Finally the Poetavango International Poetry Festival is on! Everything starts today (Friday) which is set aside for workshops for the participants.

Workshops include one on “Money Literacy and Entrepreneurship” presented by Barclay’s Bank. Acclaimed poet and UB academic Barolong Seboni will run a workshop on “Writing Poetry for Publication and Challenges Faced by Poetry Writers in the Country” and I will be running a workshop on “Building Suspense in Narrative”.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the big day. It will start with a pre-show in the morning. Poetavango and Barclay’s Bank have been running poetry workshops with school children about writing poetry. At the pre-show the top fifteen student poets will lock horns in a grand finale for the Poetavango Interschool Poetry Competition. It will run from 10am until 1230 pm. Tickets to the pre-show are only P30, unless you’ve bought the P200 ticket for the main show, then access to the pre-show is free.

The main show begins in the evening at 6:30 pm. International poets include: Prince Shapiro (South Africa), Blaq Pearl (Zimbabwe), Celestine (Burundi), Toto Mubenga (DRC), and others. Local poets in the line-up are: Moroka Moreri, Ntirelang Berman, Barolong Seboni, Mandisa Mabuthoe, Priskath, Juby Peacock, Ngwao Putswa, Berry Heart, Psycho Cydd, Moletlanyi Tshipa and more.

Tickets for the festival are P200, inclusive of dinner. Tickets can be bought at Pick ‘n Pay -Riverwalk (Gaborone), Pick ‘n Pay Galo Centre (Francistown) and Maun Lodge (Maun).

On Saturday prior to the main event, guests will meet at the kgotla to take a tour of Maun. They will meet village leadership and get to learn about the culture of the Ngami/Okavango region of the country.

Many books and CDs from local writers and poets will be on sale too, so be sure to bring extra money for that.

Last year the event was well attended with some stunning performances.  Can’t wait to see what this year has to offer. I look forward to seeing you there!
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Common Grammar Mistakes We Need to Stop Making

Your/ You’re
Your is a pronoun referring to things that belong or are of you.
You’re is the contraction of the words you and are.

You’re really messing up.
Your dad is angry.

Their/ They’re/ There
Their is an adjective relating to them or themselves especially as possessors (belonging to)
They’re is a contraction of the words they and are.
There is usually an adverb that means in or at that place, to or into that place, at that point, in that matter; it can also be used interjectionally.

That is their dog.
They’re not very nice.
There really is no reason to behave like that.

Effect/ Affect
Effect is a noun that means a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon.
Affect is a verb and means to have an effect upon.

The fire affected the running of the school for years.
The effect could be seen clearly in the school’s results.

Its/ It’s
Its is the possessive form of it.
It’s is a contraction of it and is.

Its colour is brown.
It’s not very cold out.

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