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.

What do Poets look like?

What do Poets look like?
Please, do tell.
You who seem to know
everything so well.

What do Poets look like?
You, who can’t even convert
a few pictures into words.

And, how can you tell?
You, who don’t even know
how to express
your thoughts and feelings

On paper

Do they have tired eyed
from reading too much?

Or, are their fingers
covered with ink,
from writing until the early
hours of the morning?

Please, tell me.
What do Poets look like?

#HashtagPrison#

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# We’re living in a hashtag prison #
# With maximum security passwords and special characters #
# Full of status updates and tweets posted in solitary confinement #
# And visitations from notifications and reminders for things no one remembers #
#
# Trolls, cyberbullies and racists are locked up in here #
# Small time users and serial tweeters alike #
# Locked up for likes, comments and retweets #
# What are you in here for – when did you arrive? #
#
# Numbers gangs rule the inside #
# The number of followers and the number of friends #
# They get involved in personal attacks and gang twars #
# And they are forever recruiting through friend requests #
#
# Data bundles are the currency of choice #
# Hunger strikes are prevalent when they are depleted #
# Withdrawal symptoms kick in for addicts deprived of their daily high #
# As followers wait patiently to be retweeted #
#
# A keen eye is kept on walls and timelines #
# Looking for any illicit activity #
# Patrolled by heavily armed terms and conditions #
# Hoping to police those in this captivity #
#
# A few still have hopes for freedom #
# A chance to give up their logon details #
# But this place has become our home #
# Ask the repeat offender – he tries to stay away but he fails #
#
# We all are prisoners here – of our own creation #
# A few might escape – some remain till they are deceased #
# You can enter at any time that you wish #
# But once inside you may never be released #
#
# Welcome to the place where strangers are buddies #
# Where we lol, lmao and hope to fit in #
# Where we are inmates when we were to be honoured guests #
# Welcome to the hashtag prison #

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Trainstorm

Trainstorm: An International Anthology of Railway Poems and Drawings

amitabh-trainstorm

Submissions are invited for consideration by Editor/ Designer Amitabh Mitra. Only work chosen by the Editor will be published and may be subjected to mutually agreed edits. Format of book is Matte Finish, Soft Cover printed on 90gsm paper. The mission of this book is to get train poetry and art out into the world. Circulation will be worldwide mainly through Amazon.com, Amazon.in and Flipkart. Books will also be available from the Poetry Printery website. Please take into consideration the thoughts on train journeys below but you do not have to be literal about it. Both written and visual work solicited. The printing will be greyscale with cover and back in colour.

Publication Year – 2016

Publisher – Poets Printery, South Africa / Cyberwit.net India

Trains remind us of a colonial era in India and Africa when station masters, guards and train drivers were of British origins. A vast network of railway lines and train stations also brought many real life stories later made into magnum opus film productions. We are also reminded of trains to Auschwitz, Poland and Gulags in the former Soviet Union. Happiness and extreme trauma, both are associated with train and train journeys.

I welcome my fellow poets and artists in joining me in this incredible adventure – Trainstorm

All poets and visual artists are welcome to submit poems and drawings regarding trains and train journeys. Submissions to Amitabh Mitra at amitabh@amitabhmitra.com with a 50 word bio.

NB: Last Date for Submissions is 30 November 2015

“Portraits” International Call For Writers by ArtAscent – Deadline December 31, 2015

| Theme:
Capture, illustrate, write, or otherwise create your visions of people and other creatures. Portraits can be expressed in symbolic, literal, modern, traditional, abstract, or completely unique ways. What portraits can your imagination create?

| Eligible Submissions:
Entries may include fiction, poetry, short stories and other written explorations (up to 900 words). Previously published or unpublished are eligible. Submissions must be the original work of the applicant(s). Open to international artists. Apply using the online form.

| Highlights:
The Gold writer will be featured in the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal complete with an artist profile review written by our art writer. Up to seven writers in total will be published in ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal; showcased, along with website links, in an online exhibition on the ArtAscent website for at least two years; and, promoted on the ArtAscent Facebook and Twitter feeds.

| About ArtAscent:
The mission of ArtAscent is to promote artists of images and words, and connect them with art lovers. This is accomplished by calls for artists and writers, artist profiling, art magazine publication, and artist and writer online showcasing. Each call is theme based, with the intent to showcase diverse creative explorations of that theme via various media.

| Call application:
https://ArtAscent.com/the-call-for-artists-and-writers/

Pain for love

He stood over me

Our eyes met and locked

His eyes had such intense emotions

I stared into them to remember the day it all began

The love, the passion

All is lost

As blood splattered on the floor

I hear her voice

She sat in the corner, fear was all around her

I heard her scream for help

And just before it got silent

I said “I will be okay”

I did it

It took me not so many days when many thought it would take me many to realize my dreams.
My fellow angels smiled with joy when my fellow enemies cried in pain.
The world stood still in amazement when the blind became astonished, watching over a black child eating a white orange.
The deaf became timmed as if they just heard the voice of a king.
Waters broke and women got into labour.
Men, they became shocked and lost their manhood.
Preachers froze like they just saw the second coming of Jesus when ships sinked trying to hide themselves from me.
And that is when generations became my legacy, isidingo my need.
People like Mogabe tried to pull me down and that is when they fell down on the stairs and became internet memes, cause it was none of their business.
Evil and good walked hand in hand and shared the same thoughts.
A paralyzed man sitting by his wheelchair took out his hand to cheer me.
And that is when a woman with no legs ran into a lift and took bottom left.
They all studied me, but no one graduated cause I was not a degree but the promise of life.
Everyone tried to buy my side of the story but couldn’t afford one cause it didn’t come cheap.
Nothing made sense cause my goals were like a hat-trick, no one thought I could score them in a lifetime but I did through God in Christ

“Magnificence” International Call For Writers by ArtAscent – Deadline February 28, 2015

| Theme:
This call theme is “Magnificence” A concept that is noble or sublime. A thing that is lavishly munificent or extravagant. An object that is of exceptional beauty, size or other feature. A place that is extraordinarily fine or superb. A person of greatness, making a splendid appearance or show. A feeling of grandness. What magnificence will you showcase?

| Eligible Submissions:
Entries may include fiction, poetry, short stories and other written explorations (up to 900 words). Previously published or unpublished are eligible. Submissions must be the original work of the applicant(s).
Open to international artists. Apply using the online form.

| Highlights:

The Gold writer will be featured in the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal complete with an artist profile review written by our art writer. From three to seven writers in total will be published in ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal; showcased, along with website links, in an online exhibition on the ArtAscent website for at least two years; and, promoted on the ArtAscent Facebook and Twitter feeds.

| About ArtAscent:
The mission of ArtAscent is to promote artists of images and words, and connect them with art lovers. This is accomplished by calls for artists and writers, artist profiling, art magazine publication, and artist and writer online showcasing. Each call is theme based, with the intent to showcase diverse creative explorations of that theme via various media.

| Call application:
https://artascent.com/the-call-for-artists-and-writers/

I Wish That You Were Here

I wish that you were so close for me to run my fingers along your jawline.
I wish that you were here so that we could both colour and draw imaginary lines;
And argue, and dance to silence, and laugh.

I wish that you were so close for me to jump on your back whilst you cook our dinner.
I wish that you were here so that we could discuss work, and politics, and soccer, and music;
And argue, and dance to silence, and laugh.

I wish that you were so close for me to tell you about art, parks, poetry, and coffee.
I wish that you were here to watch me pee, and make fun of me;
And argue, and dance to silence, and laugh.

I wish that you were so close for me to sit on you, block your view whilst you watch your favourite channel.
I wish that you were here to twist my nose and tell me that it’s cute;
And argue, and dance to silence, and laugh.

I wish that you were so close for me to step on your feet whilst we hold each other with locked eyes.
I wish that you were here so that we could switch on the television and ignore it;
And argue, and dance to silence, and laugh.

I wish that you were so close for us to love each other unconditionally and hate each other at the same time.
I wish that you were here for us to argue, and dance to silence, and laugh;
And argue, and dance to silence, and laugh.

“Red” International Call For Writers by ArtAscent – Deadline October 31, 2014

| Theme:
This call theme is “Red.” Fire, passion, heat, sacrifice, vitality, danger, happiness, a primary colour. What shade is your red?

| Eligible Submissions:
Entries may include fiction, poetry, short stories and other written explorations (up to 900 words). Previously published or unpublished are eligible. Submissions must be the original work of the applicant(s).

| Highlights:
The Gold writer will be featured in the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal complete with an artist profile review written by our art writer. From three to seven writers in total will be published in ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal including links to artists websites, promotion on ArtAscent website artist directory, and exposure in ArtAscent social media.

| About ArtAscent:
The mission of ArtAscent is to promote artists of images and words, and connect them with art lovers. This is accomplished by calls for artists and writers, artist profiling, art magazine publication, and artist and writer online showcasing. Each call is theme based, with the intent to showcase diverse creative explorations of that theme via various media.

| Call application:
www.ArtAscent.com/red-call-for-artists-and-writers/