A new PEN South Africa “Empty Chair Podcast” episode celebrates the life and legacy of Keorapetse Kgositsile, South Africa’s former national poet laureate.
PEN South Africa (PEN SA) announces the launch of a new podcast episode devoted to honouring and remembering Keorapetse Kgositsile (1938-2018). The episode will be released on the morning of 30 March 2023 and can be accessed on Apple podcasts, Spotify, the PEN SA or wherever you find your podcasts. It features poet, critic and translator Sandile Ngidi interviewing academic and poet Uhuru Phalafala about the life and legacy of the former national poet laureate.
In a warm, moving and erudite exchange, Sandile and Uhuru share their memories of Kgositsile and the impact of his poetry. During the conversation, Sandile reads Kgositsile’s “June 16 Year of Spear” and Uhuru reads “For Gloria Bosman”. Sandile asks Uhuru about Kgositsile’s exile in the U.S. and his effect on the Black Arts Movement. Uhuru also emphasises the influence of Kgositsile’s mother and grandmother, Setswana language and literature, as well as music on his poetics and politics.
Sandile Ngidi is currently studying at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Historical Studies. He is committed to researching the role of black intellectuals as critical producers of emancipatory knowledge, practices and thought especially in colonial and apartheid South Africa. In 2018, Mahlephula Press published his poetry chapbook, You Can’t Tell Me Anything Now.
Uhuru Phalafala is a senior lecturer in the English department at Stellenbosch University. She heads a Mellon-funded research project “Recovering Subterranean Archives”, which investigates South African culture in exile, with the view to repatriate and republish it. She is a co-editor along with Phillippa Yaa de Villiers of Keorapetse Kgositsile: Collected Poems, 1969–2018 (University of Nebraska Press, 2023). Uhuru is the author of Mine Mine Mine (University of Nebraska Press, 2023), a mythopoetic epic on the migrant labour system. One of her forthcoming books is a monograph on former national poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile.
Each episode of The Empty Chair Podcast pays tribute to an imprisoned writer. In this episode PEN South Africa stands in solidarity with Chinese poet, Zhang Guiqi (known by his pen name Lu Yang). You can read more about his case in articles by PEN America here and an interview with his daughter here. PEN South Africa joins PEN International, PEN America, the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC), and PEN Centres around the world, in calling on the PRC government to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Zhang Guiqi.
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This beautiful tribute to Keorapetse Kgositsile forms part of the Seventh Season of PEN SA’s celebrated podcast, The Empty Chair: A Transatlantic Conversation. The eight episodes of this special Black History Season are released weekly, from 28 February to 26 April 2023.
All episodes of “The Empty Chair by PEN SA” are freely available and archived on Apple podcasts, Spotify, the PEN SA or wherever you find your podcasts.
There is an inspiring line-up for this season. Episodes featuring Mandisa Haarhoff, Jaclyn Cole, Nosipho Mngomezulu, Joel Cabrita, Ekow Duker and Millard Arnold are already available online.
There are exciting conversations still to be released. Look out for episodes featuring, Bongani Kona, Robin Coste Lewis, Sisonke Msimang, Barbara Masekela, Angelo Fick, Darryl Pinckney, Victoria Collis-Buthelezi, Athambile Masola and Makhosazana Xaba.
Follow @pen_southafrica on Twitter, @pensouthafrica on Instagram and subscribe to “The Empty Chair by PEN SA” on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you don’t miss future episodes of The Empty Chair.
This podcast series is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in South Africa to promote open conversation and highlight shared histories.