Profiles on Dialogue among Civilisations Poets, Artists and Endorsers

Joel Deane, Poet: Australia

Joel Deane is an Australian poet, novelist, and speechwriter. He has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s, working as a technology journalist. He has also worked as a press secretary and speechwriter for the Australian Labor Party. Deane's first novel, Another, was considered a “striking debut” by Melbourne Weekly. His first collection of poetry, Subterranean Radio Songs, was short-listed for the 2006 Anne Elder Award, and has been called "brilliantly energetic" and "virtuosic" by Australian Book Review.http://joeldeane.blogspot.com/


Lebogang Mashile, Poet
South Africa

Lebogang Mashile is a young performer, writer and facilitator. Mashile studied law and international relations at Wits University, but realised she could best make a positive contribution to the transformation of South Africa by honouring her love for writing and poetry.
She is not only a published author, but an executive producer, actress, independent record producer, corporate and independent event MC, life skills facilitator and television series presenter.
Her much-anticipated collection of poetry In A Ribbon of Rhythm (Struik) was published in 2005 and was one of the featured titles for Exclusive Books’ Homebru campaign.
At present, Lebo is the executive producer and presenter for L’Atitude, a concept of her own creation and she has been touring South Africa as the official spokesperson for the Dawn Nationwide Poetry Competition.

Lebo was named by Cosmopolitan as one of South Africa’s Awesome Women of 2005.
URL link: www.lebomashile.co.za/

Kim Berman, Artist
South Africa

Kim Berman is the Director of Artist Proof Studio; a community based Printmaking Centre in Newtown, and a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Johannesburg. She received her B.F.A. from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1981 and her M.F.A. from the School of Tufts University, Mass, USA, in 1989.
She has lectured and exhibited widely in South Africa and internationally. She is currently registered at Wits University for a PHD on the role of the visual arts in social change in South Africa.

Kim is the 2001 Runner up in the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Awards 2001 in the category. Kim has also worked with Art for Humanity (AFH) in the Break the Silence and Women for Children projects. http://www.afh.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=175&Itemid=75

Jan-Kees van de Werk, Poet
Netherlands

Jan Kees van de Werk is a full time poet, writer, photographer and filmmaker. He has been publishing African Literature in Dutch translation for more than two decades. He lived for many years in Togo, where he co-founded a publishing house. He is also one of the co-founders of the African Publishers Network (APNET) and has been organizing various festivals and numerous literature-manifestations in the Netherlands and Africa.

Van de Werk put African literature on the map in the Netherlands with his series Afrikaanse Bibliotheek which featured 60 titles of African novels, short stories and poetry translated into Dutch. In 1992 he received the Dick Scherpenzeel award for literary journalism for his extensive work on African Literature.http://www.ukzn.ac.za/cca/PoetryAfrica2002bios20.html

Shailja Patel, Poet
Kenya

Kenyan poet, playwright and theatre artist, Shailja Patel, has performed her work in venues ranging from New York's Lincoln Centre, to Durban's Poetry Africa Festival.
She is currently developing a one-woman spoken-word theater show, Migritude. Migritude has already received extensive media coverage and was recently selected for the International Women Art Festival in Vienna in early 2006 and has received Ford Foundation funding for a Kenyan tour, and an NPN Creation Fund Award. Shailja Patel is also an outspoken member of a new group called Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice.http://www.shailja.com/

Marcelo Brodsky, Photographer
Argentina

Marcelo Brodsky was born in 1954. He has had solo exhibitions in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, New York, Rotterdam, Montevideo, Rome, Caracas and Amsterdam. He is a member of the Commission for the Monument to the Victims of State Terrorism, Buenos Aires and is on the Board of Directors of Buena Memoria, a non-governmental organization dedicated to work for human rights in Argentina. He runs Latinstock, the premier photo agency in Latin America.
www.marcelobrodsky.com/