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20 February 2023 | Story Gerda-Marié van Rooyen | Photo Supplied
Nthabiseng (JahRose) Jafta, a Publishing Coordinator 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. She says writing is a way of life for her and she writes anywhere and anytime.

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

Stagedoor 2014 winners
2014-03-31


Akasia
Photo: Jerry Mokoroane



Veritas
Photo: Jerry Mokoroane

The highlight of the annual arts and culture calendar, Stagedoor 2014, was a huge success, with Akasia and Veritas announced as the winners. More talent was also evident at Sonnedou and Wag-‘n-Bietjie, achieving second and third place in the women’s residence division respectively.

In the division for men’s residences, Vishuis was in second place and Villa Bravado in third place.

This year’s theme for the 2014 McDonald’s Stagedoor Finals was ‘Aint nobody got time for that’. The packed Odeion and Kovsie Church were more than enough evidence that everybody has time for singing. Tonderai Chiyindiko, Senior Officer at Arts and Culture: Student Life and Leadership, said that Stagedoor is a perfect example of the diversity of our cultural expression on campus.

Stagedoor is a fun-filled music-theatre competition between campus and city residences where students compete earlier on in the week in rotation rounds, before six to seven residences go through to the finals where they compete for the first place.

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