We just added a fourth color to our map: an orange marker.
We discovered the wonderful Archive of Badilisha Poetry X-Change and we can't wait to share these wonderful poets' voices with you. This is what they do: "Badilisha Poetry X-Change has archived over 350 African poets from 22 different countries from both the continent and the global African Diaspora. Each week, two new poets are featured on the website and via podcasts. These poets represent a broad range of voices, genres and language, thereby reflecting contemporary trends and evolutions in the medium along with some of the historic giants of African poetry. Our extensive network of Pan-African poets and poetry organisations enables us to create much-needed exposure and viable opportunities for Africa’s poets. Badilisha Poetry is a project of the Africa Centre. The Africa Centre is a physical entity as well as an ongoing philosophical journey that explores how Pan-African cultural practice can be a catalyst for social change. The Africa Centre was established in 2005 as an international centre for creativity, artistic excellence and intellectual engagement. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, the Africa Centre’s social innovations extend across the African continent." And this is why they do it: "Africans have limited access to the vast poetic work of both historical and contemporary African poets. There has never been an archive of these poets’ work that is both expansive and easily accessible. This means that many Africans are not inspired and influenced by their own writers and poets – negatively impacting their personal growth, identity, development and sense of place. In comparison to their counterparts on other continents, African poets receive little exposure for their work and few viable career opportunities. Both factors are imperative to their development as artists. For instance, of all the published books in the world, the works of African authors comprise only two percent. This imbalance exists for a myriad of reasons, but can to a large extent be attributed to the reality that both within Africa and beyond, reading and listening to African voices is not prioritised." On the Poetry Sound Library we have uploaded the voice of: Mirna Kabwe , Mwila Mambwe, Letang Selepe and many more will be available soon (orange marker). Suggestion to users: if you wish to listen only to a category of poets just select one color and deselect All at the bottom of the page.
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Giovanna IorioPoet, sound artist & Founder of the Poetry Sound Library. Archives
January 2020
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