I am currently re-reading Love by Toni Morrison and a collection of Alice Walker’s works, including Living by the Word and Possessing the Secret of Joy, perhaps my favourite book really.
Some of the last books I read written by South Africans include Miriam Tlali’s Amandla, Hot Type: Icons, Artists & God-Figurines by Bongani Madondo, What is Slavery to Me? by Pumla Dineo Gqola and Kagiso Molope’s Mending Season. I am always in communion with strong women, but I also read men. At the moment I am also reading Dostoevsky’s short stories.
As a poet I am always reading poetry and one poet I am always reading is the American, Walt Whitman. There’s another book of poetry that I like called Voices from Leimert Parks, an anthology edited by Shonda Buchanan.
At the Poetry Africa Festival I got books and CDs from some of the poets who performed there. I am listening to Mama C, she’s wonderful. I am also listening to a Senegalese writer called Suleyman Diamanka.
I find his works really beautiful. I am also listening to a CD called the Memoirs of a Sonic Terrorist, an album that features works by some of South Africa’s poets. The CD was produced by Leon Erasmus.
I am listening to Simphiwe Dana’s Kulture Noir, a dark and beautiful album. I am always listening to Jim Morrison, Prince, Erykah Badu and Busi Mhlongo. I am just loving it.
I saw Nothing but the Truth again, and Original Skin by Phillippa yaA de Villiers. I don’t go to the theatre as much as I would like to.
I love the Marabastad area in Pretoria. I love walking around that township, seeing the Ndebele women going about their business and the taxi drivers making noise. I live in Pretoria, although I grew up in Tembisa.
In Johannesburg, I love Melville and Newtown and the whole Market Theatre precinct. I like Newtown because it’s easy — it’s both old and new at the same time. I like the way the space negotiates both its old and new faces.
I was last on holiday in the Kruger National Park but I didn’t like it although I love animals. My dream holiday destination is Banjul [Gambia]. I once visited Dakar in Senegal and the people there were saying, “you should go to Banjul”. They say it’s heaven, that it’s so beautiful and that its people are lovely. I would also love to go to India. and to travel everywhere in Africa.
I don’t eat out a lot. I like eating at home. But I occasionally eat Ethiopian food at a restaurant called Queen of Sheba, in Sunnyside, Pretoria. I also like eating food at Indian spaza shops and markets. I can eat anywhere as long as it’s vegetarian.
I love watching boxing and the only reason I do this is because of Muhammad Ali. His sport came from a revolutionary point of view. The man is the father of rap.
I also like watching athletics. I can wake up in the morning and watch the Comrades Marathon. — Percy Zvomuya
Natalia Molebatsi is part of the Urban Voices Poetry Festival line up. She will perform on Saturday October 23 at the Baseline in Johannesburg from 8pm