Friday News brought to you by South Africa's best read!

Linton Kwesi Johnson gave poetry back to the people

Friday Percy Zvomuya - 12 Jul 2020

The 2020 winner of the PEN Pinter Prize, LKJ’s poetry puts the ignominy and hardship of the black experience in Britain front and centre in words that echo across the decades

George Hallett: Nomad, raconteur and photographer who ‘became the camera’

Friday M Neelika Jayawardane - 8 Jul 2020

The renowned South African photographer understood how to look for the tucked-away spaces that were the sources of both light and dark

A place called home: Jazz and the new normal at the National Arts Festival

Friday Gwen Ansell - 8 Jul 2020

Several jazz offerings at the virtual festival focus on journeys and identity

Extract: Gunning for Bessie’s head, from ‘The Terrorist Album’

Friday Jacob Dlamini - 7 Jul 2020

Jacob Dlamini’s new book, The Terrorist Album, tells the stories of people saddled with that catch-all phrase during apartheid and how their presence on that list made them fair game

‘Lesedi’: A bright star alights on Lulu Mlangeni

Friday Sarah Roberson - 5 Jul 2020

On stage hers is the powerful body always rippling with refined movement quality. Thanks to the documentary film on the vNAF programme, we learn that off stage Lulu Mlangeni's as powerful a force.

Ramon’s music is reliable and relatable

Friday Percy Mabandu - 5 Jul 2020

Rooted in the Cape Town sound, Ramon Alexander celebrates it’s genealogy

Review: ‘Vukazithathe’, a portrait of the maskandi artist as a mentor and friend

Friday Dave Mann - 4 Jul 2020

Nthato Mokgata’s documentary ‘Vukazithate’, showing online at the National Arts Festival, tells an intimate story of his mentor and maskandi legend, Bhekisenzo “Vukazithathe” Cele

The Portfolio: David Phume

Friday David Phume - 3 Jul 2020

Animator, roboticist and artist David Phume is on a mission to show that technology is not just for the geniuses in Silicon Valley

Review: ‘Making Grace Amazing’ — songs of resistance

Friday Nkgopoleng Moloi - 3 Jul 2020

Neo Muyanga’s ‘Making Grace Amazing’ is one of the online offerings at this year’s National Arts Festival in Makhanda

Review: ‘Swan Song’, a brutally vulnerable performance

Friday Sarah Roberson - 3 Jul 2020

Buhle Ngaba’s ‘Swan Song’, showing online at the virtual National Arts Festival, explores the rawness of heartbreak, and of life

Five must-read books by Ghanaian writers

Friday Sylvia Arthur - 3 Jul 2020

Sylvia Arthur, the founder of the Library of African and the African Diaspora in Accra, selects five works by her favourite Ghanaian authors

Meet the founder of Accra’s one-woman library

Friday Theresa Mallinson - 3 Jul 2020

Sylvia Arthur founded the Library for Africa and the African Diaspora to house her collection and share it with other readers

Part III: Afropessimism and rituals of anti-Black violence

Friday Zamansele Nsele - 2 Jul 2020

The final part of Zamansele Nsele’s interview with Frank B Wilderson expands on some of the thinking in his latest book, ‘Afropessimism’

‘Ngibambeni, ngibambeni bomama!’ Refiguring Princess Magogo

Friday Kholeka Shange - 2 Jul 2020

The official historiography of Princess Magogo misses the nuances and influences of the many women in her life

Dancer and queer rights activist Kirvan Fortuin’s final farewell

Friday Carl Collison - 1 Jul 2020

The slain dancer and choreographer was so much more than an internationally celebrated artist. They were also a proud queer rights activist and a beloved child and friend