Natalia Molebatsi

Natalia Molebatsi is a South African writer, performance poet and cultural worker. She has developed a large following through her poetry salons, and is credited with having "been responsible for introducing the work of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison to the post-apartheid generation in South Africa."[1] She lives in Johannesburg.[2]

Biography

Natalia Molebatsi was born and raised in the township of Tembisa, near Johannesburg in South Africa.[3][4]

She is the editor of a collection of South African poems entitled We Are…A Poetry Anthology (Penguin Books, 2008), and the author of Sardo Dance (Geko, 2009).[5] She is a founding member of the band Soul Making,[4] and in 2015 her CD Natalia Molebatsi & The Soul Making was released.[2] Her work is included in Letter to South Africa: Poets Calling the State to Order, Happiness the Delight-Tree: An Anthology of Contemporary International Poetry, New Coin, the Anthology of World Poetry (2010), and New Daughters of Africa (2019, edited by Margaret Busby),[6][2] among other publications. Her prose writing has appeared in academic literary journals, such as Muziki,[7] and has been translated into Italian and Dutch in such periodicals as Kuma and Les Simpledadi.[8]

As well as hosting, organizing and participating in conferences and festivals in South Africa,[9] Molebatsi has performed poetry and facilitated creative writing workshops internationally, including at universities and festivals in Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, Zimbabwe, England, Italy, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Palestine and Germany, and has shared the stage with such artists as Lebo Mashile, Alice Walker and Simphiwe Dana.[2] Molebatsi performed at the 2009 Women in Africa and the African Diaspora International Conference in Nigeria and in the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in London, representing South Africa.[10]

She has worked with UNISA Press and the South African Literary Awards (SALA) as a marketing/commissioning and media relations officer.[11] She has also been responsible for the publication of numerous South African poets and short story writers through her position at UNISA.[2]

References
  1. "Natalia Molebatsi" Archived 2018-06-19 at the Wayback Machine, South African Book Fair, 21 August 2017.
  2. "Natalia Molebatsi, South African Poet", UCLA African Studies Center, 12 May 2016.
  3. Natalia Molebatsi page at Poemhunter.com.
  4. "Interview with South African Writer, Natalia Molebatsi", Geosi Reads, 2013.
  5. "Sardo Dance, by Natalia Molebatsi", Geko Publishing.
  6. "Don't miss the New Daughters of Africa Women's Month launch in Joburg – with a line-up of literature, music and performances by the contributors (3 Aug)", The Reading List.
  7. Natalia Molebatsiv & Raphael d'Abdon, "From Poetry to Floetry: Music's Influence in the Spoken Word Art of Young South Africa", Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa, Volume 4, 2007 – Issue 2: Contemporary African Music, pp. 171–177.
  8. "300 Young South Africans: Arts and Culture (Part 2)", Mail & Guardian, 8 June 2009.
  9. Ntando Makhubu, "Unisa helps inmates read to build learning culture", Daily News, 8 September 2017, via PressReader.
  10. "Natalia Molebatsi" at Lyrikline.
  11. "POETRY | Natalia Molebatsi", Azania Speaks '08.

Further reading
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