Time of the Writer Festival announces new curator and champion

THE Time of the Writer Literature Champion for 2022 was announced by The Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu Natal.

The literature festival took place online from March 14 until March 21.

This year, the Literature Champion Award was awarded to Makhubalo “Cuba” Ikaneng for his work with young writers from Emphophomweni, Howick under the UMngeni Municipality.

According to a statement released by the festival’s management, Ikaneng loves to help children write their own stories through his project Young Authors Book Initiative (YABI).

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The statement said that the festival awards this prize annually to a person/organisation committed to promoting a reading culture amongst young people and ensuring that even the poorest of South African communities have access to books.

“This award, this recognition, today is an inspiration for me to continue what I’m doing. For the community to believe that everyone can make a difference and for every child growing up in a rural community to know that the sky is the limit,” says Ikaneng.

Festival organisers decided to take a bold step by appointing a new curator for the 2023 festival.

The festival’s organisers said in a statement that recent graduate Sibahle Khwela took on an arts administration internship at the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where she liaised with more than 100 authors who were selected to participate in this years’ Time of the Writer Festival and international participants in the festival have lauded her with praise.

“Sibahle is one of those rare people who walk into an internship programme and, within six weeks, takes full ownership of the project. She demonstrates a strong work ethic, professionalism and versatility that we are delighted to announce that we will be extending her internship till March 2023 so that she can take on the role of curator of the 26th edition of the Festival”, said Ismail Mahomed, Director for the Centre for Creative Arts.

According to Mohamed, Sibahle will be mentored by himself and the Centre’s Senior Administrator & Poetry Africa curator, Siphindile Hlongwa, both of whom have extensive experience in festival design, curation and cultural leadership.

“There is a huge vacuum for Black women festival curators in South Africa. We believe that by extending her internship and granting her the opportunity to project lead and curate the 26th edition of the Time of the Writer festival, we can significantly contribute to opening up opportunities for Black South African women to take on festival curatorship roles’, said Siphindile Hlongwa.

“Sibahle Khwela graduated cum laude with an undergraduate degree in Drama and Performance Studies at the Durban University of Technology. She was also the recipient of the Dean’s Merit Award 2020 alongside 11 Awards received during her qualification. Other awards that she received during her studies include the Best Newcomer 2018, Leadership Award 2019 and the versatility Award 2020,” said Mohamed.

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