Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Upcoming Event 2024
Event location: The Athenaeum, Belmont Terrace
Event date and time: 06/06/2024 18:30:00
Koleka Putuma – Collective Amnesia book launch and dialogue
This highly-anticipated debut collection from one of the country’s most acclaimed young voices marks a massive shift in South African poetry. Koleka Putuma’s exploration of blackness, womxnhood and history in Collective Amnesia is fearless and unwavering. Her incendiary poems demand justice, insist on visibility and offer healing. In them, Putuma explodes the idea of authority in various spaces – academia, religion, politics, and relationships – to ask what has been learnt and what must be unlearnt. Through grief and memory, pain and joy, sex and self-care, Collective Amnesia is a powerful appraisal, reminder and revelation of all that has been forgotten and ignored, both in South African society, and within ourselves.
Koleka Putuma was born in Port Elizabeth in 1993. An award-winning performance poet, facilitator and theatre-maker, her plays include UHM and Mbuzeni, as well as two plays for children, Ekhaya and Scoop. Her work has travelled around the world, with her poetry garnering her national prizes, such as the 2014 National Poetry Slam Championship and the 2024 PEN South Africa Student Writing Prize.
Throwing out what you know about book launches. Forget the mundane Q and A sessions between author and audience, that always being with the same question; “Where do you get your inspiration from?” The launch Amnesia”, Koleka Putuma’s latest collection of poems is set to be a memorable night of discussion, performance and a celebration of the female voice in contemporary South African literature.
The launch will not only be a journey through Koleka’s work but will also engage the audience on a multi-sensory level. The launch will include a panel discussion with Koleka and 4 NMMU student activists, an exhibition of photographs taken by Andy Mkosi, as well as a screening of the Collective Amnesia visual series shot by videographer Jarryd Kleinhans.
Students and staff are encouraged to RSVP by 2 June for transport for transport arrangements. Seats are limited.
Zolisa Marawu
Curator – Social BioScope
041 504 1319
0824936323
Zolisa.Marawu@nmmu.ac.za
