Ongezwa speaks up

THIS March, Time of the Writer will be virtually available for literary fanatics once again and Musgrave resident Ongezwa Mbele will be speaking on a panel of women, which will include; Florence Brokowski-Shekete, Victoria Amelina, Nompumelelo Zondi and Sue Nyathi.

Mbele, a poet and performing arts academic, will moderate a discussion about how the power of women’s writing engages with themes such as social justice, the inevitability of change, community-building and the relationships of race, gender and power. “I’m looking forward to what the women will share about their writing processes. I’m interested in how these women shape their stories and how they discuss movements such as feminism, decolonisation and racism. There’s something radical about women writing stories – it’s revolutionary,” said Mbele.

Mbele is a Drama and Performance Studies lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and said racism was still prevalent, “The radical inequalities in education are so many – we are not having conversations with each other but we are separated into groups and told to limit who we are.” Mbele said South Africans still have a long way to go, “Western culture is very influential in our society and it is a constant unlearning process.”

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She said people can expect robust discussions about race, gender and power from the panel of women and from the festival as a whole.

Revolutionary talks in store at Time of the Writer

MORE than 100 writers have been assembled for the 25th edition of the Time of the Writer festival that will be presented online for the third consecutive year by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from March 14 to March 21.

The Time of the Writer festival, now celebrating its milestone 25th edition, was the first South African festival to venture into the virtual space in March 2020, two days after President Cyril Ramaphosa had declared the national lockdown to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Centre for Creative Arts scooped two nominations and an award in the Best Digital Creations category at the 2021 National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences Awards ceremony.This year’s theme Beyond Words: Memory, Imagination & Conscience, was inspired by Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chief Albert Luthuli.
It will honour his legacy and commemorate the 60th anniversary of his autobiography, Let My People Go, which was published in 1962.

Writer, academic, producer and broadcaster Dr Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang will deliver the keynote address at the festival’s opening.

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“Dr Mazibuko-Msimang’s incredible writing talents in print and for film cover a diverse range of social issues. She is a formidable South African writer and public intellectual to be the worthy choice for delivering the keynote address for the opening of the 25th edition of the Time of the Writer Festival; and to speak to the theme, Beyond Words, Memory, Imagination & Conscience,” said Ismail Mahomed, the director of the Centre for Creative Arts. 

The festival’s featured authour is one of South Africa’s most prominent writers, and also a poet and cultural activist, Mandla Langa, whose novel The Lost Colours of the Chameleon won the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.  

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