Poetry for Advocacy

 

Beyond student efforts to change the general dynamics of the presence of artists on campus, another student looks at poetry and its relevance for advocacy. This year, Trisha Nathoo from Rhodes University's student environmental society, RU Green, is one of the main organisers for the local Grahamstown chapter for the Global March for Rhinos and Elephants for 2014.

 

In order to extend the meaning of the day’s events, she arranged a poetry evening reading to follow later that evening. Nathoo held a poetry contest focused on challenging participants to be creative about addressing rhino and elephant poaching. Nathoo partnered with Harry Owen of Reddits Poetry and Professor Dan Wylie of the Rhodes English Department, to hold a poetry reading at Reddits Poetry. Read more about previous poetry events for rhinos. 

 

Reddits Poetry is a monthly event hosted by Harry Owen, one of Grahamstown’s prominent poets. There, the monthly gatherings allow for community members to enjoy desserts, coffee and wine while sharing and listening to poetry read and performed in Café d’Vine. The special occasion featured Wylie and Owen reading their favourite selected poems and exhibiting their own published works. Owen and a number of other poets have had their work compiled into an anthology, “Rhino in a Shrinking World”. Read more about when the book was launched in 2013.