“Through Multiculturalism We Become Better Humans”: A Conversation with Vonani Bila, by Ming Di

“Through Multiculturalism We Become Better Humans”: A Conversation with Vonani Bila, by Ming Di Interviews [email protected] Thu, 06/13/2024 - 15:21 Vonani Bila with his mother and his son. Courtesy of Mark Waller, 2010.Vonani Bila (b. 1972) grew up in Shirley Village, Limpopo province, South Africa, from where he used to walk fourteen kilometers daily to Lemana High School in Elim. He is a poet, essayist, cultural activist, founding editor of the poetry journal Timbila, publisher of Timbila Books, curator of the Vhembe International Poetry festival, and founder of Timbila Writers’ Village, a rural retreat center for writers. He has been instrumental in promoting marginalized poets and has become an iconic figure among the poets of his generation in South Africa. His poetry continues the tradition of South African resistance poetry of the 1970s and 1980s, blended with postmodernist experiments. He is the author of eight storybooks in English, Northern Sotho, and Xitsonga for newly literate adult readers; two children’s books; co-compiler of a Xitsonga monolingual dictionary with M. M. Marhanele, Tihlùngù ta Rixaka (2016); and is currently a lecturer in English at the University of Limpopo. He holds an MFA in creative writing (cum laude) from Rhodes University and is currently a PhD candidate (creative writing) at Wits University. His poetry books include No Free Sleeping (1998) (with Donald Parenzee and Alan Finlay); In the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2024-06-13 20:21:36 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "“Through Multiculturalism We Become Better Humans”: A Conversation with Vonani Bila, by Ming Di"


To Be the Poet of Troy: An Interview with Mosab Abu Toha by Philip Metres

After finding an anthology of English literature in the rubble of the Islamic University of Gaza during the 2014 Israeli bombing, Mosab Abu Toha had a dream: founding an English language library in one of the most confined, crowded, and isolated places in the world. According to the “We Are Not... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-22 08:47:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this


On the Biggest Collection of Fantasy Tales Since WWII

Fantasy, like any form of fiction or mode of fiction, can contain multitudes. At least, that is what we found when researching and compiling The Big Book of Modern Fantasy. In one sense, our task was made easier by the sheer immensity of the project: at 500,000 words, our anthology is the single... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-21 08:48:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this


In Gail Tsukiyama’s ‘The Color of Air,’ characters reel in the wake of the Mauna Loa volcanic eruption

Tsukiyama’s first novel in nearly a decade takes readers to the 1930s Hawai’i of her Japanese father, where sugar was king and labor was hard. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-20 12:07:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Headline wins Sanghani’s 'irresistible' adult fiction debut

Headline Review has won Radhika Sanghani's first novel for adults, 30 Things I Love About Myself, in a "heated" auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-17 00:46:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Appledore turns itself into UK's first drive-in book festival

Appledore Book Festival is to go ahead with its annual fixture this autumn, reinventing itself as the UK's first drive-in literary festival.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-14 00:18:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Guildford Book Festival appeals for funds

The Guildford Book Festival is appealing for funds for the first time in its 31-year history, after learning the Covid-19 pandemic could make this October's edition its last. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-09 01:35:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Education technology firms merge to form Boca Raton-based company with 1,400 employees

New York-based Veritas Equity and Leeds Equity Partners consolidated multiple large education technology firms to form Anthology, based in Boca Raton. The company made it official this week after the private equity companies acquired Boca Ration-based Campus Management; Campus Labs in Buffalo,... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-07-07 18:29:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this


iModules owners merge KC company with two other edtech firms

A Kansas City-based edtech firm with nearly 125 employees is set to lose its brand as part of a three-way merger. iModules Software Inc., founded in 2002, recently completed a move from Leawood to a roomier headquarters in Kansas City. Now, it will create Anthology Inc. by joining with with... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-07-07 18:18:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘I Saw a Peacock’: The 400 Year-Old Nonsense Poem

In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle analyses a poem that represents the meeting-point of ancient riddle and modern nonsense ‘I Saw a Peacock’ is an anonymous nonsense poem that is included in Quentin Blake’s The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse (Puffin Poetry), a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2020-07-03 14:00:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Can Political Satire Outpace Reality? 3 Books Toss Their Hats in the Ring

Christopher Buckley’s “Make Russia Great Again,” Jessica Anthony’s “Enter the Aardvark” and the anthology “The Faking of the President” all have fun with American politics. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-07-02 09:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Michael Winterbottom to bring Boris Johnson's handling of Covid-19 to TV

‘There are rare moments in history when leaders find their private lives uniquely connected to national events’ say producersCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMichael Winterbottom is set to bring Boris Johnson’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic to television. The... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-06-26 13:30:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Native Nonfiction in the Classroom and Beyond, by Casandra López

The Once Over Casandra López Detail of a Cowlitz artist’s Large Coiled Gathering Basket, ca. 1900, cedar root and beargrass, Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection, Portland Art Museum, 2012.97.11 In spring 2020 I had the opportunity to teach two Native... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-06-18 13:23:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Literature on Lockdown 9: #CultureConnectsUs

As the lockdown restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19 begin to be relaxed across the UK, we’re bringing you the final instalment of our Literature on Lockdown series.Following the worldwide demonstrations, protests and public events in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2020-06-16 16:00:51 UTC ]
More news stories like this


New Ishiguro novel coming in March 2021

Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017, will be published by Faber & Faber on 2nd March 2021. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-16 08:35:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this


South Sudan title among PEN Translates award-winners

Nineteen books from 15 countries and 13 languages have won English PEN’s flagship translation awards, including the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-10 01:27:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Free 'global voices' anthology released to coincide with World Refugee Day

A digital collection of "global voices" will launch to coincide with World Refugee Day (20th June 2020).  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-08 08:51:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Grace Edwards, Harlem Mystery Writer, Dies at 87

A former director of the Harlem Writers Guild, she published her first novel when she was 55, and her first mystery, featuring a stylish female ex-cop turned sleuth, when she was 64. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-06-05 21:17:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this


This year’s Desmond Elliott shortlist features all black writers.

The Desmond Elliott Prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first novel is written in English and published in the UK. Since 2007, it has supported and heralded new writers; the honor comes with a £10,000 prize. It’s heartening to see, especially right now, that this year the Desmond Elliott... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-02 17:58:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Less! Less! Less!: How the miniseries took over television

From Quiz to Chernobyl, the one-off television series is the perfect antidote to the relentlessness of multi-season shows. But do they ultimately leave us wanting more?Broadcast across three nights as lockdown kept us glued to our sofas, ITV’s Quiz was the first new drama in a long time that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-06-02 14:27:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


20 New Asian American Books to Read Right Now

It’s been just over 45 years since the publication of Aiiieeeee!, a groundbreaking and trailblazing anthology that established the category of Asian American literature. Since then, we’ve seen the amalgamation of great organizations centering around Asian American Pacific Islander literature,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-05-29 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this