South African novelist and poet to speak

South African novelist and poet to speak

ANN ARBOR&#8212Mongane Wally Serote, novelist, poet, and member of the parliament of South Africa, will read from his poetry on Jan. 17 at 6:30 p.m. in Rackham Amphitheater on the University of Michigan’s Central Campus. [Central Campus map] Admission is free.

On Jan. 18, at 7:30 p.m., Serote will present a lecture based on his recent book of essays “The Hyenas” in the apse of the U-M’s Museum of Art. Admission is free.

Serote was born in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, South Africa, and completed his basic education in Soweto. He went on to earn a degree from Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar, publishing his first works in 1972 (“Yakhal’inkomo”) and 1974 (“Tsetlo”) followed by his 60-page epic poem “No Baby Must Weep” in 1975.

Once jailed for months and then released without being charged, and enduring an 18-year exile as a liberation fighter, Serote went on to become not only a poet whom Nadine Gordimer called the “greatest poet of our generation,” but a member of the parliament of South Africa. He currently serves as chair of the South African government’s portfolio committee for the arts, culture, science, and technology and as the ANC‘s cultural attaché to London.

Among Serote’s noted works are “Third World Express,” with what Gordimer calls Serote’s “craftsmanlike agony, he develops his positive theme that, although so much has been done to diminish and destroy people, especially in Africa, reconstruction and the restoration of human integrity are not only possible but are happening”; “A Tough Tale” and “Selected Poems.” His first novel, “To Every Birth Its Blood,” was followed by “Gods of Our Time.”

Serote’s appearance at U-M is in conjunction with the exhibition at the U-M Museum of Art “Casting Shadows: Photographs by Edward West.” Serote’s public presentations are sponsored in part by the Visiting Writers Program of the U-M Department of English, the King Chavez Parks Scholars Program of the Office of the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, the International Institute, the Arts of Citizenship Program, and the U-M Museum of Art.

Mongane Wally SeroteMuseum of ArtNadine GordimerThird World ExpressCasting Shadows: Photographs by Edward West