d’bi.young anitafrika was the final guest at Season 4 of Afrolit Sans Frontières from London, UK on July 6, 2020. She was hosted by festival founder Zukiswa Wanner.
Afrolit Sans Frontières, a virtual literary festival for writers of African origin, was founded by author and publisher Zukiswa Wanner as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic international lockdowns. The festival format is two sessions a day on Instagram Live with an artist moderated by a host who also fields questions from audience members. There have been three editions so far; Season 1 from March 23-30, Season 2 from April 20-27, and Season 3 from May 25 – June 1.
Season 4, which started on June 29, has so far seen Ngwatilo Mawiyoo in Nairobi, Kenya, Hannibal Tabu in Los Angeles, USA, Lamelle Shaw in Johannesburg, South Africa, Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún in Lagos, Nigeria, Irenosen Okojie in London, UK, Koleka Putuma in Cape Town, South Africa, Natalia Molebatsi in Johannesburg, South Africa, Iquo DianaAbasi in Lagos, Nigeria, Mélio Tinga in Maputo, Mozambique, Raoul Djimeli in Yaounde, Cameroon, Lu Ain-Zaila in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mel Matsinhe in Maputo, Mozambique, Marc Alexandre Oho Bambe in Lille, France, and Suzanne Dracius in Fort-de-France, Martinique.
The final day of Season 4 started with Niq Mhlongo who was in Cologne, Germany before d’bi.young anitafrika ended proceedings from London, UK. d’bi.young anitafrika is a triple Dora-award winning author of twelve produced plays, seven distributed Dub albums, and four published collections of poetry. d’bi.young anitafrika is also the recipient of nine Dora nominations, a KM Hunter Theatre award, a Mayor’s Arts Award, a Vital People award, a Toronto Leadership Lab Fellow alumni, and a finalist for both the Ontario Premier Arts Award and the William Kilbourn Award.
Hxr first three poetry collections were Art on Black (2005), rivers … and other blackness … between us (2007) and Sankofa: Blood. Claat, Benu, and Word! Sound! Powah! (2017). In 2019, d’bi.young published hxr fourth collection of poetry—dubbin poetry—and the second book in hxr Dubbin Series—Dubbin Monodrama Anthology 1: Black Masculinities in African Diaspora Theatre. Hxr current PhD autoethnography entitled Seeking Being Humxn, centres on decolonial performance, praxis and pedagogy in theatre. Her latest projects include developing a new video-series called decolonize dis!, working as Theatre Interventionist on the UN’s Resilience Fund Fellowship and completing her forthcoming anthology Dubbin Theatre: The Collected Plays of d’bi.young anitafrika.
This was without a doubt one of the most explosive closing events at the festival since it started several months. d’bi.young anitafrika shared poetry that had audience members leaving all manner of emojis from clapping, to tears, love hearts, and everything in between. When she wasn’t wowing the audience in poetry, she alongside her host Zukiswa Wanner, who played a co-conspirator role, spoke about the work that she has produced and her current educational journey. Also on the theme-heavy discussion red table were what Black Lives Matter meant, why Black women were always left behind during revolutions and how to solve this, and how Africans on the continent and in the diaspora could go beyond the betrayals of slavery.
You can watch d’bi.young anitafrika in conversation with Zukiswa Wanner in the two videos below.
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