Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Mimeta and Hivos, Poetry Africa on Tour is an effort to celebrate the beauty and power of poetry with ever-wider constituencies, cultures and countries.
The touring line-up to Cape Town includes writer of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and plays Kwame Dawes. He is also an actor, playwright, producer, an accomplished storyteller, broadcaster and was the lead singer in Ujamaa, a reggae band. Winner of a Pushcart Prize, Dawes has produced a prolific sixteen collections of poetry.
Shailja Patel's US publishing debut Migritude went to number one on Amazon's bestsellers in Asian Poetry. This Kenyan poet, playwright, political economist and activist has received numerous awards and fellowships and her work has been translated into 15 languages.
Always a popular performer is iconic South African poet, actress, television presenter and producer Lebo Mashile. She was awarded the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 2006 for her first poetry collection.
From neighbouring Botswana comes poet, writer and voice-over artist Tjawangwa TJ Dema. Chairperson of The Writers Association of Botswana, she is the founding member of the Exoduslivepoetry! collective, who have coordinated Botswana's sole annual poetry festival since 2004.
Musical dimensions enrich the tightly packaged Poetry Africa programme. Winner of a string of major awards, Senegalese rapper Didier Awadi is the most visible figures of Francophone West African hip-hop, and previously toured in Southern Africa with his legendary outfit Positive Black Soul. Awadi is accompanied by guitarist Tibass Kangu from the DRC.
Defying the tradition that women in Zimbabwe do not play the mbira, Chiwoniso has emerged as one of the defining experts in the art, accompanied by her incredible singing. Chiwoniso was a core member of the multi-country all-women band Womens' Voice, and has her own acoustic group Chiwoniso and Vibe Culture.
Then there is Chris Abani whose first novel, Masters of the Board, got him arrested while his play Song of a Broken Flute, resulted in a sentence as a political prisoner. Currently a professor at the University of California, and the recipient of major PEN awards, Abani's most recent book of poetry, Sanctificum, is a sequence of linked poems, combining religious ritual, the Igbo language of his Nigerian homeland and reggae rhythms.
Special guest from the Netherlands is poet, performer and composer Jaap Blonk. Blonk was the founder and leader of innovative bands Splinks (modern jazz) and Braaxtaal (avant-rock).
Gabeba Baderoon is author of three well-received collections of poetry, and recipient of the DaimlerChrysler Poetry Award amongst others, while Sandile Dikeni, also with three poetry collections to his credit, makes a welcome return to the scene.
