PEN SA Members Flood the 2018 McGregor Poetry Festival Programme

PEN SA members and staff feature prominently on the programme for the 2018 Poetry in McGregor festival, which this year is themed – appropriately enough, given the drought in the area – The Sound of Water. It is taking place from 24 to 28 August this year.

This festival, held in the eponymous Western Cape town (nearby Robertson), has quickly become one of South Africa’s premier poetry festivals, with intimate venues, a wide and diverse set of performers, and engaged audiences. Other than page poets on the programme are community groups, musicians, rappers, poetry collectives, and students from all over South Africa, who will read and perform their work in English, Zulu, Afrikaans and Xhosa.

There will also be book launches, workshops, informal gatherings, open mics, and film viewings. Funds derived from the events will be put back into The McGregor Arts Community Project where support is given to local community projects.

New at the festival this year is the presence of the Life Righting life-writing collective, founded by PEN SA member Dawn Garisch, which invites writers and non-writers alike “to learn to write about their experiences, promoting self-discovery, self-recovery and more effective communication”. The collective will be launching their first collection of writing This Is How It Is at the festival.

Also included this year on the Poetry in McGregor programme are, in no particular order: Board Member Adré Marshall; Honourary Member Geoffrey Haresnape; Members Francine Simon, Megan Ross, Athol Williams, Douglas Reid Skinner, Helen Moffett, Elisa Galgut, Jacques Coetzee, Jonty Driver, Karin Schimke, Kobus Moolman, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, Margaret Clough, Michele Betty, Kerry Hammerton, Patricia Schonstein, Philippa Anne Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa, Sandra Hill, Stephen Symons and Wendy Woodward; and Head of Communications Nick Mulgrew.

Apart from the great line-up, McGregor is a friendly, relaxed village with great wineries, wildlife, restaurants, with all venues within walking distance of the other.

The full line-up of poets can be found here, along with more information about the festival.