Kwanele Nyembe is a South African performance artist, poet, writer, and academic whose practice explores masculinity, identity, embodiment, and the archetypes that inhabit the self. He is the only poet to have won the Poetry Africa Slam competition under two different artistic identities: Tory Saint, winner of the 2019 Slam Jam, and Kwanele Nyembe, winner of the 2022 National Slam. Tory Saint was also featured in the 24th Poetry Africa Festival’s New Voices segment. In 2023, Kwanele represented South Africa at the World Individual Poetry Slam Championship in Brazil, placing 10th in the world. For Poetry Africa’s 30th edition, he enters into dialogue with his journey as a Slam poet—from his first Slam to the world stage—exploring the archetypes, voices, and selves encountered along the way.
