Perfect Pitch Call Out

Press Release

About Poetry Africa:

Poetry Africa is an annual international poetry festival curated and presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. The ten day programme will take place from Thursday 3 October with an opening in Johannesburg and close with a Finale Slam Jam Poetry Competition in Durban on Saturday 12 October 2024.

About the Perfect Pitch:

Poetry Africa’s festival has been over many years served as a platform for networking, cultural exchanges and has been a launching pad for many South African poets’ careers. This year the festival is launching the inaugural Perfect Pitch, this platform will host festival Directors/Curators from Belgium, Ghana, Italy, Lesotho, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, and who are scouting for South African content. The platform will host selected 20 poets who will pitch their works to the panel of festival director/curators for possible exchange opportunity.

Entry Qualifications:

• The competition is open strictly to South African poets who are resident in South Africa and who are 18 years and upwards at time of submitting their entry.

• They must have an existing body of work (book, poetry film, multi-media project etc.) which is their original idea to pitch to the panel.

• Poets should apply with details of the project with a motivation on why they should they be considered to be part of the Perfect Pitch.

• Submitting poets must be able to travel and accommodate themselves at the Poetry Africa Festival in Durban (at their own expense) and be available to pitch on Saturday, 12 October. Information about discounted packages can be obtained from Poetry Africa

• Selected poets need to attend a compulsory online masterclass which will be hosted on Wednesday, 18 September @ 18h00.

About the selection process:

• A selection committee will go through all the applications and select top 20 to go through for a masterclass before the pitching session scheduled for Saturday, 12 October.

• The selection committee’s decision is final.

Deadline for application: Tuesday, 10 September at 23:59