The Department of Arts & Culture (DAC) will host its colloquium on the creative arts, as part of its Africa Month celebrations and this year’s theme is “Celebrating 25 years of Democracy: Building a Better Africa and a Better World”.

Johannesburg: 24 May 2019 - To kick - start the Africa Month celebrations, this year’s theme for the colloquium is centered around, “Celebrating 25 years of Democracy: Building a Better Africa and a Better World”. Africa Month 2019 is focused on literary luminaries, who have fought against racism in the world and whose writings have forged a language of liberation and a culture of freedom.

Leading speakers will focus on “Celebrating Legends in the African Literary World”, and in so doing, they raise the flag for Africa’s languages and African literatures as well as demonstrating “African Solidarity for Africa’s people,” as Africa continues to re-imagine and re-image itself, to establish networks and bonds of friendship as a common people inhabiting one continent and embracing a shared basis for peace, social progress, economic prosperity and cultural development”.

Africa Month 2019 programme, CELEBRATING LEGENDS IN THE AFRICAN LITERARY WORLD: This programme will feature leading Jamaican, UK based  reggae poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson (aka LKJ) .LKJ will deliver a talk at the Luthuli Museum, in rural Groutville, Kwa dukuza on ‘African Consciousness in Reggae Music ’ on Monday, 27 May 2019. He will thereafter deliver the keynote address at the Soweto Theatre on Tuesday, 28 May 2019 on celebrating our Literary African heroes. Linton Kwesi Johnson is a global icon in the music and poetry world. In 2002 he became the second living and only black poet, to be published in the Penguin Modern Poetry series. The programme will feature readings by acclaimed South African writers including Don Mattera, James Matthews, Diana Ferrus and Sindiwe Magona.

There will also be music and poetry performances by young artists on 31 May 2019 at the Joburg Theatre. Authors from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa will participate in a panel discussion that will unpack the discourse of African solidarity in the midst of the current climatic, socio-political disasters and upheaval, while highlighting the importance of African unity in building the economy, society and culture of the continent at large.

This panel discussion also includes the presentation of a research paper by Prof. Jen Snowball from Rhodes University and the South African Cultural Observatory on “South Africa’s cultural goods trade with Africa: policies and trade potentials in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.” Adv. Sipho Mantula from Zimbabwe and Prof. Sipho Seepe from Mozambique are slated to form part of the panel which will be chaired by a representative of South African media.

Members of the public are encouraged to come in their numbers to celebrate Africa Month and 25 years of democracy in South Africa. The Soweto Theatre event on Tuesday the 28^th of May 2019 is open to members of the public, but booking is essential. Transport will be available from the Joburg Theatre to Soweto Theatre at 17h00 sharp. However booking is essential for both transport and to reserve a seat at the Soweto Theatre event on Tuesday 28^th.

To RSVP email afroartsurban@gmail.com and for more information visit www.dac.gov.za .

For media related queries, photos and interviews requests please email JT Comms on media@jtcomms.co.za or call 011 788-7632.