UNESCO Director-General’s Message for World Poetry Day 2016
Shakespeare, who died 400 years ago, wrote in A Midsummer Night’s Dream that: “The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven. And as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing a local habitation […]
World Poetry Day
“By paying tribute to the men and women whose only instrument is free speech, who imagine and act, UNESCO recognizes in poetry its value as a symbol of the human spirit’s creativity. By giving form and words to that which has none – such as the unfathomable beauty that surrounds us, the immense suffering and […]
World Poetry Day 2016: Everything you need to know about the literary celebration
World Poetry Day is a celebration of poetry, literature and free speech, observed by UNESCO every year. The day is aimed at encouraging creativity, inspiring the teaching of poetry and restoring a dialogue between poetry and other arts, such as theatre, dance and music. PEN International also uses the day to highlight the imprisonment, murder […]
Still I Rise – Poem by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like […]
Jolademi
He creeps into my bedroom when the night is most alive. Unafraid, he feels for the walls that will bring him to my door. It has been four years since I spat him from a lip in my womb. Yet every night, he crawls back in. The first light pries through the curtains. He kisses […]
Phenomenal Woman
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m […]
If—
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in […]
“Dust to Dust”
There are women left who have no rage in their wrists As they slice greens or skin tomatoes towards mealtime. Their husbands are at the beer-gardens with Family money – what would amount to a bag of beans Or soap bars. There are women who keep both lips quietly touching, Even as they gesture […]
South African Proverbs and Sayings
ISIXHOSA PROVERBS ———————— Umhambi uyahlinzekwa. A traveller is provided for. ( It is a good thing to look after those who have visited you) Akukho kufa kunjani. No death is different. (Eventually we will all die, even if you are scared of going to a dangerous place. This proverb is used to encourage someone to […]
Swahili Language & Culture: Kanga Writings
These are some of the writings appearing on kanga – a very popular dress in eastern Africa. Some of these writings are common Swahili proverbs. Majority of them, however, are just messages the wearer wishes to send across. It may be a message of love, caution, warning, reassurance, or just an act of self-expression. No. […]
Rachael: 
Maryam: 
Fisolami: 