Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Poets tell Kaapstad stories
A GROUP of poets have published a book of poems which include the three most spoken languages in Cape Town.
The book, Kaapstad, contains poems written in Afrikaans, English and IsiXhosa. It is a project of Back 2 School, an non-profit organisation which educates artists about the commercial side of art.
Chairperson of the NPO and published poet Aphiwe Magida said they made a call last year to writers across the province to submit poems that narrate stories of the Mother City.
“In this anthology, poets narrate stories of Cape Town from their different perspectives. Issues of identity, belonging and upbringing are challenged and questioned in this book. Kaapstad aims to embrace our diversities, and to accept and understand our differences without fighting each other because of them,” said Magida.
Back 2 School holds workshops at the central library in the CBD. Artists are asked to perform their art, are motivated to commercialise their art and given guidance by experienced artists. The youngest author included in the book is 18 years old.
Experienced writers and editors like Vuyokazi Ngemntu, Mpumlelo Mathwa, Pieter Odendaal and others were roped in to assist with editing and proofreading the book.
Publishing the book was not a walk in the park for Magida and his crew.
“We struggled with funding, we do not have sponsors. Our first sponsor was R2 000 from Hear My Voice in Gauteng. We paid from our pockets for the most part.
“Our other challenge was the passing of one of our authors, Yonela Gcebe, during the process of publishing. She was looking forward to seeing the book published.”
Author Genevieve Zongolo, 27, contributed with a poem about the struggle to feel at times.
“It is about numbness caused by or as a reaction to the many challenges we face. I am excited about the work, what excites me more is that we are poets who do not all know each other and came together to write and publish poems in our home languages and that I that find beautiful,” said Zongolo.
The book is available at the Book Lounge and one of the few people to get his hands on it, Yamkela Sifo, said the authors had made history.
“What they did here is not only for them but for us as readers. Getting these different writers from different backgrounds to come together and produce a book is amazing.
“This unites a nation and creates peace and harmony in a country that is still racially divided. This is not small at all and I wish this book gets circulated everywhere including schools.”