Prawns and poetry are on the festival menu this week.
- Poetry Africa is the continent’s pre-eminent celebration of the written and spoken word which
gathers together some of the planet’s foremost wordsmiths at the University of KwaZulu-Natal
this week to celebrate its 14th aniversary. Over twenty poets from twelve different countries
feature in this all-star celebration of scribes working across the spectrum of styles, genres and
disciplines. The broad selection of poetic voices includes such luminaries as Malawi’s Frank
Chipasula; Kenya’s Ngwatilo Mawiyoo; Botswana’s Barolong Seboni; Tanzania’s Charlotte
Hill O’Neal aka Mama C; Senegal’s Souleymane Diamanka; Jamaica’s Mutabaruka; Australia’s
Jayne Fenton Keane; India’s Meena Kandasamy; India’s Jorge Palma; Uruguay’s Jorge Palma;
Italy’s Claudio Pozzani and a strong South African contingent comprised of Gcina Mhlophe,
Lebo Mashile, Kobus Moolman, Gabeba Baderoon, Ronelda Kamfer, Busiswa Gqulu and Marí
Peté.
Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, October 4 to 8. BAT Centre, October 9. For the full programme vist
www.cca.ukzn.ac.za Tel: 031 260 2506 / 1704.
- It’s a banner week for Durban gourmets and gourmands with two enticing food fairs taking
place. The Durban Prawn Festival is now in its third year at Suncoast Casino and sees 75 chefs
from KZN’s top restaurants battling it out for the honour of creating the city’s Best Signature
Prawn Dish in the Fine Dining and Casual Dining categories. Due to rapidly increasing
popularity, this year’s event sees 1.2 tons of tiger prawns and 1.5 tons of rice sacrificed for the
cause.
October 7 and 8 from 7pm. Tickets R150 from Computicket or at Suncoast.