Voices, energy and being a little braver

Dr Gcina Mhlophe is Poetry Africa's Lifetime Achievement nominee.

University of KwaZulu Natal’s Poetry Africa festival opens next week, running from 5 to 10 October at the Playhouse and venues across the city. Over the week, the festival will bring together stage performances, poetry slams, industry panels, workshops and a schools programme, anchored by the 5th World Poetry Slam Championship, which brings 40 slam poets from 40 nations and five continents to Durban.

The festival opens at the Playhouse Drama Theatre with a programme hosted by local poet Lebo Mashile, featuring a keynote address from Koleka Putuma and performances from Ana More (Ukraine), Haroun Amri (Algeria), Nanda (Gabon), Steel the Poet (South Africa), Lifetime Achievement honouree Dr Gcina Mhlophe, and celebrated Jamaican-Canadian dub poet and playwright D'bi Young Anitafrika.

The World Poetry Slam Championship then progresses through quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final from Wednesday 7 to Friday 9 October.

The closing day features a staged production of Water, developed from Putuma's celebrated 2016 poem of the same name, which won the PEN South Africa student writing prize and is widely taught for its meditation on access to water as a political and racialised inheritance.

Poetry Africa curator Siphindile Hlongwa chatted to the great story teller Dr Gcina Mhlophe about the festival.

Poetry Africa turns 30 this year. What has changed most about the festival, and what has stayed the same?

What hasn't changed is the belief that poetry belongs to everyone, not only to the page or the academy. What has changed is the scale and the range of voices. We now hold space for slam, theatre, film, publishing and the business of being a poet, alongside the readings the festival was built on.

The theme is Every Word a Street, Every Voice a City. What does it mean to you?

It's about poetry as something we build together. Each word is a street, and each voice adds to a city full of truth, memory and possibility. You see it in the line-up: poets from across Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania sharing one stage, with Durban as the city they build together.

Durban is hosting the 5th World Poetry Slam Championship. What does it mean for the city and for South African poets?

It puts Durban on the global poetry map. Our poets get to compete against, and learn from, the best slam poets in the world without leaving home. For audiences, it's a rare chance to see a world championship – quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final – right here at the Playhouse.

How do the 1976, 1996 and TRC anniversaries shape the festival?

They remind us that freedom of expression was fought for, and that it's a responsibility we renew every time a poet takes the stage. Poetry has always been one of the ways South Africans told the truth when it was dangerous to do so. This year's programme honours that history while asking what freedom sounds like now.

What will audiences experience at a slam that they won't get at a traditional poetry reading?

Energy, competition and an audience that is part of the performance. Slam poets have a few minutes to move a room, and the judges come from the crowd. It's poetry as a live event – loud, immediate and often unforgettable.

Why is it important to include young poets through the Chalkboard Slam?

Learners need to see that their voices belong on a stage like the Playhouse. Opening the festival with high school poets, on World Teachers' Day, says the future of this art form is already here. Many of today's professional poets started exactly this way.

Why should one focus on poetry as a working career?

Talent alone doesn't sustain a career. Poets need to understand contracts, rights, branding and how to work across borders. If we want poetry to thrive, we have to treat poets as working artists and give them the tools to make a living.

If someone can only attend one event, which would you recommend and why?

The World Poetry Slam Championship final on 9 October. You see the best poets in the world at the peak of the competition, in one room, on one night. It's the clearest expression of what this festival is about.

How do you hope people leave the festival feeling?

Seen, moved and a little braver. I hope people leave knowing their own words matter, and that some of them go home and start writing.

The full programme can be found on poetryafrica.ukzn.ac.za. tickets are available on Webtickets.