“The highlight was the spoken word workshop. Each participant produced a poem and I produced two although I have not written poetry for a while. […] Another highlight was the Herstory event. It was a full house. Audience suggested a Facebook page to keep th Hersotry discussion going as the attendance and participation showed there is need for a Herstory space.”
Grant Year : 2015
Profile : Activist
Gender : F
Mobility project
Harare-based AMA grantee Tsitsi Dangarembga traveled to Nairobi to participate in the Storymoja literature festival (September 16-20, 2015).
Tsitsi Dangarembga is a renowned writer, filmmaker, arts educator and activist. She is the founding director of the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa Trust, an institution focusing on the role of all arts disciplines in development, which she founded in 2009. She is in the process of founding a multidisciplinary film and arts teaching institution in Harare that will serve the Southern African Region, as well as a Zimbabwean film fund that will serve as a model for other countries in the region, an Africa women’s film fund and a television station. She is currently working on her 4th novel, dystopian young adult speculative fiction SAI-SAI, WATERMAKER. Her third novel A MOURNABLE BODY is to be published this year.
Since starting out as a small gathering of 300 people in 2007, Nairobi’s Storymoja Festival has grown to a vibrant gathering of the greatest minds in Kenya and beyond, celebrating ideas and culture. Books are brought to life through poetry, storytelling, lively discussions with local and international artists, music, workshops, film and much more. In addition, topical issues such as health, careers, politics, technology, human rights, environment entrepreneurship and youth empowerment are presented in very interactive and stimulating sessions. At Storymoja, Tsitsi Dangarembga participated as a writer and as a workshop facilitator.
Session
September
Type of Project
Festival/biennale/fair
Departure : Harare, Zimbabwe
Destination : Nairobi, Kenya