Andrea Nomasebe Dondolo

South Africa No Comments

Andrea is cultural activist, writer, storyteller and award-winning actress, having worked extensively in theatre, radio and television, as well as being traditional Xhosa praise singer (imbongi) and bead craft artist.

She began Human Movement Studies at the University of The Western Cape and later completed a Drama diploma at the New Africa Theatre. Some of the highly successful professional productions she’s featured in are Beading my Soul in collaboration with The Mothertongue Project, Dancing 2 Patterns and Good Heart at the Baxter Theatre and Romeo and Juliet, Ufeziwe okanye Inkohlakalo, Giants and It’s My Life at the Artscape Theatre.

Andrea also facilitates storytelling workshops for adults and children’s programs at various national festivals. She featured in international movies such as The Final Solution and The Piano Player and landed parts in local television series such as Big Okes, Backstage, Madam and Eve, Thetha Msawawa, The Ringmaster, Stokvel, Unchain my Heart, Home Affairs making her a household face and name in South Africa.

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.

Ama Nuamah

Ghana No Comments

Ama is a young lady born and based in Accra, Ghana. She loves other creative disciplines but writing is a deeply-rooted passion of hers. Writing is her safe haven, writing is her lifeline.

Aka Teraka

Nigeria No Comments

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.

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.

Abdourahman Waberi

Djibouti No Comments

Abdourahman Waberi is a prize-winning writer from Djibouti whose work has been translated into a multitude of languages. These poems come from his collection of poetry entitled Les Nomades, mes frères, vont boire à la grande ourse (The Nomads, My Brothers, Will Drink from the Big Dipper), his only collection of poetry. Muslim by birth, Waberi’s themes include the nomadic life, colonial and postcolonial hardships, exile, Jewish writers, the Arabic language, and Djibouti’s harsh climate. Most importantly, these poems, like his novels, short stories, and essays, carry the important message of tolerance. He is an Assistant Professor of Francophone Literature at the George Washington University.

Translations by:
Nancy Naomi Carlson is a winner of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland Arts Council, and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. She is the author of three poetry collections, as well as the critically acclaimed Stone Lyre: Poems of René Char. Her translations and non-translated work have appeared in such journals as Agni, The Iowa Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and Western Humanities Review, and are forthcoming in The Georgia Review. She is an associate editor for Tupelo Press.

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].

Inua Ellams

United Kingdom No Comments

Born in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria ‘1984, Inua Ellams is a Word and Graphic Artist, a writer with a style as influenced by Classic literature as it is by hip hop, by Keats as it is by MosDef. Rooted in a love for rhythm and language, he crosses 18th century romanticism & traditional story telling with contemporary diction, loose rhythm and rhyme. However, his first love was visual art; the first time he toyed with a pencil, he fell for the magic of line and form. He works extensively as a graphic designer / visual artist and also tries to mix the old with the new juxtaposing texture and pigment with flat shades of color and digitally created designs. He works in online and print.

Imani Woomera

Kenya No Comments

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.

Icebound

South Africa No Comments

“Born to flames
Conceived in between rows
reared to spark riots
and fled the norm”

These are the lines from a 30-year-old Free State’s spoken-word activist and poet, Serame Makhele popularly known as Icebound. He uses these words extracted from a piece called Poet’s protest to introduce himself, in a nutshell, to audiences. Icebound draws his inspiration from countless Pan-African writers that he studied and read as a youngster and continues to explore.

His unique style of performance which he termed Rhyme and Reason, Rhythm and Content, illustrates a perfect incorporation of rap and ragga into classical African poetry and literature. Icebound prefers mainly to write and perform about hardcore socio-politico and economic issues. This can be proven by words quoted from his controversial piece titled Burn dem up and destroy dem:

Capitalism and fascism
Modern-day Nazism and imperialism
We use spoken-word as a mechanism
To burn them up and destroy them

 

Isabella Motadinyane

South Africa No Comments

Isabella Motadinyane was born in 1963 in Mofolo Central, Soweto. She went as far as Grade Five in her formal schooling. She studied piano at the so-called “Five Roses Bowl” and attended dance and acting classes in Jozi. As a result of creative writing workshops she wrote the poem One leg in which contains the phrase die is mos botsotsos. This phrase afterwards gave rise to the name of the Botsotso Jesters, the poetry performance group of which she was a founding member in 1994, and whose publishing arm, Botsotso Publishing brought out the two collections, We Jive Like This (1996) and Dirty Washing (1999), from whom the poems in this collected works are taken.

She was brought up by her grandmother and adopted the surname Motadinyane even though, when she traced her roots and the whereabouts of her absent father, she discovered that he was from the Mabalane family of Meadowlands and Ndofaya. At the time of her death on 19 February 2003 – her fortieth birthday – she was living with her mother in Orange Farm.

As a stage presence she was unique – confident, varied, vivacious. Her rich voice both sang and spoke, infusing her poems with great musicality; as significant, they worked equally convincingly on the page. Her voice is captured on the Botsotso Jesters cd, Purple Light Mirror in the Mud (2001). Indeed, Isabella Motadinyane used Isicamtho and Sotho to create a powerful legacy of performance, poetry and song. A collection of her poems (as previously published with the Botsotso Jesters) entitled Bella was published in 2007.

Ingrid Andersen

South Africa No Comments

Ingrid Andersen was born in Johannesburg, read for a degree in English literature and film and theatre criticism at Wits, has a Masters degree and is presently completing her PhD. Her work has been published in poetry journals for nearly two decades. Excision, her first volume of poetry, was published in 2004 and her second, Piece Work, was published by Modjaji Books in September 2010.

Her influences include the French Romantic poets, Imagism, Ted Hughes and the writings of Basho. She is the founding editor of Incwadi, a South African journal that explores the interaction between poetry and image.

Andersen’s work has been published in local literary journals including Imprint, Slugnews, Carapace, Green Dragon, Botsotso, Incwadi and New Coin, online in LitNet, Peony Moon and Ink, Sweat and Tears as well as internationally. Her work has been anthologized in collections as well as included in English setworks. She presented her work at WordFest at the National Arts Festival in 2004 and 2005, as well as at the Hilton Arts Festival in 2009. She contributed the libretto for a musical which was staged twice in the early ’90s. Her creative writing workshops focus on allowing creativity to overcome disabling self-critique.

Ingrid worked as a theatre publicist in the 1980s, the days of political protest theatre, at the Market Theatre and PACT, amongst others, working with some fascinating people.

As South Africa began to rebuild after the first democratic elections, she became active in community activism and development, at The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, as CEO of the Rosebank Homeless Association and then as Community Engagement Manager at Rhodes University. She co-ordinated the Pietermaritzburg Anti-Xenophobia Coalition during 2008-2009. She worked thereafter for the Centre for Adult Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and presently is General Manager of the Midlands Meander. Ingrid celebrates her tenth anniversary of ordination as an Anglican priest this year. She works in healing and reconciliation ministry. She was nominated for Rhodes University Amnesty International ‘Woman of the Year’ in 2007 and is a member of the Golden Key Society.

Ingrid has lived most of her life in Johannesburg, worked in Grahamstown for five years and relocated to the KwaZulu–Natal Midlands in 2007. She lives with a two cherished cats, Dickens and Catriona.

Ife Piankhi

Uganda No Comments

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.

IanJazzi

Ghana No Comments

IanJazzi is an accomplished artist and entrepreneur. Multi-talented and traversing many artistic styles and genres, IanJazzi has made significant contributions to Accra’s music and entertainment scene as a musician, producer, spoken word artist, emcee and actor. In addition to his talents in the performing arts, IanJazzi is also successful as a model and businessman.

Finuala Dowling

South Africa No Comments

Finuala Dowling was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1962. Her first volume of poetry, I Flying, won the Ingrid Jonker Prize and her second collection, Doo-Wop Girls of the Universe, was joint winner of the SANLAM award. Her third volume of poetry, Notes from the dementia ward won the Olive Schreiner Prize. She has appeared as a guest poet at the Aldeburgh festival and at Snape Maltings in the UK, and at all of South Africa’s major literary festivals. In May-June of 2012 she appeared with other South African poets at the Biennale Internationale des Poètes en Val-de-Marne in Paris.

Finuala is the author of three novels, the most recent of which — Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart — won the 2012 MNet prize for fiction.

Finuala has a Masters and doctorate in English literature. She writes textbooks, runs poetry workshops and occasionally gives lectures.

Kithaka wa Mberia

Kenya No Comments

Prof.Kithaka wa Mberia was born in 1955 in Tharaka in the Eastern Province of Kenya. He attended primary school in Tharaka before joining Chuka High School and then Alliance High School. In 1976, he enrolled at the University of Nairobi and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in 1979. He later obtained an M.A. and PhD from the same university.

Since 1982 Prof. Kithaka wa Mberia has been teaching and doing research in the Depertment of Linguistics and Languages, University of Nairobi. He has also taught in the United States of America as a Fullbright Scholar-in-Residence at Virginia State University, Petersburg. Moreover, over the years, he has taught students from several foreign universities and university colleges during their semesters in Kenya. He has also served as an External Examinor to both local and foreign universities. Besides publishing papers in academic journals, Prof. Kithaka wa Mberia has to his credit numerous books of poetry and drama. These include Kifo Kisimani, Mchezo wa Karata, Natala, Bara Jingine, Maua Kwenye Jua la Asubuhi, Redio na Mwezi, Msimu wa Tisa and Zimwi la Theluji. Several of these books have been translated and published in English.

Poppy Seed

United Kingdom No Comments

Poppy Seed, Angela Harvey, is a performance poetry act that delivers a concept of conscious poetry and live music that educates, entertains and inspires. It has been described as being “on the cusp of poetry and song. Poppy Seed’s latest release ‘Coming Through’ features some of her hottest grooves and unique genre”.

Poppy Seed is a life coach and committed to Human Rights by using her art to highlight Social justice campaigns; and to celebrate cultural diversity. In this light her eloquent activism has ‘won’ her title ‘Warm Revolutionary.’ Her music has coloured soundtracks, most recently Motherland another groundbreaking award winning film by Director Owen ‘Alik Shahadah about the incredulous journey of African people. and won awards including Best Poet from Black Women in the Arts UK, and ‘The Nina Simone Award for Black Women in Jazz’ 2009. Coming Through is the current defining Album. Preceded by the taster album A Taste that is available through online outlets as a limited edition and a gem.

Poetic Pilgrimage

United Kingdom No Comments

Poetic Pilgrimage are an exciting female Hip Hop and spoken word duo from the UK who are set to take the world by storm with their unique sound, intelligent lyrics and unparalleled charisma. They are a rare act, being one of the few Muslim female outfits around and are unafraid to express themselves through the art of rhyme.

Poetic Pilgrimage brings a refreshing perspective on issues of identity, immigration, and global politics and as one of the very few Muslim, female Hip Hop acts in the world, their music reflects this unique experience. The world has much to learn from the lyrics of these two women.

Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor were both born in Bristol to Jamaican parents, and have been performing together as Poetic Pilgrimage for 6 years. The early part of their career saw them as favorites on the London poetry circuit where they performed alongside some of the biggest names, placing them at the forefront of the fast-growing International Muslim Hip Hop scene. They use their music to unite their community with the greater hip-hop and music scene.

Their musical goals are to make progressive Hip Hop music that fuses their African and Caribbean roots with their musical tastes such as Jazz, Afrobeat, Soul and beyond, providing a creatively comparable backdrop to their message of peace, unity and freedom.

The group has toured all over Europe and the United States and have performed alongside artists such as Talib Kweli from the USA, K’naan from Somalia and Mutabaruka from Jamaica. They have received critical acclaim and press coverage from many of Europe’s most notable publications.

Whether helping youth learn to write heartfelt poetry, or rapping at the most male-dominated Hip Hop venues, Poetic Pilgrimage has become one of the most well-known and well-respected Muslim hip-hop crews in the world.

Pippa Little

Tanzania No Comments

Pippa Little was born and raised in Tanzania. She is Scots but has lived mainly in England. A teacher, editor, higher education lecturer and literacy tutor, she has now begun writing full-time. Married with three sons, two in England and one in Mexico, and a labrador dog, she has a poetry collection titled Overwintering.

Phyllis Muthoni

Kenya No Comments

Phyllis Muthoni has contributed poems to Kwani? and the Black Arts Quarterly magazine (Stanford University). She has been writing poetry ‘seriously’ since 2003. Her investment in time and thought shines through her recent collection, Lilac Uprising , which has been likened to ‘a cool drink of water: clear, spare, fresh and vital’ (Doreen Baingana, author, Tropical Fish). Lilac Uprising, the title poem, is part of a four-piece poem that utilizes the life stages of a Jacaranda tree to highlight how she deals with the loss of her grandmother. Phyllis works part-time as a poetry editor.

‘Phyllis Muthoni has written and courageously self-published a book that redefines how Kenya can be viewed…It is a thrilling read, a collection of fantastic poems that converts what we see from the corner of our eye into something kaleidoscopic…’

Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa

Uganda No Comments

Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa is a Ugandan South African poet, storyteller, coach and facilitator. She is the youngest daughter of Ugandan poet and civil servant, the late Henry Barlow. Both her parents loved literature – her father the writer, her mother the teacher, researcher and narrator. While she most commonly called Philippa, she always signs Namutebi at the end of her poems. “Namutebi is the creative side of me. She is the one who writes.”

She sees her poems more as stories – portraits of moments in her life. Her poems draw images of growing up in Uganda in the 60s and 70s and in the later years as an immigrant in various parts of Africa – touching on both the personal and political as it impacted her. Having lived in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia and South Africa, she often wrestles with the question of identity and belonging. She also explores her triumphs and struggles as a woman.

Namutebi also has a passion for folktales and myths – the wisdom of centuries, the tried and tested imagery, the archetypal characters that give new perspective to the perennial questions that we struggle with. She says, “When a story gets my heart beating faster, or an image in a story stirs something inside me, I know that that story has come to teach me at this moment in my life! I believe this is true for everyone.”

Namutebi lives in Cape Town with her husband, Victor, and 3 children – Faye, Senteza and Chris.

Peter Mboye

Tanzania No Comments

Peter is a 22 years old, living in the North-eastern part of the Tanzania in the city of Arusha. He started writing poetry when he was 16 years old while still a high school student. He initially mainly wrote for his friends and for his own benefit due to a lack of platforms in his hometown.

In 2012 he met George Kyomushula the founder of Arusha Poetry Club,who inspired him to participate in the club’s weekly sessions. This is where he has met a lot of great poets like Charlotte Hill O’neil. Till now he has participated in more than four international events and other six local events within the club. And performed local events at The University Of Dodoma,where he pursues a degree of Film and Theatre.

Paulination

South Africa No Comments

PAULINATION is an outspoken voice that captures people in passing and makes them listen,he speaks of human experience in different categories revolving around issues faced by society like drugs, sexual abuse and racial tension. He incorporates dramatical aspects mixed with energetic movements and wonderful click sounds into his stories, what makes him different is the lyrical mixture that cuts through the barrier between Zulu and English.

This outspoken storyteller is originally from a group of poets called Nowadays Poets.

Patricia Schonstein

South Africa No Comments

Patricia is an internationallly published, award winning novelist and poet whose works have been translated into five languages.

In 1984, in response to apartheid and the political violence in the Eastern Cape, she opened a non-racial pre-school. She wrote and self-published stories, poems and songs that had relevance to her pupils’ lives, and which were based on the same principles of peace she used in her classes.

After completing a Master’s Degree in creative writing at the University of Cape Town, she focused on full-time authorship. Although her novels are decorative, magical, opulent and richly furnished, they carry at core a deep, philosophical note as she exposes the emotional carnage caused by war and genocide.

Her novels reflect variously on the Holocaust, South Africa’s wars in Angola and Mozambique, Zimbabwe’s Chimurenga war and current dictatorship, the bombing of Dresden and apartheid.They also reflect on the way we ‘war’ against the earth and other species.Yet, despite these dark matters, her fictions are full of hope and joy and love.

Her poetry is another matter. Here she is blunt and to the point. She captures, in language that is at times paradoxically lyrical and beautiful, the full scale and horror of war, genocide, fratricide and our destruction of the natural world. Patricia’s is a voice for peace.

Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed Nabhany

Kenya No Comments

Prof. Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed Nabhany, was born 27 November 1927 in Mombasa Kenya. He is affectionately known as the father of Swahili poetry.

A list of researchers Nabhany has assisted:

1. John W.T. Allen 1965 who was collecting Swahili manuscript, poetry, songs, and lullabies.
2. Prof. Ann Beirsteke 1983 who was researching Mwana Kupona and learning Swahili poetry.
3. Prof. Henebush 1989 who was learning Swahili poetry composed by Nabhany.
4. Prof.Ibrahim Noor Shariff 1984.
5. Prof. Chach n Chacha 1984 who was researching Swahili Poetry.
6. Dr. Marjorie Ann Franken 1986 who was researching, Ngoma, Swahili Poetry.
7. Prof. Rocha Chimera 1984 –  Istilani.
8. Prof. Deborah P. Amory 1985 – Kanga In Swahili Society.
9. Prof. Kingei – On Swahili Twarab 1989.

Nabhany’s Contribution on Islamic Swahili Arab Scripts:

1967 – Helped in the collection and recording of Swahili and Arabic Manuscripts by J.W.T. Allen for University of Dar-Es-Salaam.
1984-1987 Worked with Prof. Dammann in Hamburg University, Germany in translating Swahili Arabic manuscripts to Roman scripts.
1993 – Worked on Islamic manuscripts with Dr.David Sperling Lamu, Pate, Siyu in Kenya in the same year travelled to Comores Island. Project sponsored by Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation through our director in London, Dr. Shariff.
2004 – A team of Oman Television led by Mr.Mohamed Bin Ali Marjiby interviewed him on the history of the first Omani who came to Pate in Lamu Kenya, Suleiman bin Suleiman bin Mudhafar Nabhany in the 12th Century and from Oman Jabal-Ahdhar at Al-Makheri.

Ponatshegelo Katlholo

Botswana No Comments

On stage he is known as Mista Poke. At 24, he is the youngest member of the Poetavango Collective. Mista Poke was born and bred in the village of Maun, Botswana. He studied accounting and business management.

Mista Poke wrote his first poem when he was 16 years old. His main influence came from listening to the music and poetry of the South African Mzwakhe Mbuli. He is a fanatic of African indigenous ways of life, and when he writes his poetry, his pan-African views and inclinations can be seen. He also writes heavily on socio-political issues.

Mista Poke is a spirited and energetic performer with a voice a highly commanding voice. He has performed in various public activities in his home town of Maun. He also performed at all Poetavango shows including the international poetry festivals.

Pitika Ntuli

South Africa No Comments

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.

Pieter Odendaal

South Africa No Comments

Pieter Odendaal started out as a boerseun in Bloemfontein and has a BA and half of an abandoned BSc-degree. He is the co-founder and project manager of SLiP, the Stellenbosch Literary Project, which creates and nourishes analogue and digital platforms of creative engagements with words. The project’s website focuses on contemporary South African books, “poetries”, cultures and initiatives around multilingualism and translation. He also co-coordinates the popular InZync Poetry Sessions and high school poetry workshops with his partner in rhyme, Adrian Different.

He hopes to publish his debut poetry collection sometime soon. A handful of his Afrikaans poems appeared in Nuwe Stemme 5 (2013). In 2015, he’ll be studying things about sustainable development and how to save the world.

Phillippa Yaa de Villiers

South Africa No Comments

Multi-award winning poet, playwright and performance artist, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers is a graduate of the Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris. Her poetry ranges from the private to the political, exploring matters serious, satirical and sensual. She has a prolific portfolio of national and international stage and television productions. Taller than Buildings is first collection of poetry.

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Philani Amadeus Nyoni

Zimbabwe No Comments

Philani Amadeus Nyoni is a Zimbabwean poet, short story writer and actor. His writings have been published in newspapers and magazines including The Sunday News, Zimbabwe Metro, South Africa Metro, Consciousness.co.za and Ghana Poetry Foundation.

In 2006 he was awarded a First Class Award in the ‘Girls’ College Literary Competition, the following year he was awarded ‘Honors’ and won the Best Poem Award in the senior category. In 2010 his poetry was read at a cultural night in Wales organised by Kushinda Publishing, in the same year he co-wrote and acted in Cletus Moyo’s stage play titled And Now We Speak. He took part in the Drama For Life Festival in South Africa where he was part of the ‘A Lover And Another Poetry Slam’ where he represented Gauteng in the national championships.

In 2011 he co-wrote an opening act with Simo Mpapa-Majola for the festival. In that year he also featured in Lindela, a short film written and directed by Lilly Million about Lindela camp in South Africa where illegal immigrants are held before being deported to their respective countries. In 2012 he was part of the team that resurrected “Mlom’ Wakho Poetry Slams” in Bulawayo which was the second poetry slam in Zimbabwe after ‘House Of Hunger’ in Harare. He took part in the ‘Breaking Barriers Poetry Slam’ held in Harare during the Shoko Festival and also shared his works at Intwasa Festival. He is working with John Eppel as an editor on Philani’s first book, a forty-five poem anthology entitled Once A Lover Always A Fool.

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