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UFS publisher receives feather in her literary cap

20 February 2023 | Story Gerda-Marié van Rooyen | Photo Supplied

Nthabiseng (JahRose) Jafta, a Publishing Coordinator at African Languages Press in the Library and Information Services at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently received the Silver Medal Award and other accolades at the Eurasian Literary Festival held in Egypt. Jafta, an MA scholar (Creative Writing) at Rhodes University, describes herself as an international performing poet, artpreneur, teacher, festival curator, content developer, and creative strategist born in the Free State.

Being an introvert, she says her love for writing gives her a voice. “I can echo my thoughts and colour my grey sky,” she explains poetically. She feels writing is as natural to her as breathing. She is comfortable writing anywhere and anytime. “There’s no physical area needed. We type on WhatsApp in the taxi. We catch brainwaves whenever they appear.” Jafta's creative juices seem to be overflowing, as she confessed to even getting an idea while contemplating her love for writing. “Life throws you prompts from all spheres, but you have to be present to recognise its call. And sometimes the piece decides if it wants to be happy, erotic, or sad.”

Her literacy cap serves Jafta's career as a publisher and her creative writing when time allows. “I read and write. Publish what I read or write. I also happen to recite, read, and sing what I write. It’s all in alignment.” This Deputy President of the National Writers Association of South Africa and founder of the Poetic Blues Virtual Festival writes in her mother tongue, Sesotho, and English. She also has additional experience in the poetry industry, as she was previously the Curator of the Macufe Poetry Festival. She also attended the International Writing Centre at Beijing Normal University part time. Her poems have also been translated into Mandarin and published in Chinese literary magazines.

Jafta says besides the growing catalogue of more than 40 publications, she also has an upcoming multilingual poetry compilation featuring Spanish, Danish, Mandarin, Arabic, KiSwahili, IsiZulu, and Sesotho translations from English. This poet believes poetry is a gift that feeds lyrics to melodies. “And that song carries us to humanity's highs and lows. Prose is how we navigate that gift daily. They are rainbows on melting clouds, events plants rejoice on their rhythmic drops.”

News Archive

Arts Festival Rally promises to be great fun

2009-05-20

The annual Amazing Rainbow Rally, presented by the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and UFS Marketing, will take place on Friday, 17 July 2009 during the Volksblad Arts Festival on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

This year all the checkpoints will be on the campus and around the Arts Festival grounds. Corporate companies in Bloemfontein and departments at the UFS may still enter teams and checkpoints.

The closing date for entering teams is 26 June 2009. A team consists of two team members who must work together to complete a route with various checkpoints. The team, who finishes first after having successfully completed all the tasks, is the winner. Last year, Dr I Babst en Dr L Solomon from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health were the winners of the Rally.

The closing date for entering a checkpoint is 17 June 2009. Teams must complete tasks at every checkpoint before proceeding to the next checkpoint. The company sponsoring the checkpoint will also be responsible for handling the activity at the checkpoint.

The “Arts Festival” Rally promises to challenge teams physically, mentally and even artistically. Festival goers will also have the opportunity to see what teams get up to and how their favourite team is doing.

The Rally will be presented for the fifth time in 2009. The main goal of this year’s Rally is to raise funds for the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health’s “Beds of Hope Campaign”. This campaign seeks to increase the number of intensive care beds in the paediatric and neonatal wards. Currently around 250 children and babies in central South Africa cannot receive the life-saving care they need because of a lack of facilities.

For more information and entry forms, contact Ms Adéle van Aswegen at 051 401 3535 or e-mail to vanasweg.stg@ufs.ac.za . You can also visit our website at http://bedsofhope.ufs.ac.za

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za

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