Urban Voices International Poetry and Theatre Festival 2010

Website: www.urbanvoices.co.za; Face Book Groups: Urban Voices Festival; Email: info@artsexchange.co.za; Bookings : Computicket/the Door

Joburg Sat 23 Oct @ Bassline , Newtown 8pm

Cape Town Wed 27 Oct @ Baxter Theatre, Rondebosch, 8pm

Urban Voice Poetry Festival once again features performers who are entertaining, inspiring and original from South African and overseas. From New York , African – American, Patricia Smith, is an established writer , performer and academic who has received several international literary awards including being a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award for her ground breaking ‘Blood Dazzler’ which chronicles the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, Patricia Smith, is lauded by critics as “a testament to the power of words to change lives,” is the author of acclaimed poetry volumes and several other books. She is also a four-time individual champion on the National Poetry Slam — the most successful slammer in the competition’s history and regarded as one of the best performance poets in the world!

Tony award winning poets featured include Lemon Andersen as well as Asian- American poet, Beau Sia , who featured in 2005, will once again grace the Urban Voices stage with new work, which is both humorous and hard hitting as he poetically engages on issues which affect the personal and the social landscape.

South African performers will include dynamic and powerful women poets and writers such as Lisa Combrinck, Natalia Molebatsi, MC Likwidskillz and various others on the Joburg and Cape Town stage.

Workshop Programme

Several poetry and theatre workshops will be held involving local and international artists. The workshops will take place in Joburg for members of the cultural community, students at Wits University and high school students. Urban Voices Prison Programme will also host workshops at the Joburg Correctional Centre (Sun City Prison) for both male and female offenders.