Kenyan poet Ngwatilo Mawiyoo will
be the second Kenyan poet to perform at the internationally known Arts Alive
Festival in Johannesburg in September 2012. Last year Kenyan poet Wanjiku Mwaurah was the first poet to perform at this prestigious festival which is
attended by thousands of music, film, dance, puppetry, theatre, poetry and art
lovers from all over the word. Arts Alive is a 10 day annual festival that showcases the best performances from
all over the world. The festival is supported by the City of Johannesburg,
South Africa Broadcasting Corporation and other companies that believe in
supporting the arts. This festival is about lending African artists exposure to
the international stage while offering the stage of international acts to local
audiences. This year’s festival will be showcasing Thandiswa Mazwai, Ms Cosmos and Kaboma just to name a few.
Ngwatilo who is known
for her gracious poetry in 2010 she published her first poetry book called Blue Mother Tongue. In 2011 she launched
the well-received Peusic Project which was a showcase of her music and poetry. In
2012 she has embarked on a Kenya wide tour called This Kenyan Life where she visits families in remotes parts of Kenya
and hangs out with them for days, sharing, eating with them and just talking
about life. She has performed bot at home and many other countries and this
will not be her first performance in South Africa she was on the Poetry Africa Tour with Mutabaruka.
Booked by Spark Africa; Ngwatilo will be performing on the Speak The Mind Sessions
stage together with acts such as Napo,
Shanelle, Synik, Nancy G from New
York, Capetown, Zimbabwe, and Johannesburg. She will be on stage at 7pm on 7th of September 20012 at Arts
on Main, Johannesburg.
Follow the event on @ngwatilo, @Arts_Alive, @MindSpeech
