On 29 September 2022, Poet Xabiso Vili, winner of the Poetry Africa Slam Competition (2021), represented South Africa in the final of the World Slam Poetry Competition in Brussels, competing against slam poets from 40 nations across the globe. After leaving a great impression on the international jury with his poem Forget How To Die, Xabiso Vili was declared the 2022 World Slam Poetry Competition Champion.
Video courtsey of the World Poetry Slam Organization.
His win comes shortly after Xabiso Vili was announced as the New Generations Featured Poet at the 26th Poetry Africa Festival presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 6 to 16 October. Vili will perform as part of the festival in Johannesburg, Durban and online.
“At the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, we are incredibly proud of Xabiso’s achievement. He positions South African Slam Poets and the Poetry Africa Festival at the forefront on the global stages. Xabiso represents a generation of young South African Slam Poets who actively use their voices to advocate for a more just social order. We are also proud of the advocacy work done by Poetry Africa curator Siphindile Hlongwa, to position the Poetry Africa festival on the global stage,” says the director of the Centre for Creative Arts, Ismail Mahomed.
