A project of the Badilisha Poetry X-Change Badilisha Poetry Radio is an online platform created to appreciate, celebrate and discover contemporary Pan-African poetry. ''Badilisha Poetry Radio'' focuses on weekly podcasts featuring poets from the African Continent and its Diaspora. It is a space dedicated to the exposure and growth of previously unheard and unknown poetry voices from the continent, and an archive of historical poets from the continent and beyond. ''Badilisha Poetry Radio'' is the only poetry podcast platform exclusively dedicated to voices of Africa and the Diaspora, based and produced on the African continent. Centered in Cape Town, South Africabr>Badilisha Poetry Radio
was launched on 30 April 2010. It presents diverse genres of poetic expression that include performance and multimedia and enables spaces for discussion and debate as a means to explore the poetic form as a tool for social activism. As of June 2017, Badilisha Poetry Radio features more than 350 poets from different corners of the globe including the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, United Kingdom, Germany, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.

Poets

Africa

As the only poetry podcast platform produced in Africa, Badilisha Poetry Radio showcases poets from diverse countries in Africa. These include Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Mozambique,

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

, Nigeria,

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, Zimbabwe, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with performances in English, Portuguese, Kiswahili, and

Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana * Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an off ...

, amongst others. Various genres of poetry are presented on the site with features on readings by page poets as well as Spoken word and

Slam poetry A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. ...

. African Poets on Badilisha Poetry Radio include Tina Mucavele Mozambique, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo Kenya,

Togara Muzanenhamo Togara Muzanenhamo (born 1975) is a Zimbabwean poet born in Lusaka, Zambia, to Zimbabwean parents. He was brought up in Zimbabwe on his family’s farm – west of the capital Harare. He attended St George's College, Harare. He studied in France ...

Zimbabwe, Chiedu Ifeozo Nigeria, James Matthews South Africa, prominent poet, academic and writer Antjie Krog[ South Africa, Moses Serubiri Uganda,

Chenjerai Hove Chenjerai Hove (9 February 1956 – 12 July 2015), was a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both English and Shona. "Modernist in their formal construction, but making extensive use of oral conventions, Hove's novels offer an in ...

Zimbabwe, Aryan Kaganof South Africa, and Breyten Breytenbach South Africa. Badilisha Poetry Radio has a strong presence of poets who use poetry as a form of social activism. Prominent exiled poet, novelist and social commentator

of Zimbabwe is committed to bearing witness to Zimbabwe's history and current political climate. A fearless observer and outspoken social and cultural critic, Hove has not shied away from recording the violence of the new Zimbabwe in his fiction, poetry and journalism. Kenyan poet, playwright and activist Shailja Patel is described as the 'face of globalization as a people-centered phenomenon of migration and exchange' and 'the poetic equivalent of Arundhati Roy.

Diaspora

Badilisha Poetry Radio includes poetry voices from the African Diaspora. Poets from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, Europe and the

feature regularly on the platforms weekly podcasts.

North America

Badilisha Poetry Radio hosts diverse genres and poets from North America including Poetry Slam winners Anis Mojgani and Trinidad and Tobago native Roger Bonair-Agard. Winner of back to back titles in the National Individual Poetry Sla
Anis Mojgani
features on Badilisha Poetry Radio with his poem 'come closer' and two time National US National Slam Champion Roger Bonair-Agard performs his poem 'how the ghetto loves us back'. Dubbed the 'voice of a generation' Oromo poet Boona Mohamed is a critically acclaimed award-winning writer and performer. He uses his poetry as a voice for minorities and oppressed groups in Canada. His poem 'Green card' articulates the experiences of immigrant children living in the West.

References

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External links

Badilisha Poetry X-Change
Poetry organizations African poets