15 Mar 2018

Members of Maruping Poetry, Keabonye Bareeng and Eric Motswasele are to participate at the United Kingdom International Festival dubbed Teesside International Poetry Festival next month.

The chairperson of the club, Bareeng said although it would be their first appearance at the festival, their relationship with Teesside was promising.

“Our NGO advocates for the promotion of poets, identifying and creating platforms for them, which is similar to what Teesside aspires to achieve,” she said.

She said the invitation to perform at the international festival would accord them the opportunity to showcase the talent and rich culture that Botswana has.

“Our mission as Maruping Poetry is to preserve and promote our culture by making sure that Setswana poetry is feasible in contemporary times at an international level,” she noted.

She said Maruping Poetry had a vision of reigniting and reviving traditional poetry in vernacular languages, adding that they hoped to achieve such by seizing every opportunities where such was promoted. She added that Teesside was one such platform.

Bareeng further noted that the strength of the Teesside festival was the way in which poets and performers would have time to discuss after and before events, adding that through such a platform they would develop partnerships and synergies, thus achieving the mandate of their organisation

“Teesside is a superb festival with the quality of the diverse range of poets and performers being uniformly high. Anticipated highlights for me are the different but powerful and profound readings of highly professional, fluent and characterised artists who will coach us in paying attention to detail.”

 She said although it would be their first time to attend the festival, they have long been following it.

“This year’s festival will be truly global, with poets from Iraq, Punjab, France, Turkey, Botswana, Iceland, Poland, Finland, Russia, Nigeria, Peru and the United Kingdom,” she said.

She noted that this year, T-junction would be celebrating Teesside’s long international history by focusing on the poetry of travel and discovery, departure and arrival, migration and immigration, longing and belonging.

“The festival will be truly global with poets from Iraq, Punjab, France, Turkey, Botswana, Iceland, Poland, Finland, Russia, Nigeria, Peru and the UK

The line-up also includes Lev Rubenstein, Russia, Chawki Abdelamir, Iraq, Justyna Bargielska, Poland, Harry Man, Kalle Niinikangas, Finland, Margaret Williams, Aurelia Lassaque, France and Peter Adegbie, Nigeria. Ends