Poetry Africa Announces Dr Gcina Mhlophe as 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Poetry Africa today announced that storyteller, poet, playwright and actress Dr Gcina Mhlophe will receive its 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising more than four decades of contribution to South African oral tradition, literature and theatre. The award will be presented during the festival’s 30th edition, running from 5 to 10 October 2026 at the Durban Playhouse Theatre.
Dr Gcina Mhlophe, said:
“It is a true honour to be recognised in this manner! I’m humbled and my heart is full of Gratitude, Sibonga Ophezulu, Sibonge Abaphansi.”
Born in KwaZulu-Natal in 1958, Mhlophe rose to prominence in the 1980s through her work at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre, including her acclaimed autobiographical play Have You Seen Zandile?, which won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival. She is widely credited with helping revive oral storytelling as a recognised South African art form, performing and teaching across four of the country’s languages – English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.
Her body of work spans theatre, poetry, children’s literature and film, and has been translated into numerous languages. Her honours include a SAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, an Obie Award, the South African Children’s Laureate Award, and honorary doctorates from universities in South Africa and abroad. In 2016, she was named to the BBC’s 100 Women list. Her birthday, 24 October, has been marked as National Storytelling Day in South Africa since 2019.
Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts, says:
“Gcina Mhlophe has spent decades reminding us that a story, told with courage, can hold an entire nation’s memory. Honouring her this year is a chance to celebrate not just a body of work, but a legacy that has shaped how South Africans understand the power of their own voices.”
The announcement follows Poetry Africa’s opening reveal of its 2026 Featured Poet, Koleka Putuma, and comes on the same day as the festival’s celebratory draw for the World Poetry Slam Championship quarter-finals, live-streamed on the Poetry Africa festival page on Facebook. The 5th World Slam Poetry Championships will bring 40 slam poets from 40 nations to Durban this October.
About Poetry Africa
Poetry Africa is an annual international poetry festival curated and presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban.
Running since 1997, the festival brings together spoken-word and published poets from South Africa and around the world for performances, panel discussions, campus and school visits, poetry exchanges, book launches, open mic sessions and slam competitions.
Over 30 years, Poetry Africa has created a platform for poets and audiences to reflect on the role of poetry in society and social change, while also supporting academic scholarship in contemporary poetry at UKZN.
About Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal
The Centre for the Creative Arts (CCA) is an inter-disciplinary hub in the School of the Arts in the College of Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The Centre plays host to seven festivals which over many years have built a strong international profile for artistic excellence and for how the arts are engaged to advance social change and to strengthen South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
Connect with the Centre for the Creative Arts (CCA) on social media:
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About UJ Arts & Culture
UJ Arts & Culture, a division of the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (FADA) produces and presents world-class student and professional arts programmes aligned to the UJ vision of an international university of choice, anchored in Africa, dynamically shaping the future. A robust range of arts platforms are offered on all four UJ campuses for students, staff, alumni and the general public to experience and engage with emerging and established Pan-African and international artists drawn from the full spectrum of the arts.
In addition to UJ Arts & Culture, FADA offers programmes in eight creative disciplines in art, design, and architecture, as well as being home to the NRF SARChI Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture, and the Visual Identities in Art & Design Research Centre.
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