6th Word N Sound International Youth Poetry Festival 2016 - ‘Dangerous Minds’

Date: 3 – 9 October 2016

Venue: The Market Theatre, Newtown

Tickets: R95 – R200 www.markettheatre.co.za

Feature

Artists: Alysia Harris (US), Ngwatilo Mawiyoo (Ken), Elten Kiene (NL), Siphokazi Jonas, Mutle Mothibe, Vuyelwa Maluleke, Pieter Odendaal, Modise Sekgothe, Xabiso Vili, Zewande Bhengu, Pakama Mlokoti and Mandisa Vundla.

Themed ‘Dangerous Minds’, the 6th edition of the Word N Sound International Youth Poetry Festival will showcase a world-class selection of youth voices from South Africa, Kenya and the United States. The week-long festival will take place at the legendary Market Theatre in Newtown from the 3rd to the 9th of October 2016.

“Give young people a platform and a microphone and words become weapons. Navigating the uncomfortable truth of identity, sexuality, materialism, personal power and neo-liberal politics these young minds dismember the proverbial elephant in the room and lay bare entrails society prefers not to dine on. These are dangerous minds, writing in dangerous times” explains Afurakan Thabiso Mohare, festival curator and CEO of the Word N Sound Live Literature Company.

US based spoken word artist and activist Alysia Harris will headline this year’s edition of ‘Poetry Is’ in the festival with two performances, alongside Kenyan born Ngwatilo Mawiyoo and Dutch rapper Elten Kiene who complete the list of international artists. A formidable selection of local talent completes the exciting line-up and includes Siphokazi Jonas, Vuyelwa Maluleke, Modise Sekgothe, Mak Manaka and Pakama Mlokoti to name a few.

The festival will open with a first for South Africa. The launch of the Word N Sound Spoken Word Video Exhibition – a showcase of 60 spoken word videos by various emerging voices from the Word N Sound Poetry League stage. The Barney Simon Theatre will be transformed into a free cinema where patrons can walk in and out throughout the day and enjoy the video exhibition.

A major focus this year will be on poetry meets theatre with four productions scheduled as double-bills including “No One Wants A Black Woman With A Mouth” by the BlackGirlPlotting company, “Metropolar” by Modise Sekgothe, “Black Boi Be” by Xabiso Vili and “Assembling Mutle Mothibe” by Mutle Mothibe.

Another exciting event to look forward to is the Word N Sound Poetry League Finale, which will see five poets battle for the prestigious Poetry League Champion title for 2016. After eight months of gruelling monthly slams, five finalists have emerged as the best amongst their peers however there can be only one champion.

Tickets for the festival are available through the Market Theatre and range from R95 to R200 while workshops, panel discussions and the Poetry Video Festival are free.

Full Festival Schedule:

MON 3 OCT

Poetry League Video Exhibition Barney Simon Theatre 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 13:00 – 21:00 FREE

TUE 4 OCT

Double Bill: No One Wants A Black Woman With A Mouth & Metropolar Feat: BlackGirlPlotting Company (Vuyelwa Maluleke, Andisiwe Mpinda) & Modise Sekgothe and Jotam Schoeman Barney Simon Theatre 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 19:00 – 22:00 R100 presold R120 at the door

WED 5 OCT

Double Bill: Black Boy Be & Assembling Mutle Mothibe Feat: Xabiso Vili and Mutle Mothibe Barney Simon Theatre 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 19:00 – 22:00 R100 presold R120 at the door

THU 6 OCT

Writing Workshop with Alysia Harris (US) Barney Simon Theatre Market Theatre complex 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 13:00 – 15:00 FREE

Literary Crossroads with Ngwatilo Mawiyoo Feat Ngwatilo Mawiyoo (KEN), Phillippa Yaa De Viliers and Thabiso Mohare Goethe Institut, 119 Jan Smuts Ave Dunkeld West 19:00 – 21:00 FREE

FRI 7 OCT

Poetry Is Feat: Alysia Harris (US), Ngwatilo Mawiyoo (KEN), Pakama Mlokoti, Adrian Diff, Sbu Simelane, Lilly Million John Kani Theatre Market Theatre complex 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 20:00 – 22:00 R150 presold R200 at the door

SAT 8 OCT

Poetry League Slam Finale Feat:

kori Strange, B-Lyrical, Thobani Mntambo, NazFloe, Rabbie Wrote, Alysia Harris (US), Pakama Mlokoti, Elton Kienne (NL) Barney Simon Theatre Market Theatre complex 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 13:00 – 16:00 R95 presold R120 at the door

Open Mic Market Theatre complex 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 17:00 – 19:00 FREE

Poetry Is Feat: Alysia Harris (US), Siphokazi Jonas, Zewande Bhengu, Nolwazi Tusini, Mandisa Vundla, Pieter Odendaal, Lilly Million John Kani Theatre Market Theatre complex 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown 20:00 – 22:00 R150 presold R200 at the door

SUN 9 OCT Word N Sound @ Sol Plaatje Award (Mail & Guardian Literary Festival) Feat: Zewande Bhengu, Siphokazi Jonas, B-Lyrical, kori Strange SciBono, Miriam Makeba St & Helen Joseph Street, Newtown 11:30 – 13:00 FREE

International Artists Profiles

Alysia Harris (US)

Hailing from Alexandria Virginia, Alysia Nicole Harris is a performance artist, activist, and founding member of The Strivers Row poetry collective. She has had the honor of performing at the United Nations and has toured nationally for the past 8 years as well as in Canada, South Africa, Germany, Slovakia, and the UK.

Alysia has been featured on HBO as a youth poet and more recently called one of the top ten Black female poets to watch by Blavity, Shine for Harriet, and Nylon Magazine. She performs with an eye towards healing and sees her work as promoting transparency, women's empowerment, a guilt-free spirituality, and racial reconciliation. In 2015, Alysia became the 29th Duncanson Artist-in-Residence at the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati where she taught workshops on empathy, racial reconciliation and the importance of poetry in the school system.

Two-time Pushcart nominee and two-time winner of the 2014 & 2015 Stephen Dunn Poetry Prizes, her poetry was selected for publication in Best New Poets 2015, Vinyl, Indiana Review, Solstice Literary Magazine, and The Offing among others. Her first chapbook How Much We Must Have Looked Like Stars to Stars won the 2015 New Women’s Voices Series Contest and is available from Finishing Line Press. This book of poems explores the experience of sorrow and the necessity of vocalizing grief in order to heal.

Alysia received her MFA in poetry from NYU and just completed her PhD in linguistics at Yale University. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia where she coaches the Agnes Scott College slam team, serves as an editor for the southern publication Scalawag Magazine, and participates in various initiatives to revitalize literary arts in the southern US.

Ngwantilo Mawiyoo (Kenya)

Drawing from her musical background and her work as an actress, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo is acclaimed as ‘a priest of the art of performed poetry’. She has performed in venues in East Africa, Europe and North America, such as the 2009 Stockholm Poetry Festival.

An undisputed young master of the written word, Ngwatilo’s first collection of poems Blue Mothertongue (2010) is ‘crafted with beautiful pace and intelligence’, a worthy testament of her times.

A Callaloo Fellow, Ngwatilo’s poems have been published in Kwani?, World Literature Today and The Literary Review, while her creative non-fiction has appeared on Creative Time Reports and The New Inquiry. Her forthcoming poetry collection is based on her travels across Kenya between 2011 and 2013. Ngwatilo also writes for the screen. In 2015, Ngwatilo was shortlisted for the Brunel University African Poetry Prize. She tweets sporadically at @ngwatilo.

Elten Kiene (Netherlands)

About The Word N Sound Live Literature Company

The Word N Sound Live Literature Company is a South African literature company founded in 2010 and fully owned and managed by thirteen young black practicing artists, creatives and administrators. With a multi focal approach to literature and spoken word development, the company produces various events, festivals and collaborative projects and has one of the largest digital footprints and profiles on the African continent.

In partnership with various arts organizations and venues, the company designs and facilitates platforms and projects that connect local and international practitioners of literature to share knowledge, collaborate on new works, encourage and inspire them and to give them a sense of the trajectory of a literary career.