received first prizes in the annual Zimbabwe writer of the year awards. His first volume, Rukuvhute, also received an Honorable Mention in the Noma Awards for Publishing in Africa, in 1990. His other book, Hakurarwi – We Shall not Sleep, was selected as one of the 75 Best Zimbabwean Books of the 20th Century in a competition ran by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in 2004. In that competition the same book got a prize as one of the best five Shona publications of the 20th Century.

Chirikure performs his poetry solo and/or with DeteMbira mbira music ensemble. With DeteMbira, they recorded an album of poetry and music, Napukeni (2002, Tuku Music/ZMC). He regularly performs and tours with musician Chiwoniso Maraire, with whom he has recorded an album of poetry with mbira music, Chimanimani .

With support from family and friends, he has also recorded an album of his poetry with contemporary music, Chisina Basa (2011, Metro Studios Harare/Inyasha Studios UK).

He has also written lyrics for a number of leading Zimbabwean musicians and he occasionally performs and has recorded with some of these musicians.

He has also contributed lyrics, translations and voice-overs in films and documentaries, and has acted in some theatre productions. He has also been an occasional contributor to the print media and used to run a radio programme for young Shona writers.

Over the years, Chirikure has participated in several international festivals, fairs, conferences and symposiums, as a performer, speaker or resource person.

Charlie Bobus

Jamaica No Comments

Charlie Bobus takes performance poetry to a new level, he has been described as being “the hardest working Dub Poet” and sheds a positive light on the Roots Reggae music scene. Bringing a new genre of poetry called Motivational Dub Poetry to the world.

From Grantspen Kingston Jamaica, this poet, left 8 years of office experience behind and now plays the role of activist, producer, publisher, events coordinator, actor, workshop facilitator, and motivational speaker for over a decade and as been bringing a positive and welcome change to the dub poetry industry in Jamaica. Doing all the projects required to bring dub poetry to its rightful international status Charlie Bobus keeps events, publishes books, produces CDs and videos and runs workshops across Jamaica the Caribbean and Canada. Described as being a “cut between Motivational speaker and a Bob Marley” with “a unique style of his own”; “hailed as the leading Dub poet of this new generation”, Charlie Bobus‘s original Dub Poetry combines with any rhythm crossing genres to embrace Reggae, Hip Hop, R&B, African Roots, Rock and souls influences which enhance the motivational themes of his poetry.

With extensive experience on the stage show and live poetry gig circuit, and keeping some of the major poetry events that keep the poetry scene alive in Jamaica, Charlie Bobus in 2007 released his Creative Energy Collection – Book, single & Video, and recently launched his first Dub Poetry Album in 2011 at Lula Lounge in Toronto Canada which is a selection from his wide repertoire. Creative Energy solidified his presence and made an official Charlie Bobus imprint into the wider public arena and music industry. With its unique new Poetic style, Motivational dub poetry mixed with Roots Reggae and Culture, the Charlie Bobus sound is versatile, well crafted, positive, motivational, and healing!

Charlie Bobus has been featured on BET performing on Spring Break 2009, Opened for Roots Underground in the Jungle, opening for I Octane My life tour in Canada Shared Stage with yellow Man and appeared @ Sunset on the beach in Negril, Sting, Capleton’s St. Mary Mi Come From and a number of large scale reggae concerts. Featured on BETJ word sound Power performing and doing an interview and Creative Energy and was a featured track on a compilation CD Word Sound Power Volume 1 which contained audio from the BETJ series. The rhythm Creative Energy produced by Inspirator international was also used as a sound track for When Walls Talk a featured program with sizzla on BETJ. Bobus sees dub poetry as a way to empower minds and uplift youths and works for the betterment of mankind. In this way, he believes that Motivational Dub poetry can empower people’s mind and become a valuable medium for change.

In recent years Charlie Bobus has impacted on regional festivals (Graduating from the Internationally acclaimed Calabash Poetry Festival Workshop scholarship), performing island wide in high profile Corporate Arenas, clubs, Hotels, appearing in music videos recently featuring as lead actor in Mr. Vegas – I am Blessed and plays and conducting countless Social Campaigns in Jamaica and abroad including running workshops and representing Jamaica in Canada as an ambassador for Dub Poetry at the Fall 2007 International Dub Poetry Festival in Hamilton, Canada.

Crystal Tettey

Ghana No Comments

Crystal Tettey is a Malagasy/Ghanaian artist who is a member of EhaLaKasa- a group of young Spoken word poets who use performance art to inspire positive social change. She is fluent in English, French, Russian, Ga and Twi.

Cosmas Mairosi

Zimbabwe No Comments

A qualified primary school teacher, Cosmas Mairosi was born in Mudzi and grew up in the rural area of Rusape in Manicaland province, Zimbabwe. He is a performance poet, writer, arts trainer in children’s performing arts, vice chairperson of Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe (BWAZ)’s and a member of Global Arts Trust.

He has published poems and short stories in Writers Scroll, Teacher’s Voice and New Voices magazines and is featured in an international anthology CHE IN VERSE published by Aflame Books. A compilation that includes two Nobel Prize Laureates and Allen Ginsberg. Cosmas has also published in State of the Nation, Contemporary Zimbabwean Poetry, an anthology of Zimbabwean poets. He has been broadcast on ZBC radio, television and BBC radio and television and has performed at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair since 2003, HIFA-Spoken Word.

His international debut was at the ANTUSA Games (10-14 April 2008) in Francistown, Botswana, which was a festival of SADC Teachers Unions. Cosmas Mairosi won first prize in the House of Hunger Poetry Slam at the Book Café and has twice been an International Society of Poets finalist. He has taught performance poetry and facilitates performance poetry workshops. Cosmas performed at Speak the Mind 2010 at the Artscape in Cape Town South Africa.

Koleka Putuma

South Africa No Comments

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.

 

Chief Moomen

Ghana No Comments

Chief Moomen is currently a teaching assistant at the Theatre Arts Department of the University of Ghana where he studied Creative Writing in English and Play writing in Theatre Arts for his undergraduate degree.

His interest in poetry was ignited when he saw a performance of the American poet, Maya Angelou, in Ghana in the early nineties. Chief Moomen has been doing spoken word for the past five years. He has performed on various platforms including KSM’s Thank God It’s Friday and also makes regular appearances in the poetry section of Metro TV’s The Citizen Comedy Show. Chief Moomen’s poems are vivid with imagery and he transports his audience through a mosaic of experiences and leaves them excited, contemplative, refreshed or simply awed.

His collection of poems dubbed Village Fresh is a favourite amongst many as it takes them back to village life and its little pleasures. Chief Moomen intends to publish an anthology of his poems next year. He enjoys reading, listening to inspirational music and watching adventure and drama movies. He is very sociable and enjoys meeting new people. Chief Moomen intends to continue writing poetry for as long as the fountain of his creativity is nourished with the stream of inspiration.

Chenjerai Hove

Zimbabwe No Comments

Chenjerai Hove born February 9, 1956, he is a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist. He was educated at the University of South Africa and the University of Zimbabwe, and has worked as an educator and journalist. He has lived in exile since 2001, after his writings, especially Masimba Avanhu and a play, Sister, Sing Again Someday (both of which address the situation of women in Zimbabwe), as well as his criticism of the policies of President Robert Mugabe, brought him to the attention of the Zimbabwe government.

He currently lives in exile as the International Writers Project fellow in residence at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. Widely regarded as a leading figure of post-colonial Zimbabwean literature, Chenjerai Hove is the author of four novels – Bones, Shadows, Ancestors, and, in his native Shona, Masimba Avanhu (Is This the People’s Power?), as well as of three volumes of poetry, books of essays, and freelance journalism.

Charmaine Kolwane Mrwebi

South Africa No Comments

Charmaine Kolwane Mrwebi is a poet, librarian, puppeteer based in Free State, South Africa. Her poetry effortlessly touches on the shared human experience of living, loving, hurting and hoping.

She was part of the poet disciples who founded performance poetry in 2004 at the Performing Arts of the Free State under the mentorship of the late Thami Moleko. She has published two books, titled Omoseye Bolaji: channeling one’s thoughts onto pen a paper which is a literary analysis of the author Omoseye Bolaji ës works, her second book Poetry Commando which is a collection of poems, is her latest work. She is currently working on her third book which is a children’s book.
She facilitates a poetry club in Legae Intermediate School with 20 young poets from grade 5 to grade 8.

Chantel-Fleur Sandjon

Germany No Comments

Chantal-Fleur Sandjon is at the forefront of artists of colour in Germany that reclaim words, voices and the visibility of the subaltern. Based in Berlin and Johannesburg, she has been part of numerous art projects and publications in Germany and abroad. As a member of the collectives Blaque Reinnecarnation as well as The Critical Witness, Chantal-Fleur ignores the alleged boundaries between different media, art forms and the academics.

Camille T. Dungy

United States No Comments

Camille T. Dungy is author of Suck on the Marrow (Red Hen Press, 2010) and What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison (Red Hen Press, 2006), a finalist for the PEN Center USA 2007 Literary Award and the Library of Virginia 2007 Literary Award.

She is editor of Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (University of Georgia Press, 2009), coeditor of From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great (Persea, 2009) and assistant editor of Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem’s First Decade (University of Michigan Press, 2006).

Dungy has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Cave Canem, the Dana Award, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Once the Writer-in-Residence at Rocky Mountain National Park, Dungy has also been awarded fellowships and residencies by The Corporation of Yaddo, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Norton Island/Eastern Frontier Society, and the Ragdale Foundation.

A graduate of Stanford University and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro’s MFA Program, Dungy is currently Associate Professor in the Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University. Her poems have been published widely in anthologies and print and online journals.

Helen Moffett

South Africa No Comments

Helen Moffett is a freelance writer, editor, academic and poet, whose lectured as far afield as Trinidad and Alaska. Her academic writings include a great deal of gloomy but necessary work on sexual violence in the post-apartheid context. She writes about cricket because it reminds her why she likes men (and because she loves the game with a passion).

She has also published a university textbook on poetry, an anthology of South African landscape writing and several short stories. Poetry is her first and last love, she went from teaching it to students to eventually writing her own. Her debut collection of poems, Strange Fruit, was published by Modjaji Books in 2009.

Hannah Lurie

South Africa No Comments
Hannah Lurie is a sculptor. She has had over 15 solo exhibitions (including jewellery). She has been commissioned for many public works, including the portrait busts of poet Douglas Livingstone and Professor Elizabeth Sneddon at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. She works on tiny scale for jewellery to a commissioned project, last year, of two figures three metres high entitled Uxolo (Peace).
Lurie has won the Waterman Prize for poetry as well as the Adams Book Shop Prize. She was awarded the Mariette Loots Award for her book I’m too Sexy for My Hair, of which 260 000 copies have been printed so far by sponsors, and which are available at the Cancer Association and Parklands Oncology unit free of charge. The volume deals with the defeat of breast cancer.
She is Honorary Life Vice-President of the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts and Past National President of Soroptimist International of Great Britain & Ireland, in Durban, the biggest women’s service organisation in the world.

 

Hakim Bellamy

United States No Comments

As the inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, NM (2012-2014), Hakim Bellamy is a national and regional Poetry Slam Champion and holds three consecutive collegiate poetry slam titles at the University of New Mexico.

His poetry has been published in Albuquerque inner-city buses and various anthologies. Bellamy was recognized as an honorable mention for the University of New Mexico Paul Bartlett Re Peace Prize for his work as a community organizer and journalist and was recently bestowed the populist honor of “Best Poet” by Local iQ (“Smart List” 2010, 2011 & 2012) and Alibi (“Best of Burque” 2010, 2011 & 2012). He is the co-creator of the multimedia Hip Hop theater production Urban Verbs: Hip-Hop Conservatory & Theater that has been staged throughout the country. He facilitates youth writing workshops for schools and community organizations in New Mexico and beyond.

Hakim is currently finishing his MA in Communications and Journalism Department at the University of New Mexico. He is the proud father of a 4 year-old miracle and works as the Strategic Communication Director at Media Literacy Project.

Hakim’s journey as a poet has come full circle as of late, wearing the hat of musician. A product of the Hip Hop generation and influenced by his parents extensive wax collection (which included the likes of Janis Joplin, Sly and The Family Stone, Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles, The Grateful Dead, Gil Scott Heron, The Temptations, Teddy Pendergrass & The Last Poets), Bellamy is equal parts musical artist, archivist and archeologist. He digs music. Piano lessons, recitals and many years singing in the church choir prepared him for the funk-infused, experimental yet melodic brand of Hip Hop that he produces today with creative partner Colin “Diles” Hazelbaker. He’s shared the musical stage with Zion-I, The Wailers, The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Cecil Taylor & Blacklisted Individuals.

As an actor, Hakim has grown his talent on both the screen and the stage. He made a cameo in the independent film Romeo & Juliet Vs. The Living Dead (2009) and has made multiple appearances in local commercials (Television and Radio). He has done voice work for television and radio, worked for two years as a radio journalist at KUNM 89.9FM in Albuquerque, NM and has been cast as an extra in such films/tv shows as Gamer (2009), Swing Vote (2009) & Crash the Television Series, Season II (2010). On the stage Hakim was cast in a major role in the 2009 Albuquerque production of The Exonerated, produced by NMRepeal.org. In the summer of 2011, Hakim secured a major role as the Friar in the Vortex Theater’s Summer Shakespeare Festival production of Romeo & Juliet for a 14 show run. He has since co-written and starred in Urban Verbs: Hip Hop Conservatory & Theater with his creative partner Carlos Contreras.

Hector S Kunene

South Africa No Comments

Born in 1981 in Hammarsdale just outside Durban, Hector S Kunene first journeyed into poetry at the young age of 16 and immediately his love for his art emerged. It was his love for poetry that saw one of his first poems Bloody Corpuscles published in the Sunday Times newspaper. Hector later moved to Bloemfontein where he pursued his childhood dream of publishing a book because “I want to see people reading, I want people to start appreciating poetry again like they did in the days of Don Mattera and the likes of Mzwakhe Mbuli and Keorapetse Gkositsile”.

His first book Through The Tunnel released in 2010 not only received exceptional reviews but was also internationally recognized. He went on to publish a literary study of Omoseye Bolaji that same year which as well was well received by literary pundits, newspapers and numerous other local publications. The successes of both books resulted in him being awarded the Free State Writer of the Year award in 2010 in addition to the Free State Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation purchasing his works for libraries across the province.

Hector, who additionally serves as a Manager at SAA’s Airchef’s division, was also billed to perform at the Howick Writers Festival in Durban and was honored by Darrel David for Midland Literary Festival and Boekbedonner in the Karoo to name but a few. With a third book in the pipeline, the literary protégé is bound to receive further acclaim.

The rising star, who has even learnt other languages in order to resonate with his audiences, sites Dr. Don Mattera, Keorapetse Gkositsile, Napo Mashiane, Jah Rose, Lebo Mashile, Gcina Mhlophe and QwaQwa native Kwazi as his sources of inspiration.

His unique traditional poetry style laced with inspirational spiritual messages has undoubtedly endeared him in the hearts of his followers. “This is what I live to do. I worship God with poetry. I long to see the church appreciating God in Poetry. I yearn to see young children play in the rain singing ‘Re Ne Sa Pula’. I would love to see the libraries filled with our books and us being celebrated all over the world for doing what we love”.

Hector has worked with:
* Afurakhan
* Dr. Cool
* Dr. Don Mattera
* Flaxman Qoopane
* Kgafela
* Icebound
* Jahrose
* Lebo Leisa
* Lesego Rampolokeng
* Myesha Rose Jenkins
* Napo Mashiane
* Natalia Molebatsi
* Omoseye Bolaji
* Raselebeli Khotseng
* Rita Chihawa
* Sheila Khala
* The Archives

Hale Tsehlana

Lesotho No Comments

Hale Tsehlana is the Faculty Advisor for the Stellenbosch University Poetry Society, which she assisted to establish. She is a published poet and has read and performed her poetry in and around South Africa, India, Germany, UK and South Korea. Her collection titled Poems and Songs from the Mirea was relaunched in August 2007 at a special celebration for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions hosted by the South Africa National Library for the Blind in Grahamstown and it has been published in Braille and Audio. In the face of current debates on multiculturalism and multilingualism in South Africa, this book takes a multimedia and multilingual approach to poetry with English, Afrikaans and Sesotho poems. The book encourages local writers to reach out to marginalized communities who may not be able to read and write; hence it is made into Braille.

She recently translated a children’s book Phapo’s Gift that will be suitable for use in primary schools. She is featured in Ink@ boilingpoint, a collection of poems and essays by women from the Southern tip of Africa, (2004) 2nd edition. Voices from the Free State (2004), an anthology of Prose, Verse & Creative Articles by Indigenous Women and Youth of the Free State Province, and Basadzi Voices, an anthology of poetic writing by young black South African Women, published in 2006 by University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. Hale Tsehlana was selected to attend the November 2007 Asia Africa Literature Festival in Jeonju South Korea and in May 2008 she represented South Africa as one of the 20 young writers selected world wide to participate in the Seoul Young Writers Festival. In 2009, she presented the Words on Water Festival – Stellenbosch Satellite event sponsored & co-hosted by the by the Indian Consulate Cape Town Office & Stellenbosch International office.

Austin Bukenya

Uganda No Comments

Austin Bukenya is best-known as a pioneering scholar in the discipline of oral literature, to which he and his teacher, Pio Zirimu, gave the now popular label, orature.

Born in Masaka, Southern Uganda, in 1944, he went to high schools around Kampala and Entebbe and was a first-class graduate of the University of East Africa (Dar es Salaam) in 1968. He also studied at universities in Madagascar and England, and took his higher degrees at Makerere and Kenyatta Universities.

He has taught languages, literature and drama at Makerere University in Uganda and universities in the UK, Tanzania and Kenya since the late 1960s. He has also held residences at universities in Rwanda and Germany. Bukenya is also a literary critic, novelist, poet and dramatist. An accomplished stage and screen actor, he was for several years Director of the Creative and Performing Arts Centre at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.

Ari Sitas

South Africa No Comments

Ari Sitas is a poet, dramatist and sociologist. A founder member of the Junction Avenue theatre company in Johannesburg, he was involved in most of its productions until 1982 when he moved to Durban.

Sitas’s involvement in popular and worker theatre since the 1970s has been widely celebrated, his broader writing and involvement as a leading intellectual in anti-Apartheid movements has left a trail of robust engagements within and outside the country. In 1978 the theatre company received the Olive Schreiner Award for his play Randlords and Rotgut, and in 1981 won an award for the video/film Howl at the Moon. His first collection of poetry Tropical Scars (1989) met with much critical acclaim, and he followed this with a collection experimenting with musical form, was included in the anthology, Essential Things (1990). Sitas’s book, Slave Trades (2000), a result of seven years of research and writing has been highly praised. His last collection, The RDP Poems (2004) was his most disturbingly controversial with their precise and bleak analysis of current traumas in South Africa’s transition. Rough music (2014) is his current collection of poetry. Sitas has also penned a libretto for an opera for composer Jurgen Brauninger, Dead Fish and Dreams of Love Again.

Ari Sitas is considered to be one of the country’s leading sociologists and has been elected by the International Sociological Association on the executive of its world council. Locally, he is seen to be a central thinker around the African Renaissance and of social justice and labour movements. He is currently working on a collection of his plays, a take on Around the World in 80 days (of which the India section has been completed) and a series of lyrics titled Insurrections done in conjunction with other poets and composers from South Africa and India.

Antjie Krog

South Africa No Comments

Antjie Krog was born and grew up in the Free State. She became editor of the Afrikaans current-affairs magazine Die Suid-Afrikaan and later worked as a radio journalist covering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, all the while writing extensively for newspapers and journals. She and her radio colleagues received the Pringle Award for excellence in journalism for their coverage of the Commission hearings, from which came the best known of her three non-fiction books, Country of My Skull.

She has won major awards in almost all the genres and media in which she has worked: poetry, non-fiction and translation. But, mainly, she has lived as a poet. Krog’s first volume of poetry was published when she was seven­teen years old and she has since released thirteen volumes of poetry and received among others the Eugène Marais Prize, the Hertzog Prize, the FNB Prize, the Protea Prize, and, for non-fiction, the Alan Paton Prize and the Olive Schreiner Award. She has also been a recipient of the Stockholm Award from the Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture and the Open Society Prize. She is married to architect John Samuel.

Annie Moyo

Zimbabwe No Comments

Annie Moyo’s poetry that has been inspired by an upbringing that was rich in exposure to various traditions.

She currently resides and works in Cape Town, but her work draws strongly on her experience of being raised and schooled in Zimbabwe. She maintains close ties with her family and the people of Zimbabwe, a bond that resonates powerfully in the way she interprets the world around her.

Anis Mojgani

United States No Comments

Anis Mojgani is a two time National Poetry Slam Champion and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam. A TEDx Speaker and former resident of the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program, Anis has performed at numerous universities, festivals, and venues around the globe and has performed for audiences as varied as the House of Blues and the United Nations. His work has appeared on HBO, NPR, and in the pages of such journals as Rattle, Forklift Ohio, Used Furniture Review, and Thrush.

A founding member of the touring Poetry Revival, Anis is also the author of three poetry collections, all published by Write Bloody Publishing: Songs From Under the River (2013), The Feather Room (2011), and Over the Anvil We Stretch (2008). A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, he still tries to make tiny spaces for visual art, doing the covers for his own books, and occasionally providing work for others, be it illustrations, the random poster, or whatever else may spark up. Originally from New Orleans, Anis currently lives in Austin TX in a little house with his wife and their dog, Trudy.

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Anele

South Africa No Comments

Anele is a 28 year old poet raised in East London, South Africa but now based in Cape Town. Dead Prez and Tupac Shakur have been his main inspiration throughout his career.

Anele is well known for his witty poetry recited in his mother tongue Xhosa. He has been performing with Lingua Franca since its first Naked Word Poetry Session. In 2013 he performed at the Zabalaza Mini festivals, and he was a headlining act with Lingua Franca during the Naked Slam Poetry 2013. Anele is also part of a Floetry project run by Nanziwe Mzuzu under Bozza.mobi. He won the Cape Town leg of DFL Lover + Another Poetry Challenge in 2013 and was placed fourth at the Nationals.

In 2012 he wrote and performed a poetry production called People from no People at the Black Box Theatre in Delft.

Amir Sulaiman

United States No Comments

Amir Sulaiman is an accomplished poet, activist, recording artist and a 2 time HBO Def Poet. Host and performer for national Breed Love Odyssey Tour with Mos Def and Talib Kweli and special guest on KRS-ONES Hip Hop Lives Tour there is a steady but ever increasing buzz building around Amir quickly gaining the attention of everyone from Kanye West and Russell Simmons (who referred to Amir as “blessed”), to Dave Chapelle. In addition, organizations such as the ACLU, Amnesty International and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition have used Amir’s poetry and voice to bring life to multiple campaigns dealing with social justice and art.

His growing popularity garnered him a record deal with UPRISING Records, the label that delivered the hugely successful multi-platinum band, Fall Out Boy. His national debut album, Like a Thief in the Night, has been released nation wide to critical acclaim. The album fuses disparate genres with impassioned narratives of tragedy, redemption, and revolution. Boasting guest appearances from Mos Def, Goapele, and The Last Poets, Like A Thief in The Night has created a soundscape that could easily serve as the score for a classic Martin Scorcese film. In a nutshell, this ground-breaking album signals a desired change bringing about a level of consciousness sorely needed in today’s music industry and society in general.
Amir has been performing at countless colleges, universities, high schools and community centers. As a member of Youth Speaks in the Bay Area California, Amir works regularly teaching kids by way of spoken word and focusing on the union of art and education.

Consistently working across the United States and Canada, Amir has shared the stage with artists such as Kanye West, Lauryn Hill, Common , Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharoah Monch, Floetry, Black Thought of The Roots, Goapele, Stevie Wonder, The Last Poets, Dead Prez, Ghostface of Wu-Tang Clan, MOP, and more.

Amagcokama Osonkondlo

South Africa No Comments

Mthokozisi Gumede and Mtungabantu Myeni are passionate young Zulu poets that came together to form the group Amagcokama Osonkondlo. Their love and passion for their art is evident in their dynamic delivery of their work.

Highlights of their career thus far have been performing at the ceremony where Dr. Kenneth Kaunda received a Mahatma Gandhi International Award at the Durban City Hall and also performing at the UMngeni Municipality Councilor.

They’ve also been featured and performed at numerous events.

Albert Chitsanzo

Malawi No Comments

Kalimbakatha Albert Chitsanzo is a Malawian poet who developed the interest of writing way back in primary school. Having his voice in print was his long-held desire. He has written numerous poems which have been published locally and internationally. On the international scene Snail’s Lament was published in The Penguin Book of Modern Poetry in 1998 edited by Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier. Africa Hunted was broadcast on South African Broadcasting Corporation in 2003.

In Malawi his poem Mangoes was published in 1993 in the standard 6 text book Primary School English Activities published by Malawi Institute of Education. Fiery Ball is anthologized in Unsung Song published in 2001 by Chancellor College Publications for O level students. Other poems have been broadcast in The Writers’ Corner Program on Malawian radio and Published in various Malawian newspapers. Albert is a founding member of Malawi Writers Union who uses his poetry to help develop a deep appreciation of literature in the minds of Malawian students.

Aj. Dagga Tolar

Nigeria No Comments

Tolar is a front line activist, a social crusader, and the publicity Secretary of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers Right CDWR, what was formerly known as Campaign for Independent Unionism (CIU) which was one of the pro-democracy groups in CD, UAD and JACON, in the struggle to end military dictatorship in Nigeria. He also doubles as the publicity Secretary of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and the Editor of the Socialist Democracy, the organ of the DSM.

He is also a school teacher, and an active member of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, (NUT)

 

Aziz Mola

Kenya No Comments

Azziz is a poet, music lover, blogger, computer scientist, accountant and entrepreneur. His life purpose is to make the world a better place. He is passionate about inspiring others and mentors the youth in attempt to make them better individuals. In his spare time he is a football fanatic, rugby player and wanna-be singer.

Aryan Kaganof

South Africa No Comments

Aryan Kaganof (born 1964 as Ian Kerkhof) is a South African film maker, novelist, poet and fine artist. His books include Drive-Thru Funeral, Tombstone Dues, Post-Mortemist Poems as well as the much funnier Ballad Of Sugar Moon And Coffin Deadly. Best known for inventing the “feelbad” movie genre with such audience pleasers as SMS Sugar Man.

Ameera Patel

South Africa No Comments

Ameera Patel is a Jo’burg born actress, writer and poet. She completed her degree in Theatre and Performance at the University of Cape Town in 2005, where she was on the Dean’s Merit list and became part of the Golden Key Society. Her professional theatre performance record includes The Suit (2006), The Bonfire Theatre Company (2006), Victory (2007), Romeo and Juliet (2008), The Insatiables (2008), On Cue Theatre Company (2009), Hot Seat Confessions (2009), Ma Lindi and the Sex Strike (2010).

She is one of the founding members of the Rite 2 Speak poetry collective. Rite 2 Speak started in 2004 and has performed at various corporate events, festivals, bars and events with some of the highlights including National Women’s Day (2008), Urban Voices (2009), The Grahamstown Festival (2009) and Heritage day in Portugal (2008).

Her current projects include Rite 2 Speak gigs, Hamlet with the Framework team and facilitating writing workshops for the Jozi Book Fair.

Afurakan

South Africa No Comments

Afurakan, is the crown prince of Johannesburg’s underground slam poetry.
He is best known for his stage improvisations on hip-hop tunes. His style has caught the attention of many slam poets and and writers across Africa with its rhythm and provocative nature.
This is a poet who can cipher with god – and while celebrating the fact that “Blaq people rock” also writes for the miners who beat rock all their lives, for everything that is “less”.
His activity within Jozi’s poetry movement can be traced back to the “So where to” poetry events, and his work with the poetry collective Soul 2 Mouth, among others.

Afurakan has played a vital role in the growth of the spoken word movement in Johannesburg and indeed South Africa; and he’s a regular at schools and community centres, performing for the purpose of spreading the word.

http://muse.book.co.za/blog/2009/10/15/booked-muse-afurakan/

Afurakan is a founding member of THEMISSINGAP, a three piece rhythm and poetry outfit alongside beat box legend _BlastTheHumanBeat and DJ Duce.
TheMissingGap currently host and promote the popular WORD N SOUND BASSLINE SERIES a monthly open mic and talent showcase platform.

Adrian Different van Wyk

South Africa No Comments

Adrian “Diff” Van Wyk is a poet, master’s student and facilitator from Kuilsriver, Cape Town. Since 2011 he has curated and produced the monthly InZync Poetry Sessions, organising over 40 shows for the poetry platform. He also acts as a workshop facilitator for the INKredible writing workshop, a weekly creativewriting workshop offered to young writers from the Cape Winelands region. In 2015 he was nominated as one of 200 young South Africans to watch by the Mail & Guardian newspaper in the Arts and Culture category. In May 2015, Diff, travelled with InZync to London in collaboration with the Roundhouse Theatre performing at the Last Word Spoken Word Festival and collaborating on the #TalkingDoorsteps video poetry project. Diff has featured at Mcgregor Poetry Festival, Woordfees, Word N Sound International Youth Poetry Festival, Oppikoppie Music Festival, Open Book Festival and many other expression platforms. You can catch “Diff” at the monthly InZync Session or standing to the left of you waiting to drop a verse in a cypher.

Ivori

Nigeria No Comments

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].