Invitation to participate in the 2016 McGregor Poetry Festival (26 to 28 August 2016)

It is our pleasure to announce that the next McGregor Poetry Festival will take place from the 26 to 28th of August 2016.

Poets (International and local, published and unpublished) who would like to be considered for participation are invited to submit a proposal for our consideration. We are particularly looking for presentations that are original and creative to enhance our programme and entertain our audiences.

Guidelines for submissions:

• Describe your presentation in approximately 50 words and include a short title
• Ensure that your presentation is between 30 to 40 minutes duration
• Your presentation may be in English or Afrikaans, or bilingual. We are also open to welcoming poets performing in the other official South African languages as well but our audiences at this stage are predominantly Afrikaans and English speaking
• Be innovative and creative and feel free to collaborate with fellow poets and present a combined performance, discussion, interview etc
• Include a short biography of yourself plus any links to websites, publications etc
• Submissions must be emailed to info@mcgregorpoetryfestival.co.za / posted to PO Box 361, McGregor 6708 / faxed to 086 756 0864 / hand delivered to Temenos Retreat Office, corner Bree and Voortrekker Streets, McGregor
• Enquiries: Jennifer Johnson 023 625 1908 / 084 675 1164
• Closing date: 30 April 2016
• If you have not heard from us by 20 May 2016, this will mean that your proposal to be included in our main programme was unsuccessful but you are more than welcome to participate in one of the Open Mic sessions that will be included in the festival programme
• Please note that you must arrange your own transport to McGregor and secure your own accommodation. We have a wide range of accommodation on offer in our village and we will gladly assist you with queries

Uitnodiging om aan die 2016 McGregor Gedigtefees deel te neem (26 tot 28 Augustus 2016)

Ons is bly om aan te kondig dat die volgende McGregor Gedigtefees vanaf 26 tot 28 Augustus 2016 sal plaasvind.

Digters (Internasionaal en plaaslik, gepubliseerd en ongepubliseerd) wat graag oorweeg wil word vir deelname, word hiermee uitgenooi om ’n voorlegging in te dien vir oorweging. Ons soek veral na oorspronklike en kreatiewe aanbiedings wat waarde sal toevoeg tot ons program en ons gehore sal stimuleer en vermaak.

Riglyne vir voorleggings:

• Beskryf jou aanbieding in ongeveer 50 woorde en sluit ’n titel in.
• Maak seker dat jou aanbieding tussen 30 en 40 minute lank is.
• Die aanbieding mag in Afrikaans of Engels en selfs tweetalig wees. Ons verwelkom ook digters wat in enige ander van ons amptelike landstale optree, maar jy moet bewus wees daarvan dat ons gehore tans hoofsaaklik Afrikaans en Engels is.
• Wees innoverend en kreatief en jy is ook vry om saam met ander digters op te tree met gekombineerde aanbiedings, besprekings, onderhoude, ens.
• Stuur asb. ’n kort biografie van jouself, plus enige skakels na webtuistes, publikasies, ens.
• Voorleggings moet gestuur word aan info@mcgregorpoetryfestival.co.za / Posbus 361, McGregor 6708 / faks 086 756 0864 of per hand afgelewer word by Temenos Retreat kantoor, h/v Bree en Voortrekkerstraat, McGregor.
• Navrae: Jennifer Johnson 023 625 1908 / 084 675 1164.
• Sluitingsdatum: April 30 2016
• Indien jy nie teen Mei 20 2016 van ons gehoor het nie, beteken dit dat jou voorlegging vir insluiting in ons hoofprogram, nie suksesvol was nie. Jy is dan steeds welkom om aan een van ons oop-mikrofoon sessies tydens die fees deel te neem.
• Neem asb. kennis dat jy vir jou eie vervoer na McGregor verantwoordelik sal wees en jou eie akkommodasie moet reël. Ons het ’n groot verskeidenheid akkommodasie moontlikhede in die dorp beskikbaar en sal jou graag help met navrae of inligting.

Reservoir Blog. Number one of 2016

Today is St Patrick’s Day. As both my parents were born in Ireland I consider myself to have a pretty strong Irish heritage, and I have always loved their music, film, culture and literature. Ireland has produced a phenomenal number of brilliant writers- quite disproportionate to its population. Today I have decided to choose one of my favourites. The Second Coming, by the great Irish writer, William Butler Yeats.

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

I cannot help thinking how profound these words are. When your“ centre’, your moral compass, is no longer sound, the “things’ will “fall apart”. Although written nearly a 100 years ago, the words are as insightful today, across the world. In our country we are witnessing it. The great men of the ANC Revolutionary movement must be turning in their graves as they witness the corruption destroying a once proud and morally focussed movement. Hopefully the spirit of Plaatjie, Luthuli, Tambo, Sisulu, Mandela, Hani and others will rise up and once again give the ANC some moral credibility. But I fear that all is lost- the souls of the once freedom fighters are sold to the devil of filthy lucre.

Back in our sane village we are starting up the engines to prepare for our Fourth Festival at the end of August. Despite ongoing problems in finding funding, we are once again committed to bringing poetry alive and well to the public. So get your spot booked and come and join us for a wonderful weekend in the whacky village of McGregor! 

Be careful out there!

David Magner

SAVE THE DATE 26 – 28 AUGUST 2016

NEWSFLASH: the fourth McGREGOR POETRY FESTIVAL IS JUST MORE THAN SIX MONTHS AWAY. an event not to be missed! 

Follow us on Facebook to keep abreast of the latest news, programme details and the date when tickets will be available 

DAGBOEK DIE DATUMS 26 – 28 AUGUSTUS 2016 

NUUSFLITS: DIE VIERDE McGREGOR GEDIGTEFEES IS SLEGS SES MAANDE IN DIE TOEKOMS. ’N GELEENTHEID OM NIE MIS TE LOOP NIE! 

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Make your accommodation bookings without delay by contacting one of the following:

McGregor Tourism Bureau:

www.tourismmcgregor.co.za / info@tourismmcgregor.co.za / 023 625 1954

McGregor Country Getaways:

www.mcgregor-accommodation.co.za / info@mcgregor-accommodation.co.za / 023 625 1409 / 076 411 9477

Robertson Tourism Bureau:

www.robertsontourism.co.za / info@robertson.org.za / 023 626 4437

Robertson Wine Valley:

www.robertsonwinevalley.com / manager@robertsonwinevalley.com / 023 626 3167

Maps by Kerry Hammerton

Maps

Kerry Hammerton

My eyes ache

for foreign horizons,

for cold sunlight,

for signs

lettered

in an alphabet

I cannot read,

for maps

of twisted streets

where I can get lost again.

From: McGregor Poetry Festival 2014 Anthology

First published in 2015 by African Sun Press
in association with The McGregor Poetry Festival Committee
ISBN 978-0-620-64600-0


The Poet:

Kerry Hammerton lives in Cape Town, South Africa. Her poetry has been published in various South African and UK literary journals and anthologies. In her debut poetry collection These are the lies I told you, (Modjaji 2010) Kerry was described as ‘an anatomist of romantic love’ and ‘amusing, refreshing and extraordinarily entertaining’. The Weather Report (2014), her second collection, has been called ‘playful, absurd, yearning, elegiac, dark and wicked’. Kerry is currently doing an MA in Creative Writing at Rhodes University.

www.kerryhammerton.com

Sources of previously published poems:

Kerry Hammerton: I am falling; County Kerry; and Maps from The Weather Report, 2014.