/ 27 August 2013

LitFest news: Keorapetse Kgositsile added to panel line-up

Keorapetse Kgositsile.
Keorapetse Kgositsile. (Gallo)

South Africa's Poet Laureate, Keorapetse Kgositsile, will be on the panel Cavafy, Seferis and South African poets (Session 7, Saturday 31 August, 4.30 to 6 pm, Barney Simon Theatre). Chaired by poet and literary scholar Stephen Gray, the panel is made up of Kgositsile, eminent human rights lawyer and author George Bizos and award-winning playwright, short-story writer and poet Renos Spanoudes.

Mandela Poster Project
There is a strong visual element to the festival, with video representations of the Mandela Poster Project and the Lagos photo exhibition that are highlight of Arts Alive, as well as 140 photographs from the Writing Invisibility eBook project that launches at the festival.

The 95 posters from the Mandela Poster Project will be shown on plasma screens in the Market Theatre complex, as will images from the Lagos show. The poster project grew from a group of South African designers deciding to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela by collecting 95 exceptional posters, representing 95 years of his life, from around the world. The posters will be auctioned by the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust to raise funds.

Writing Invisibility
Writing Invisibility brings together the University of the Witwatersrand's African Centre for Migration & Society and the Mail & Guardian, supported by the Max Planck Institute.

The eBook writes about the invisible city and those who live it, exploring the city in ways that the M&G often does not have the time to do.

Complementing the eight chapters in the book are images taken by M&G photographers Oupa Nkosi, Delwyn Verasamy, Madelene Cronje and David Harrison and Canadian photojournalist Nick Kozakwere.

A big selection of these will be on show at the Market. The eBook will be launched during Session 9, Migration: There Was a Country, on Sunday 1 September, from 12.30 to 2 pm in the Main Theatre.