Poet Appreciation | Lebo Mashile
Written by Brooklyn Masuku on 21 March, 2024
With today, March 21 being Poetry Day, it is an opportunity for all South Africans to celebrate famous South African poets. Today, is a prominent day to encourage people to read, write, teach, and publish poetry, and to recognize the great cultural contribution poetry makes to human society.
In celebrating World Poetry Day, we highlight one South African multi-award-winning poet whose work speaks to the many issues of not only the country but the continent at large. When we say, poetry, we cannot forget the name “Lebo Mashile”.
Image: Lebo Mashile – Facebook
Born February 7, 1979, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Lebogang Mashile is a South African actress, writer, and performance poet. Mashile returned to South Africa in the mid-1990s and began to study law and international relations at the University of the Witwatersrand. However, she became more interested in the arts, and she founded the poetry group Feela Sistah. Mashile appeared in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda and has performed in a few theatre productions. In 2005, she published her first poetry collection, In a Ribbon of Rhythm, for which Mashile received the Noma Award in 2006. In 2008, Mashile published her second collection, Flying Above the Sky. The poet shot to national fame as the presenter and producer of travel documentary series L’atitude (SABC1). She also presented Drawing The Line (SABC2) and Great Expectations (Etv). For the past three years, she has been the voice of CNN’s Inside Africa
She was voted as one of South Africa’s Awesome women of 2005 by Cosmopolitan Magazine. In 2006, 2007, and 2009 she was named one of the Top 100 Youth in South Africa by the Mail&Guardian. In 2006, she was awarded the prestigious Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, the premier prize for African Literature. In 2007, she was the Recipient of the City Press/Rapport Woman of Prestige award. Mashile was named one of the Top 100 Africans by New African magazine. In 2012, the poet won the Art Ambassador award at the inaugural Mbokodo Awards for South African Women in the Arts. In the same year, Mashile, a self-confessed social media junkie, was named a Twitter Queen by Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Mashile has touched many lives with her pen, and she continues to break barriers with the words she speaks. There is no doubt that she is still one of the best poets in South Africa, and her accomplishments extend beyond our country, reaching the global stage.
POEM CREDITS:
Lebo Mashile It takes just 26 letters to create a universe I’ve walked through the lives of individuals The writer is an architect God child at play And South Africa is a fractured mirror And this is the time when you can become I don’t have all the answers South Africa is an old fashioned mutt |