PPP : Poetry, Port & Pudding Evening with Gcina Mhlophe

Umdwebo 2008 is proud to present our second annual Poetry, Port and Pudding evening held at the luxury 5 star Hotel Izulu. Our guest of honour will be leading KZN & South African poet, author and storyteller Gcina Mhlope, who will be sharing her latest works with us. Sit back, relax and enjoy Port and Lindt chocolate based puddings while she weaves her magic. Take the opportunity have a one on one with Gcina and get your books signed by her.

Gcina Mhlope is a well-known South African freedom fighter, activist, actor, storyteller, poet, playwright, director and author. Storytelling is a deeply traditional activity in Africa and Mhlope is one of the few woman storytellers in a country dominated by male orators. She does her most important work through charismatic performances, working to preserve storytelling as a means of keeping history alive and encouraging South African children to read. She tells her stories in four of South Africa's languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa.

Since then Mhlope has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London and much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili and Japanese. Mhlope has travelled extensively in Africa and other parts of the world giving storytelling workshops.

Mhlope's stories meld folklore, information, current affairs, song and idiom. The realisation of her dreams is a visceral motivator for her and she is passing on her infectious enthusiasm by developing young talent to carry forward the work of storytelling through the Zanendaba (Bring me a story) Initiative. This initiative, established in 2002, is a collaboration with the Market Theatre and READ, a national literacy organization.

Currently, Mhlope focuses on making books available to poor South African rural communities by making sure that libraries are built, and making sure they are stocked with locally and culturally relevant books.

Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις", poiesis, a "making" or "creating") is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics.

Port wine (also known as Vinho do Porto, Oporto, Porto, or simply Port) is a sweet Portuguese fortified wine originally from the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is often served as a dessert wine and will go beautifully with the food on offer this evening. Due to popularity of the wine it is also produced in other countries, most significantly South Africa and Australia.

Pudding is a very traditional form of dessert, highly popular in most Commonwealth countries; the recipes for these desserts are often handed from generation to generation and therefore are perfect accompaniment to an evening of poetry and port.

Floris Smit of Hotel Izulu will indulge the guests with a three course plated array of pudding desserts and delights, and the Stables Wine Estate will provide the port for this unique evening.