The poet, performer, actress, presenter and producer Lebogang Mashile, daughter of exiled South Africans, was born in the in 1979. At the age of sixteen years she and her parents returned to their home country. In her work as a life skills facilitator for adolescents \u2013 focussing on topics like gender issues, teamwork and sexuality \u2013 poetry has been her preferred medium. Mashile regards its expressive power as the most effective tool to bring about those changes in mental attitude which are needed in the aftermath of the socio-political changes in post-apartheid .<\/p>\n
Mashile began to achieve recognition as one of South Africa’s most popular young artists in 2002 when she performed her hip-hop inspired show at the Urban Voices Spoken Word and Music Festival to a large audience. In 2003 she co-founded the \u00bbFeel a Sistah!\u00ab Spoken Word Collective, which rapidly gained wide-spread popularity. Just one year later Mashile made her acting d\u00e9but in the Oscar nominated film \u00bbHotel Rwanda\u00ab. Moreover, she was the presenter and producer of the successful television programme \u00bbL’Atitude\u00ab, a concept of her own creation.<\/p>\n
Her lyrical and gutsy poems in the collection \u00bbA Ribbon of Rhythm\u00ab (2005) also speak about life in the new South Africa. Issues such as the diversity and unity of the \u00bbRainbow Nation\u00ab, the status of women, violence and the fragility of individuals are all treated with a sense of urgency, humour and at times with melancholy and a certain rawness. Mashile\u2019s self-produced album \u00bbLebo Mashile Live!\u00ab combines her performance poetry with hip-hop, house and R&B.<\/p>\n
In 2008, Mashile published her second anthology entitled \u00bbFlying Above the Sky\u00ab. This collection deals with the artist\u2019s signature themes of gender, identity, spirituality, love and socio-political conditions in South Africa. Mashile can currently be seen on South African television screens as the presenter of \u00bbDrawing the Line\u00ab, a game show dealing with moral issues. She has returned to the theatre this year in the stage adaptation of K. Sello Duiker\u2019s \u00bbThe Quiet Violence of Dreams\u00ab. Currently she is working on a cross-media and cross-generational collaboration with renowned choreographer Sylvia Glasser entitled \u00bbThreads\u00ab. One can also find Mashile\u2019s thoughts in her monthly column, \u00bbIn Her Shoes\u00ab, which she writes for \u00bbTrue Love\u00ab magazine.<\/p>\n
Lebo Mashile, who has featured on numerous covers of South African lifestyle magazines, has also appeared beyond South Africa, to date in Kenya, Austria, Germany, Cuba, Jamaica, Ireland, Zimbabwe, the United States, Britain, and Switzerland. In 2006 she was awarded the prestigious Noma Award. The jury characterised her poetry as of \u00bba distinct oral flavour, developing oral poetry and performance beyond the boundaries of the poetry of the era of resistance\u00ab. In 2007, she was the recipient of the City Press\/Rapport Woman of Prestige Award. Mashile lives in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 international literature festival berlin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","jct-role":[1080],"jct-origin":[504],"jct-ilb-years":[602],"class_list":["post-40389","authors","type-authors","status-publish","hentry","jct-role-author","jct-origin-south-africa","jct-ilb-years-2008-en"],"yoast_head":"\n