Durban festival picks: October 1 2010

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.