International Poetry Festival in Durban

Poetry, the string­ing of words together in a rhyth­mical pat­tern that evokes emo­tion and reac­tion can be a per­form­ance, a read­ing of a rhyme or a com­pletely per­sonal exper­i­ence. From 5 to 10 October 2009 the 13^th International Poetry fest­ival in Durban will show­case poetry from all around South Africa, Africa and the world.

The fest­ival is hos­ted by the University of KwaZulu Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts and an intens­ive week long pro­gramme is star­ted by a pre-festival show­case where some of Durban’s local poets can be heard at the Workshop Shopping Centre’s amphi­theatre on 4 October from 11h00.

You can be assured you will be hear­ing some worthy artists as they were chose from an open audi­tion held at the Centre for Creative Arts. At the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre you will be able to hear some of these chose poets on three sep­ar­ate occa­sions and the ulti­mate battle to take the Durban SlamJam crown takes place at the BAT Centre on 10 October 2009.

The weeks fest­iv­it­ies hap­pens as fol­lows, on 5 October at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre you will be treated to the full line-up of poets as they give brief intro­duct­ory per­form­ances, the key­note speaker for this open­ing is David Rubadiri who is a renowned Malawian writer and poet. This will be a spe­cial treat for all. For the remainder of the week each even­ing will see four poets show­ing what they do best with the grand finale on 10 October at the BAT Centre.

Expect to hear a num­ber of genres, styles, per­form­ances and poetic voices. There is a strong South African line-up from nov­el­ist and poet Mogane Wally Serote, who has won a num­ber of both local and inter­na­tional awards, you may remem­ber him as one of the key Black Consciousness poets who was arres­ted in 1969 under the Terrorism Act. Jennifer Ferguson is a tal­ent woman who is also a multi-award win­ner as well as a clas­sic­ally trained pian­ist. Contemporary poet Lesego Rampolokeng who gives his take on post-apartheid South Africa and Sindiwe Magona, who is launch­ing his first poetry col­lec­tion are also part of the line-up.

The other South African par­ti­cipants are made up of the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize win­ner, Loftus Marais, two-time Poetry Africa SlamJam cham­pion Ewok, Liesl Jobson and radio presenter Bongani Mavuso.

Joining the line-up from the African con­tin­ent are the elec­tri­fy­ing, excit­ing per­former Nina Kibuanda from the DRC, Tania Tomé from Mozambique, Odia Ofeimun from Nigeria and the singer and poet Chigo Gondwe from Malawi.

Both Sunil Gangopadhyay and Anindita Sengupta have trav­elled all the way from India to delight Durbanites with their dynamic work. Sunil has writ­ten over 200 books and has worked with film­maker Satyajit Ray. Anindita is an emer­ging yet dynamic voice in the Indian poetry world. From Turkey we are priv­ileged to have Ilyas Tunç who has a strong South African con­nec­tion, some of his work has been trans­lated into Zulu and Afrikaans.

Not only will there be the final per­form­ances at the Elizabeth Sneddon and BAT theatre’s on Saturday 10 October, but a full day of activ­it­ies can be enjoyed. Poetry work­shops, open mic ses­sions, sem­inars, per­form­ances, poetry com­pet­i­tions and much more can be enjoyed dur­ing the day.

Poetry is some­thing can con­nect us all, you will hear things dur­ing this fest­ival that will make you react, it doesn’t mat­ter how you react. You may love the words that you hear, you may not like the words or you may just be indif­fer­ent. But that is why poetry is so spe­cial for each indi­vidual it is dif­fer­ent. Don’t let this oppor­tun­ity to hear some of South Africa, Africa and the world’s most tal­en­ted poet’s slip past you, come and listen to them, be inspired and enjoy what they have to offer.

Additional Information:
If you would like more inform­a­tion about the event and a full pro­gramme list please ...
Telephone +27 (0)31 260‑2506 or +27 (0)31 260‑1704
Follow their latests 'tweets' on twitter.com at http://twitter.com/PoetryAfrica
Visit the web­site at: http://www.cca.ukzn.ac.za/PoetryAfrica2009.htm

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