Beyond Spice – Book Launch

Beyond Spice coverYou are invited to the book launch of “Beyond Spice”, an art and poetry publication

Date: 25 May 2016, Time: 18h00 for 18h30

Venue: Skoobs Book Theatre, Shop 74, Monte Casino, Fourways, Johannesburg

Come and Interact with the authors (5 artists and a poet) and enjoy a live poetry reading from the book, while allowing yourself to be mesmerized by “Kinsmen”, young musicians swaying between Jazz and Indian fusion.

Limited Edition Fine Art prints of artworks from the book will be on sale.

Finger foods and a cash bar will be available

 

Purchase the book on the evening and stand a chance to win a fine art print of your choice!

Beyond Spice authors

 

BEYOND SPICE
Zena Velloo John’s Poetry accompanied by the Visual Artistic Expressions of: Jayna Mistry, Kershnee Velloo, Raeesah Mahomed, Shaskia John and Shenaz Mahomed

 

 

 

Message from the authors

Our art and poetry book “Beyond Spice” was born from an elusive ideal a year ago by women of Indian origin in Pretoria. We wished to realise our individual creative interests into a book.

We are a group of six women, the youngest being a teenager, and the oldest almost fifty. The inter-generational and inter-faith perspectives added vibrant layers to our creative work. Being descendants of a largely labour-migrant Indian group, we hope to add a creative body of work to the richness of the current South African culture.

The six authors are a teenaged university student; two business owners; a teacher; an accountant and an art curator. This alliance was initiated by a community member.

Women of Pretoria, like in other areas in South Africa, have a unique perspective on life, and this has remained partially hidden. We hope our book offers some insight into these veiled worlds, and adds to a collective understanding of human nature and all things creative.

We want to encourage artistic endeavours and provide future platforms for others to draw on their creative reserves and to share their usually reticent talents, with a focus on youth and women in particular.

wait

Here I sit and wait,
wait in hope that happiness will come my way.
Wait in hope that my troubles will disappear.
That I will be able to see the purpose of life again.
The importance of living.

Here I am, sitting and waiting.
For my turn of happiness to come.
Happiness that is meant for me.
Unforced happiness.

Here I will sit for ever .
in hope that my happiness will find its way to me, and my troubles will disappear.
I am not yet to give up, nor not ready to quit my destiny.

Because in hope I wait, wait for a brighter day to come.

Workshops on Creative Writing With David Chislett

WITS Writing Centre is pleased to announce a 4-session series of workshops with David Chislett. David has published 6 books since 2001, both through publishers and independently. In this 4-week programme with WITS Writing Centre he shares his knowledge and experience in a series of 2-hour sessions.

The 4 sessions run from 4pm to 6pm as follows:
March 19 Basic intro to Creative writing: where does it come from?
April 9 Planning a book… some structural tips
April 16 Dealing with Publishers: Where are you at?
April 23 Marketing yourself as an independent

The series of seminars will run on Tuesday evenings from 16:00 to 18:00 at the WITS Writing Centre, Ground Floor, The Waternweiler Library, WITS East Campus. Attendance of the seminars is FREE but seating is limited. To pre-book your place please email a sample of your work to Pamela.Nichols@wits.ac.za and we will respond with a seat confirmation

“The sessions are not intended as writing master-classes per se,” Explained David of the events, “But rather to help equip writers with structural and procedural know-how that will help them leverage their writing by understanding their own processes and the way the industry works.”

Issues covered will include:
• So I have an idea, where do I start writing?
• How do I approach a publisher?
• I am good, but nobody knows my work
• How can I tap into my creativity to write more consistently?
• How do I know where to take my story next?

David won the Ernst Van Heerden Prize for creative writing in 1998 and began his career in publishing in 2001 with the release of Urban 1, a collection of short stories for previously unpublished writers that he compiled and contributed to. This series ran to 3 volumes before being discontinued. Then in 2009 he released his debut solo volume of short fiction entitled, A Body Remembered. In 2010, the music industry textbook, 1,2,1,2: A Step By Step Guide To The SA Music Industry and in 2012, For You Or Someone Like You, his debut collection of poetry.

In addition, Chislett has worked in all facets of the South African media and ran his own PR agency for four years. In these sessions he combines his craft and practice in writing with his knowledge and experience in marketing, publishing and creativity to bring a 4 part series of sessions together that will equip any aspiring writer to not only write better but also to navigate the challenges that come before and after writing.

Attendance is not limited to students and is open to the public and is FREE but seating is limited. Please pre-book your place by sending an email with your query and a sample of your work to Pamela.Nichols@wits.ac.za and we will respond with a seat confirmation.

A writer’s process – third session

Everyone is requested to think about their writing process. How would you define that process? When you say that you are waiting for a ‘spark’ to ignite the creative juices, do you know what that spark is? How it looks like? Feel like? Taste like? What are you waiting to understand before you can unleash your ink on the page? Is it an imagine of a character? A specific setting? A line? A face?

Whatever it is, do you understand why it is so important to your writing? To your process? Do you want to understand it? Do you want to control it? Take charge? Or at least make an attempt? If yes, I’d like to you to think of a metaphor that would explain the process. How does the metaphor capture the different stages of your writing? How does it communicate that process to someone? Can you give a parallel analysis of how the metaphor not only mirrors but gives a detailed breakdown description of the process? This information should enable me to follow step-by-step instruction of how you work. Is this possible? How detailed can you be? How much can you unlock? I.e. Someone once told me that their writing process is like a kite (metaphor). When they begin a new writing they envision the process to be like building a kite. First you need material; plastic, sticks, string, pins, etc. These in their writing process mirrors research. For instance, you need your grounding data or evidence – sticks hold or provide the basic structure for a kite. So they will look for them first to build the skeleton of a kite. In their writing, this could mean key grounding literature. If you are writing a book about Zombies, what are the basic elements which you must adhere to or establish for your story to hold? Etc… One can go on to explain how the metaphor reveals how and where the writer places themselves in their writing and defines a sense of direction.

If you’ve never did this before, take the challenge and you will see it will start to show you, at the very least, how well you understand or have taken some things for granted in your writing. This process might be spontaneous and mysterious for many but within that there is great room for a writer to
understand the workings behind it. Try new things, learn how to stimulate yourself and your writing. We might not have figured out the secret to teach writing but we know how to enable the process. So take a chance. Write a metaphor you think would best explain your process and post it here. You might be amazed at something small you discover about your writing.

Is this important?
Well, you decide.

Date: 4 March 2013

Venue: The Wits Writing Centre

TheWritersClu

The Melville Poetry Festival

When: Friday October 14th and Saturday October 15th 2011

The first Melville Poetry Festival Showcase is happening this Friday and Saturday, with an exciting line up of poets writing in all languages set to read and perform their work.

Over 30 poets will be gathering for the festival, with readings, panel discussions, exhibitions, book launches and music taking place at different venues in 7th Street and 4th Avenue. Poets participating include Angifi Dladla, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Robert Berold, Kobus Moolman, Arja Salafranca, Ike Muila, Uhuru Waga Phalafala, the Botsotso Jesters, Toast Coetzer, Loftus Marais, Charl-Pierre Naudé, Johann Lodewyk Marais and Rene Bohnen.

The festival kicks off on Friday 14th October at 9.30am at the old Koffie Huis in 4th Avenue with the Jozi Spoken Word poetry writing and performance workshop where poets young and old can hone their skills under the guidance of established poets and writing teachers.

On Saturday book launches by Dye Hard Press and Deep South Publishing start the day, before the festival’s official opening at 1.30pm with Ron Smerczak, Yoliswa Mogale, and the Botsotso Jesters. In a creative collaboration entitled ‘Digkyk/Eyepoems’, Naudé, Peter Fincham and Hans Pienaar will mount an exhibition of images integrated with poetry, while a theatre projection called ‘Angels and Stones’ will be narrated by Lionel Murcott.

Panel discussions include a talk on the influence of Wopko Jensma (‘The Ghost of Wopko Jensma’) and one called ‘Into Poetry: How to Get Young People to Enjoy Wordplay’, facilitated by Pamela Nichols from the Wits Writing Centre.

Readings and exhibitions carry on throughout the afternoon, with the day wrapping up with a music festival (Andries Bezuidenhout , Planet Lindela Jazz Trio, Riku Latti & Les Javen, and Lithal Li) which will also be used to showcase up-and-coming slam poets.

“The festival offers a great opportunity to listen and engage with South African poets writing in all languages – and for poets to meet and talk to each other, which doesn’t always happen,” says Alan Finlay, a poet who will also be reading at the event. “I think the panel on Wopko Jensma raises a question about the spirit of South African poetry that’s worth exploring.”

Allan Kolski-Horwitz, a Botsotso Jester who, together with the Wits Writing Centre, has run Jozi Spoken Word for several years, feels that the idea of intimate readings at cafés and shops in Melville is a unique one. “The blending of students and local residents with a wide range of poets should make for a very stimulating exchange,” he says.

“The plan is to hold a national festival next year, and then to grow it from there – and already several sponsors have shown an interest,” explains Eleanor Koning, one of the organizers of the festival. “That’s why we’re calling this festival a ‘showcase’ – we want to build on it in the future, inviting more poets from around the country and even internationally to take part.”

“We also need to develop real public festivals – a festival where everyone is welcome and heard and we can together develop our new multicultural, multi-faceted literature,” adds Nichols. “We hope the workshop on Friday will contribute to developing the new South African poetry and we believe that Melville with its bookshops and coffee shops and restaurants and wandering poets is the perfect place to incubate a new and creative literary culture.”

Books will be on sale at the venues. Come support South African poetry, or just browse around, catching snippets of poems and song, while visiting the local book and coffee shops that line the streets.

Entrance to all readings, panel discussions and the Friday poetry workshop is free. The slam event and music in the evening costs R15 for students and R30 for adults. To see the full programme for the event, visit The Melville Poetry Facebook Page.

For more information:

For more information on the festival, please speak to Eleanor Koning on 082 386 4688 or e-mail her at eleanor(at)melvilla.co.za

To participate in the Jozi Spoken Word poetry workshop, please contact Pamela Nichols at Pamela.Nichols(at)wits.ac.za

WALE Festival 2011

WALE, the Wits Arts and Literature Experience, begins on the 11th May 2011. The festival showcases not only Wits University’s artistic and literary talent, but also presents works and ideas from greater Johannesburg and farther afield.

This year’s festival is titled “WALE 4.0: Over the Edge”. The lineup includes a full-length work by South African choreographer Athena Mazerakis and Helen Iskander’s visual theatre production, Planet B. The festival features workshops, arts and theatre performances, screenings, exhibitions and seminars and a host of other activities all open to the public:

The Wits Arts & Literature Experience (WALE) kicks off on May 11th 2011 – once again delivering an engaging, accessible arts programme to all Gautengers.

Highlights of WALE 4.0 include the premiere of a new full length work by leading South African choreographer and Wits Artist-in-Residence, Athena Mazerakis as well as the visual theatre production, “Planet B” directed by Helen Iskander. A spectacular opening parade, world-class music and literature, cutting-edge dance and theatre, film screenings, exhibitions, seminars, and workshops are also part of taking WALE 4.0 “Over The Edge” in 2011.

More to follow on the WALE event on this site shortly. In the meantime, please check out the WALE festival website.