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At the Centre for the Book in Cape Town are; Back row, Mphuhlane wa Bofelo, Siphiwe ka Ngwenya, Vonani Bila, Goodenough Mashego. Front row, Ike Mboneni wa Muila, Makhosazana Xaba and Michelle McGrane

TIMBILA TO GRACE PRESTIGIOUS BOOK FAIR

Limpopo Arts Culture Association’s Ms Alett Franks said during the launch of Timbila 2005 anthology at the Polokwane's Library Gardens last year that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if every parliamentary session in Cape Town was started with a poetry reading.

Hers could have been quite heroic words to utter in the context of a nation so obsessed with political sloganeering that they tend to neglect the medium that sensitized many people to the evils of the apartheid regime. But a similar statement was uttered by another poet two years ago that we needed to get rid of the morning devotion sessions in schools because all they did was to attempt to Calvinise young children who grow up without a scope of the different religions in the world. The poet suggested that the morning devotion time should rather be allocated to a poetry reading.

Timbila Poetry Project founder and editor Vonani Bila took the argument further in Timbila 2005 after Franks echoed the first telling statement. Bila writes in the editorial of the thickest volume ever, "Visit the hotel and guest house in the neighborhood and tell them that the Bible alone in each room is not sufficient literature. Let them place Timbila in every room"

The organization started in 2000 from humble beginnings has grown in so few years and moved from strength to strength. In its short existence it has published almost 16 books and anthologies of poetry.

On the night of the launch it was interesting how different scholars and poets interpreted the works of other poets. The event was started with a moving rendition from the author of Talks with the Sun, Mpho Ramaano whose indictive poem 'A Bleeding Nation' had the audience eating out of his impoverished village palm. Ramaano was brave enough to rock the boat to the point whereby the good people started looking for Jonah amongst them. "my president is busy/ loitering on American golf courses/ no one can address my hunger/ nor could anyone heed my anger/ his honourable zuma can’t feed the poor/ he is in multi-billion corruption saga"

The next batch of poets celebrated even those who were not around to attend the launch but whose works appear in the thickest Timbila edition ever with.

In an unprecedented and unheard of move within South African publishing circles the one that was launched on the night was by far the thickest cook of Onion Skin poetry. Actually, it’s all 336 pages of raw emotion, insightful interviews, literary reviews and essays.

It was accepted that it was not a mean feat for a funding dependent organization founded in 2000 as "a journal of new poetry which seeks to encourage writing in South Africa in the languages appropriate to our needs".

Timbila 2005 drifts a lot from its four earlier predecessors. Most notably, Timbila 2000 had 33 contributors with an inspiring piece from now Limpopo Province spokesperson Saul Molobi. He wrote passionately about African renaissance and cultural aesthetics. In the essay Molobi argued that, "I would propose that progressive cultural workers have to continue to be inspired by the struggles of the ordinary masses of people. Their work has to mirror the current contradictions facing people during this phase of transition in South Africa, and should creatively chart the way forward".

Such an example of including probing and thought provoking thinkers continued with the three other installments, with 46 poets pitching for the christening of Timbila 2001.

2002 and 2003 editions, briefly punctuated by a celebration of the Eastern Cape’s premier Grahamstown Arts Festival set the scene for individual indigenous voices to utilize the four-year-old platform. The 59 writers who trusted the initiative with products of their madness and musings were complemented by a book that also contained interviews of Mbongeni Khumalo, Don Mattera and essays from Swedish based poet and painter Lefifi Tladi and Prof Es’kia Mphahlele. Timbila 2003 had 66 poets who most of them went on to have their own books published by the organization and its friends. Among those who now have poetry books out are Makhosazana Xaba (these hands), M.M. Marhanele (Marhambu ya Nhloko), Myesha Jenkins (Breaking the Surface), Vonani Bila (In the name of Amandla and Magicstan Fires), Linda ka Ndlovu (Impiselo), Mzwandile Matiwana (I lost a poem- Deep South Publishing), Mpho Ramaano (Talks with the Sun), Enock Dlayani Shishenge (Nsati wa Gayisa), Phomelelo Mamampi Machika (Peu tša Tokologo), Bruce Mikhomazi Ngobeni (Ndzeko wa Rixaka), Prof John Ruganda (Whispers of a Whirlwind), Tebogo wa Maahlamela (Moswarataukamariri) and Goodenough Mashego (Journey With Me).

Timbila 2005 is a celebration of all the years of unadulterated literary exchanges in far flung places like Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Kippies jazz pub and social forums and writing residences around the world. It is contained in a thick volume filled with the pain, deception, love, betrayal and loneliness of the past five glorious years of free speech.

Limpopo University’s Dr Esther Ramani stole the show when she performed works from Myesha Jenkins’ book Breaking the Surface. Her rendition could have made even the author to blush.

In the stellar issue there are two poems in Dutch written by Wim Pesoon. Also making a fruitful contribution is University of Limpopo’s Dramatist-in-Residence's Prof Ruganda, Sudan’s University of Juba’s Taban lo Liyong (Corpse Lovers and Corpse Haters), Mxolisi Nyezwa (Song Trials), Kgafela oa Magogodi and Alan Kolski Howitz.

This is in an anthology that has seen seasoned wordsmiths Sandile Ngidi, Vuyisile Msila, Liesl Jobson and Michael Roy making their contributions. However Timbila 2005 is a serious literary book that includes essays, commentaries and critical reviews. It is a testament of how post liberation poetry has managed to remain in transition without being stuck in the political doldrums that saw many poets losing their themes with the dawning of liberation.

Five years later the initiative is still going strong with another anthology that celebrates ten years of free speech entitled Burning Shacks and Floods being in the pipeline.

LACA provided a teaser of things to come in this country’s poetry terrain when it immediately volunteered to buy a copy of every book the organization has ever published. Their efforts were only beaten by the University of Limpopo. LACA’s Malose had people excited when he announced that his organization has "1000 members, that was at the time of the closing of the stock exchange". And probably Timbila can also claim the same, if not more. And about the legislature opening with a poetry session? Maybe next time.

Timbila Poetry Project is one of the independent voices that will grace the Cape Town Book Fair from June 17-20. It will be exhibiting all its published titles and taking part in discussions and around the betterment of South African literature. Its participation is funded by the National Arts Council of South Africa (NAC) and hopes to fly the flag of alternative publishing high and be counted amongst the serious contributors to the South African Literary landscape. For Timbila and a few, Aluta Continua!