Liftest opens ‘celebrates ties that bind us’

e LitFest International Literature Festival took off on Wednesday at a ceremony held at Nhaka Gallery in Harare and will run until tomorrow.

e literary festival is running under the theme, “We are joy — Celebrating the ties that bind us”. As part of the festival, outreach workshops have been scheduled to take place in Gweru on November 28 and Bulawayo on November 30.

Panel discussion sessions, dialogues and performances that include poetry, theatre and music will be part of the four-day programme.

e festival will today have a workshop for high school students at the Harare City Library in an effort to support the growth of the arts and culture industry. e festival will also hold a workshop for creatives at the Mbare Art Space in the capital.

Festival director Chirikure Chirikure said more than 60 festival participants drawn from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Benin, South Africa, the UK and the United States will be hosted during the festival.

“ey will contribute to the festival in varied ways, including panel discussions, keynote speeches, working as resource persons in workshops, as well as giving performances.

e discussions and workshops will be run during the day, while the evenings will be for the live theatre, poetry and musical performances. It will be a packed, but varied, stimulating and entertaining programme,” Chirikure told

Some of the festival highlights included a keynote presentation by Alison Phipps, a professor at Glasgow University, Scotland. Her presentation was responded to by writer Robert Muponde, a professor based at Witwatersrand University in South Africa.

Afrikera, Chipawo, Batsirai Chigama, Ignite eatre of the UK all performed yesterday with Diana “Mangwenya” Samkange and her mbira ensemble scheduled to perform later today. Another mbira performance by Okay Machisa and Machena Music will mark the festival’s conclusion at eatre in the Park. Festival activities took place at several venues in Harare, with discussions being held at B2C Nexus, at Batanai Gardens, while evening performances are at eatre in the Park. e American embassy will host the workshops at the American Corners, where the majority of the international visitors and some local artists will serve as resource persons during the outreach programme in Gweru and Bulawayo. Additionally, the visitors will read from and perform their own works, while local participants will showcase their work. — Staff writer.