Knox Mahlaba

Tell us a bit about how it was growing up in Soweto?

Soweto is a big place, where people are known by their nicknames, names related to their specialty. You really have to stand out to be recognised. It’s a place that thrives on confidence and big dreams. 1976 Student Uprisings define Soweto, the people are resilient and forever seek creative ways to achieve the best results and be the best.

When did you become aware of words in a new, intimate way, i mean when did you start matching words to things, to emotions, to experiences?

Always been fascinated by words, as kid I disliked reading fiction because the characters and the plot undermined the aspirations of black people by misrepresenting the; I started reading newspaper from the age of five. It was only after reading ‘I Write What I Like’ by Steve Biko and the African Writer’s Series that I realised that there was only one way to alter the literature landscape, writing and detailing the black experience from a sympathetic perspective without being patronising.

How did being born in Soweto shape your creative writing?

Being the cultural melting pot of Johannesburg, its multicultural environment encourages multilingualism and develops interest in other culture, breeding acceptance. Soweto teaches you to be universal by removing ethnocentrism {tribalism} from the mind-set.

Did your creative works lean towards focusing on the ills of the society in your progressive works or your work was geared to celebrating life in general?

I write about everything, everything that touches and affects the African soul - politics, social issues and love. The media often portrays Africans as an unloving people, purely because they define love from a western perspective.

What are some of the topics you have covered in your poetry book?

Universal topics love, romance, life challenges and, being an African, I also home in on the effects of slavery, colonialism, tribalism and apartheid. We no longer love ourselves and our ways because of systematic brainwashing!

Do you remember all the 50 poems from Back from the Dead: The Rising of an African Spirit?

The titles yes, specific verses in the various poems but there is only one poem that I recite every day no matter my location - ‘Piece of the past’. It highlights the need for Africans to rediscover themselves and rebuild the family unit. My niece often recites it to me on a daily basis, better than me!

Writers have their different creative process, how would you describe yours? From the time the idea strikes to the time it finds its place on the pages?

I often say, poets take credit for the work of angels. The best poems won’t let you sleep, the words will wake you if you’re asleep, stop you from sleeping if awake, stop you from doing something else until the poem has form. My poems write themselves from my experiences first hand and second hand interactions.

What side weighs in when it comes to converting your ideas into creative works? Writing according to what the reader wants or journaling your own experiences?

Fortunately, I have a copywriting-advertising background, I write to convey a message and take into account the reader’s experience and expectations. Thus word choice is defined by the audience yet determined by me.

Do you have a mentor? If yes, what is his/her role?

Steve Biko, he wrote his own thoughts without fear and Thomas Sankara, he lived his thoughts without fear.

How much life is in Back from the Dead: The Rising of an African Spirit? I mean 50 poems all inspired by Africa. Are there topics that you feel affect the people more than others? If there are, would you mind giving us example?

All the poems are inspired by Africa, half deal with the spirit, a quarter celebrates love in its various guises and another quarter focuses on Africa and the plight of her descendants wherever they may reside.

Do you feel African Poets are celebrated enough?

No, most African writers are only celebrated posthumously.

Would you say a poet may at the onset control the direction his poetry takes, but soon events escape his control and history proceeds by its force and momentum?

Yes life has a habit of redirecting events.

What role has social media played to get your works reach every corner of the world? Which is the farthest location in the world has a reader ordered your book from amazon.com?

Social media has played a very important role, initially just Facebook now Google+ and Twitter.

I’d say the United Kingdom and United States of America, most of my readers are based in the United States, African Americans seem to be ahead of Africans in terms of appreciating Africa’s contribution to the world.

Do you perform your poems?

I am a writer and prefer to do readings, though very selectively.

Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Laureate, once stated during a radio interview that she is a writer not a performance artist, I would say I am in a similar mould.

What do you say about handling a microphone while on stage to enhance performance on stage?

Different strokes for different folks, I prefer to focus on the words, the words are meant to move you and not the costume or stage devices.

As a person with huge life experience in writing Poetry, what is your main message to budding writers?

Like the priesthood, it’s a calling and should never be pursued for fame or monetary benefits – there are none.

As to the moral awareness of our times, is the poet better equipped than the historian to handle the meanings of great events?

History is written by the victor. Poetry offers a balanced narrative of events. I would agree that the poet is more spiritually equipped to portray the truth, pity poets don’t have the resources given to historians.

For example, a historian will toe the party line when dealing with ethnic violence, whereas the poet will focus on the loss of human life.

The historian is only accountable to the government of the day; the poet is answerable to the ancestors and has to be accountable for an eternity.

Do you think it’s possible to teach someone to become a poet?

No, it is something you’re born with and it is exposed or accentuated by life experience.

The spoken world scene has grown by leaps and bounds in the recent past, how do you take spoken world as an Art?

Yes, it is growing and filling the void left by the demise of conscious rap.

Spoken word isn’t new, rap has been doing that for decades and the Basotho people of Lesotho and South Africa (Southern Africa) have been speaking to a beat for centuries.

The first rap group were called The Last Poets for a reason, Tupac was a poet. All that has happened is that they removed poetry from hip hop, now poetry has gone solo.

How exactly does poetry work for you, do you recognize it when you experience it even without writing about it? How does poetry manifest itself to you?

Poetry emanates from a contradiction, pictures that shouldn’t be, I always see contradictions in society and I write basically every day sometimes I’ll start with blank paper, sometimes I refine previous scribbles.