_19.15_Focus Africa
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Foyer Kossi Efoui (Togo/France)
Presented by: Inge Zenker-Baltes
Reader: Max Volkert Martens
Kossi Efoui will be introducing his current novel “Solo d’un revenant” (t: Solo of a revenant). In the tradition of Samuel Beckett and Sony Labou Tansi, Efoui evokes fantastic worlds and a multidimensional fabric of words and sensory impressions. In his work, Efoui plays with African stereotypes, leaving behind the notion of “Africanity” which was at the centre of the Négritude movement.
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_19.30_Focus Africa
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Seitenbühne Poetry Night II - Africa. Susan Kiguli (Uganda), Chirikure Chirikure (Zimbabwe), Lebogang Mashile (South Africa)
Presented by: Silke Behl
Reader: Frank Arnold, Marie Löcker, Nina West
Susan Kiguli is regarded as one of the most interesting and promising young African poets who compose their poems in the form of oral tradition. The four sections of her "African Saga", namely "Poems of Protest", "Relational Poems", "Poems of Nature" and "Existential Poems" perfectly illustrate the range of her themes.
Chirikure Chirikure is a critic of the political elite and a spokesperson for the disadvantaged people of Zimbabwe. He follows the oral story telling tradition of the Shona people in their language. With highly symbolic as well as simple and touching descriptions Chirikure reminds the people of their collective cultural tradition, condemns the abuse of power and selfishness, attesting to the importance of community.
Lebogang Mashile, poet, performer, actress, presenter and producer is among the most popular artists of the country. Her lyrical and sometimes raw poems tell us about life in the new South Africa. Issues such as the diversity and unity of the "Rainbow Nation", the status of women, violence and the fragility of individuals are all treated with a sense of urgency, humour and at times with melancholy.
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