This programme invites writers to share their cartography of becoming, how their writing empowered identity evaluations, supported the discovery of new possibilities of participation and dissent. A collaboration of the The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC) and the Sylt Foundation.
Topic: Writing the Human Condition
Writer-performer Phillippa Yaa de Villiers studied theatre at the Lecoq School in Paris, wrote for television and taught mime at the Market Theatre Laboratory. She is the author of two collections of poetry. She co-edited No serenity here: an anthology of African poetry, which was translated into Mandarin. Her prose and poetry are published in a number of local and international journals and anthologies. In 2014 she was the Commonwealth Poet. Original Skin, her autobiographical play toured South Africa and Germany between 2008 and 2012. Since 2007 she has read at poetry festivals in Germany, Denmark, UK, Cuba, Sweden, Zimbabwe and Ghana. She won the 2010 SALA award for poetry and 2009 the Writing beyond the Fringe award for her short story The day that Jesus dropped the ball. After graduating from the Lancaster University Distance Learning Masters in Creative Writing with a first class, she was appointed as lecturer at Wits University.
Ngwatilo Mawiyoo’s second chapbook, Dagoretti Corner, was published in 2016. Her recent poems also appear in Obsidian, Kwani? and One Throne Magazine. Ngwatilo received her MFA from the University of British Columbia, and was shortlisted for the 2015 and 2016 Brunel University African Poetry Prize. A Callaloo fellow, she lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Thabiso 'Afurakan' Mohare, also known as KingKan, is one of the pioneers of the modern South African spoken word scene. His writing and performance style have caught the attention of many slam poets and writers across Africa with its rhythm and provocative nature. Afurakan has played a vital role in the growth of the spoken word movement in Johannesburg and indeed South Africa; and he’s a regular at schools and community centres, using spoken word as a tool for youth social development. He is the co-founder and CEO of the Word N Sound Live Literature Company - a ground breaking poetry development project that has been running in Johannesburg since 2010.
Literary Crossroads is a series of talks where South African writers meet colleagues from all over the continents and from the African diaspora to discuss trends, topics and themes prevalent in their literatures today. The series is curated by Indra Wussow.
6th October 2016, 7:00 p.m.
Goethe-Institut Johannesburg - Parkwood, 2193 Johannesburg
119 Jan Smuts Avenue
admission: free
