POETRY AFRICA 2019, offers a rare moment of bringing together dissident and challenging spoken word artists to celebrate a community of like-minded alternate thinkers who remind us all of the power of the pen and the word as weapons for change. We celebrate the sixteen poets who will be joining us and who will spend a busy 7 days in Durban in a series of readings, performances and a full range of workshops and forums, which engage a broad spectrum of community: from our own UKZN students, schools and KZN rural and urban communities. As Durban is also the UNESCO City of Literature, POETRY AFRICA 2019, continues its legacy of opening the doors of learning, culture and artistic expression to all. For 2019, amongst a range of globally recognised poets, we are especially pleased to welcome a very strong African contingent – 80% of our poets are African. At a time in South Africa’s on-going and more recent shameful xenophobia attacks against foreign nationals  – fellow Africans – we specifically dedicate POETRY AFRICA 2019 to the on-going belief that our poetic voice – our words – and all our art, is the very fabric of healing and of shifting mind-sets. POETRY AFRICA 2019 heralds the start of a long-term relationship with Nigeria as we begin an extensive exchange programme that links poets from West and South Africa.

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