An all-women curatorial team is behind the 26th edition of the Time of the Writer Festival to be presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
A national programme, including both live and online events, will take place from 16 to 21 March. A supplementary programme of live events will be presented in Durban from 22 to 25 March.
The theme for the 2023 Time of the Writer festival is Placemaking: Roots, Influence, Imagination and Expression.
The curatorial team has pulled together an impressive array of writers.
The line-up for this edition includes Fred Khumalo, Niq Mhlongo, Lebohang Masango, Makhosazana Xaba, Kumi Naidoo and Yewande Omotoso. Novelist and playwright Dr Sindiwe Magona has been selected as the 2023 featured author.
The team consists of curators Nomthandazo Shandu who graduated from UKZN, Sibahle Khwela who graduated cum laude from the Durban University of Technology, Nolwazi Nene who hails from the University of Cape Town and Scout Fynn from the Market Theatre Laboratory.
The four young women are on a year-long emerging arts managers internship programme at the Centre for Creative Arts.
“From a grant that the Centre for Creative Arts received from the National Arts Council’s [NAC] PESP fund, we created an opportunity for four young women graduates to be trained as curators and to work under the mentorship of the centre’s management”, said the centre’s director Ismail Mahomed.
Siphindile Hlongwa, the senior administrator at the centre and curator of the Poetry Africa Festival, added: “There is a need for new and fresh curatorial voices in the South African arts sector and more so for women curators to shape a critical but optimistic new narrative for SA society.”
Under her leadership, Poetry Africa scooped a win for South African poet Xabiso Vili at last year’s World Slam Poetry Championship in Brussels.
“This is a valuable opportunity for us as young graduates to work curating a 26-year-old festival with a track record of excellence and an extensive national and international footprint,” said Sibahle Khwela, head of the curatorial team.
“We have received a warm and enthusiastic response from writers and publishers who support our vision.
“We thank the UKZN and the NAC’s PESP Fund for this incredible opportunity.”
This year’s festival has also invited submissions of short stories from unpublished writers.
Thirty short story writers for a mentoring programme which will culminate with the publication of two short stories anthologies in English and isiZulu. The books will be launched on Literacy Day on 8 September.
The Time of Writer festival programme is presented with an array of partners, which include the UKZN Press, Wits Writing Centre, African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of Johannesburg Arts and Culture, Dante Foundation, Italian Institute of Culture, the Alliance Francais, Business Arts South Africa, the Imbiza Journal for African Writing.
