This is the third Worldwide Reading organised by the Berlin Literature Festival under the theme: “The Anniversary of a Political Lie”. The first Worldwide Reading in 2005 appealed for peace in Iraq. The second in 2006 was in memoriam of the award-winning Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated for her courageous reporting on human rights abuses in Chechnya.
The core texts to be read in over 40 countries worldwide are poems by acclaimed Zimbabwean writers Chenjerai Hove, Chirikuré Chirikuré and Dumbudzo Marachera, as well as Elinor Sisulu's foreword written for the book Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980 – 1988 (Johannesburg 2007).
In SA, veteran poets and activists Dennis Brutus and Don Mattera and acclaimed poet/storyteller Gcina Mhlophe will be among those participating in readings in Johannesburg, Durban and Grahamstown.
Friday, 7 September, 6pm: University of the Witwatersrand Theatre
Contact: Zandile or Khethani (tel +27 (0)11 836 9624, cell +27 (0)78 651 7111, email
Sunday, 9 September, 2 – 5pm: Kwasuka Theatre, Stamford Hill Road, Greyville
Contact tel +27 (0)31 260 3195
Sunday 9 September, 7.30pm: Barratt Lecture Theatre, Rhodes University
