Vuyokazi is a writer-performer whose work encompasses elements of storytelling, physical theatre, social satire and ritual. Her activism is rooted in a sense of outrage with the prevalent universal subjugation of black people, particularly intent on subverting the normalisation of violence against women and children.
A writer, healer, mother, independent bookseller and jewellery-maker, her latest achievements include having her poetry incorporated in a production called Okwe Bokwe, which featured at the NAF main stage in 2019 and was nominated for a Fleur de Cap under the ‘Best New Script’ category last year. The recent selection of her stage play script ‘Blood Bonds’ for the 2021 Teksmark Festival saw the work receive raving reviews and officially marked her directorial debut in theatre.
She currently makes a living as a ghostwriter of web-novels and gets a kick out of the anonymity it offers while releasing her agenda-fuelled writing for the rapid consumption of the virtual market!
Her languaging negotiates the capricious dance between an unapologetic, unitalicised global African voice and the positionality of such voices in the global sphere, embracing idiosyncrasies which are continental yet universally relatable in telling of authentic stories. Hailing from a country with eleven official languages, it is in this multiculturalism and the accompanying sense of dual citizenship between conventional African society and the quasi- cosmopolitan world of urban Africa that she revels- exploring the hybrid identities such spaces breed and poking at the contradictions they encumber.
Recent developments include having her poetry published as part of an anthology commissioned by the Stand Foundation and the Foundation of Human Rights through the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Furthermore, her short story ‘After Dark’ has been published as part of an anthology for African Speculative Fiction for Social Justice, titled ‘Our Move Next’, which is available electronically.
She currently makes a living as a ghostwriter of web-novels and gets a kick out of the anonymity it offers while releasing her agenda-fuelled writing for the rapid consumption of the virtual market!