UNIVERSITY of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts (CCA), in partnership with the National Institute for Humanities, French Institute of South Africa, and Total, will host the 25th Poetry Africa International Festival from October 11 to October 16.
According to the spokesman for UKZN CCA, Marlyn Ntsele, people are able to hop onto a digital highway and can easily become lost in social media’s various algorithms that are generated for them, sometimes falling somewhere between fact and fiction.
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“A world in which we are unsure who or what to believe, the poet’s role is to help us persevere during these times of lockdowns, loneliness and fear. The poet can appeal to something deep within us that is fostered within our communities. Poets can inspire us with their power to influence societies and they possess the ability to show us things through a different lens,” she said.
Ntsele said during times of fake news and authoritarian tendencies, society may need poets more than ever to shine a light on certain truths and to unite communities.
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“We need poets to articulate for us, give us another prospect and shift time. Therefore, the focus during this year’s festival is Unmute: Power to the Poet. For the 25th year in a row, the Poetry Africa Festival in Durban sets the stage for poetry, with a curatorial focus on quality, variety, renewal and reflection,” she said.
In addition, Poetry Africa offers a stage to well-established and beginner poets and offers audiences an overview of modern poetry’s new developments and current topics.
“Due to Covid-19, the majority of the festival programme will be presented online, with two live events in Durban. There will be more than 35 poets from South Africa, Africa, and the world, during the six-day programme presented over five slots daily. It features performances, online engagements, competitions, book launches, seminars and workshops,” she said.
The festival will also run three competitions that are currently open for submissions: open mic, schools and the Slam Jam competition.
You can watch Poetry Africa for free on Facebook and YouTube. The full programme will be announced closer to the festival. To make a submission, visit poetryafrica.ukzn.ac.za.
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