Photography and Poetry combined to explore our relationship with the fundamental element of life, Water. Photography by Dani’s Photos and poetry by Lara Kirsten Inspired by the 2018 McGregor Poetry Festival theme, ‘The Sound of Water’, photographer Dani and poet Lara Kirsten decided to continue exploring the theme of water imagery at the Kleinrivier in [...]

Poetry Supper Quiz with quiz-masters Neil Sloane and David Magner. 18:30 for 19:00 on Thursday 22nd August at Tebaldi's Restaurant. Teams of 4 - 6. Bookings essential 023 625 1871

"Writing the Moon, Learning the Heart" poetry writing course facilitated by Dawn Garisch of the Life Righting Collective in The Poetry Library at Temenos. ‘We know how to get to the moon, but we don’t know how to get on with each other.’ - Arnold Mindell We reach for a poem because the poem’s reach [...]

Clarke's Bookshop will be open for book browsing, networking and mingling with fellow poets in The Book Tent on the Temenos Lawn. Clemengold Gin Bar and Camissa Coffee and pastries will be available.

Welcome Function / Launch of McGregor Poetry Festival Anthology 2018 / Poetry Writing Competition Prize Giving. In The Book Tent. This is an OPEN EVENT and everyone is welcome to attend.

Lord's Wines in-conjunction with the McGregor Poetry Festival presents an intimate evening of dinner, wine and a live reading from the author of "ra-t" at the cellar situated 10km outside McGregor on the road-to-nowhere. This ground level portrait of London’s history through the figures of ra-t and puss-in-boot-s sears with sonic booms and majestic word-play [...]

Event #4: Clarke's Bookshop will be open for book browsing, networking and mingling with fellow poets in The Book Tent on the Temenos Lawn. Clemengold Gin Bar and Camissa Coffee and pastries will be available.

Event #6: Omverf die maan met woorde - Weslandse Kunstevereniging Die Wesland Kunstevereniging is 'n organisasie wat die beeldende asook skilderkuns omarm. Van hulle is ook woordsmede. Omverf die maan met woorde is 'n produksie, waar kunswerk en die digkuns in gesprek met mekaar tree. Die drie-dimensionele woord-en beeldekuns-aanbieding, word deur ‘n sestal kunstenaars (wat [...]

Kuborg / Cyborg  - Martina Klopper (Afrikaans) ’n Voorlesing uit die digter se opkomende bundel waarin temas soos kunsmatige intelligensie en die kuborg /mens versnit ontgin word. Martina Klopper behaal haar B.Mus.-graad (klavier) aan die Universiteit van Pretoria in 1999 en in 2008 haar M.A.-graad in Skeppende Skryfwerk aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad. Sy werk [...]

Love Lives Here - Lerato Sibanda and Melissa Sussens This set promises to be edgy, showcasing Lerato's unique brand of live poetry in which she also employs singing in a capella for dramatic effect. She is joined by Melissa Sussens for the second year running and this duo promise to move and shake the audience [...]

Lust and Death  - Dominique Botha Dominique Botha was born in 1971 and grew up on the farm Rietpan in the Viljoenskroon district of the Free State. She lives in Kylemore in the Boland with her husband and four children. She received a Masters Degree Masters in Applied Linguistics from Stellenbosch University in 1998 and [...]

The Moon is Singing Music, words and movement Programme  - Cheryl Traub Adler brief: An invitation to awaken the body and senses with words, music and silence. This session will allow you to find the opportunity to discover the joys of movement in your own unique body. No dance experience or level of fitness is [...]

A Glimpse into my Soul - Book launch by Ilana Slomowitz This collection of my poetry, prose, drawings and photos is the culmination of a number of years writing inspired by my overwhelming passion for life, nature and my need to share my quirky life view and sense of humor. I left Israel where I [...]

Zisyphus (Buffalo thorn tree) Group - (Jane Fox, David Jeppe, Kay Brown and Jill Marais) Our creative writing workshop was begun by the late Lionel Abrahams, an acclaimed poet, novelist, critic and publisher, back in 1975. It functioned under the auspices of the Johannesburg Art Foundation as part of their curriculum.  This forum rapidly expanded [...]

The Moon's a Balloon - Pleached Poetry Group (Annette Snyckers, Alice Sarembock, Lise Day and Pamela Newham) A presentation of poetry reading and discussion by four members of the Pleached Poetry Group. To help illustrate this year’s theme, The Heart of the Moon, the group will read and discuss their poems of celebration, renewal and [...]

UWC Creative Writing students: poetry reading - Students from the University of the Western Cape (Mari Meyer, Andrea Petersen, Zaytoen Domingo and Shakeelah Mowzer) Come and listen to the voices of the poets of the future. A group of poets from the Creative Writing Programme at the University of the Western Cape will read a selection of [...]

Poetry and Jazz- Douglas Reid Skinner and Christopher Culpo South African poet and editor, Douglas Reid Skinner, and celebrated American jazz pianist Christopher Culpo present a selection of Douglas’s poems combined with Christopher’s free jazz introductions, interludes, accompaniments, pirouettes and punctuations. DOUGLAS REID SKINNER has published six collections, most recently Liminal (uHlanga, 2017), and one [...]

Two Women from East Cape Soil - Leonie Williams and Olwethu Mxoli Olwethu Mxoli, a teaching intern at Riebeek College, has been working, mentoring and writing with the Helenvale Poets for a few years. She also writes with the Ecca group of poets, and has been published in Nelson Mandela University poetry anthologies. Her poems [...]

Beside Myself - De Waal Venter The creative impulse does not emanate from the conscious mind. It has a source that can be described as “beside” the creative person. In this sense it is reminiscent of the expression “to be beside oneself with joy or grief, or some other strong emotion.” In ancient times this phenomenon was [...]

Prettige Poeëte Pleeg Poësie - FAN-Bloemlesing Groep (Willem Fransman Jr, Frans Wiese, Nataly Petersen en Adam Baadjies) Prettige Poeëte Pleeg Poësie Drie woordsmede, Frans Wiese, Nataly Petersen en Adam Baadjies kom stel hul onlangsverskene digbundel, die FAN-bloemlesing bekend. Aldrie kom vanuit 'n verskillende dog eenderse agtergrond. Hulle is boorlinge van Rawsonville. Tog is daar een [...]

Connect - The life Righting Collective (Giles Griffin, Hani du Toit and Dawn Garisch) ‘We know how to get to the moon, but we don’t know how to get on with each other.’ - Arnold Mindell We reach for a poem because the poem’s reach is beyond the confines of the page and the line. [...]

The Moon Within, The Moon Without… Dorian Haarhoff, Marguerite (Osler) van der Merwe, Peter Fox, Gerald Steward) There is a Moon inside every human being. Learn to be companions with it (Rumi) Join us, the quartet… er quarters of the moon (not sure which of us is which) for poems, songs, serenades, lunar insights, a lyrical [...]

Open Mic hosted by Neil Sloane Venue: The Book-Tent

Identity and Belonging  - Heidi van Rooyen This presentation will focus on readings of my poetry that explore the themes of identity and belonging in the context of race in contemporary South Africa, to issues of gender and sexuality for transwomen in Namibia and concludes with poems about the self and mindfulness. The poems will [...]

The Zolani Youth Choir will perform on the lawn alongside the Book Tent Generous donations in the box please. https://www.facebook.com/zolaniyouthchoir/ Venue: The Book Tent area

Being Human - John Maytham To be human is to experience love, war, loss, joy, suffering and grief. Being human means being vulnerable, strong, funny, enraged, anxious and confused. Above all, it involves a quest for meaning. Drawing on a range of poets from Billy Collins to Jane Kenyon, Dylan Thomas to Elizabeth Bishop, John [...]

Tears and Dreams from Helenvale - The Helenvale Poets (Bilingual) The Helenvale Poets are a poetry group, of all ages, from the strife-torn Helenvale community in Port Elizabeth. They have emerged from this challenged socio-economic environment, meeting weekly to write poems about their lives and experiences. The Bay Creative Writing Development Project, under the auspices [...]

Open Mic hosted by Hugh Hodge Venue: Caritas at Temenos

The Moonlighters- Margaret Clough, Geoffrey Haresnape, Adre Marshall and Stephanie Saunders Enjoy the wit, humour and humanity of Margaret Clough, Geoffrey Haresnape, Adre Marshall and Stephanie Saunders in a programmed reading of their poems. Margaret Clough is a retired Soil Chemist and Physical Science teacher. She started writing after retiring to Cape Town.  She has [...]

Full Moon, Dark Night  - Archie Swanson and Jacques Coetzee Archie Swanson’s poetry was first published in the Diocesan College Magazine in 1970 and in English Alive - an anthology of South African High School creative writing in 1973. His poems have been published in the quarterly South African poetry magazines – Stanzas and New [...]

Poetry in Translation -Lynthia Julius and Douglas Reid Skinner 2017 AVBOB Afrikaans Poetry Prizewinner, Lynthia Julius, and South African poet and editor, Douglas Reid Skinner, combine in a joint reading of Afrikaans and English (Lynthia’s poems, Douglas’s translations) and English to Afrikaans (Douglas’s poems and Lynthia’s translations). Lynthia Julius was born in 1993 in Springbok, [...]

Dakini Tongues - Anne Graaff, Tessa Graaff and Monica Graaff The Dakinis in Eastern thought are synonymous with yoginis and refer to 'furies' or goddesses with magical powers, sometimes akin to witches. They fall into two types - those still in the world and those who have passed out of the world and include a [...]

Mengelmoes  Digters/Poets Reach for the Moon/Reik vir die Maan - Booklaunches (Diana Ferrus, Merle Danhouse, Gaireyah Fredericks, Jackie Saaiman) (Bilingual) Booklaunches: Die Mengelmoes digters bundel (collection) - "n Versameling van gedigte" Diana Ferrus - "Die vrede kom later" Merle Danhouse - "Die broodjie" Gaireyah Fredericks - "Ramadan chronicles - 2019" Jackie Saaiman - "Bot en [...]

"Are you two sisters?" Book launch of the English version of local author, Hester van der Walt's memoir. Comment by a reader: "You managed not to lose the intimacy or the heartfelt sincerity of the Afrikaans version." During this presentation the author will be in discussion with Suenel Holloway-Bruwer who translated the book in English. [...]

Lara Kirsten will have an informal popup poetry reading at Temenos Gallery as part of  ‘You in the Water  The Water in You’ Photography and Poetry combined to explore our relationship with the fundamental element of life, Water. Lara Kirsten is a pianist and performance poet. After completing her high school career at the National School of the Arts [...]

"The Mushroon Summer of Skipper Darling" - Tony Voss; and "All the Places" - Musa Khanyile in conversation with Douglas Reid Skinner. Tony Voss was born in Swakopmund in 1935. He was educated as a boarder at St George’s Grammar School, Cape Town, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, and the University of Washington, Seattle. His interests were [...]

La Luna - Luna Paige Luna Paige is known for telling soulful stories through her music and lyrics. She often finds her inspiration in movies, novels, short stories and poetry. This love for the word is evident when listening to Luna's lyrics. She performs in Afrikaans and English and has an extensive original repertoire in [...]

Throw in your Song - ECCA Poets (Eduard Burle, Jacques Coetzee, Olwethu Mxoli, John van Wyngaardt, Brian Walter) Ecca is an informal group of poets, mainly from the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Their name derives from the Ecca Pass on the R67, which connects Fort Beaufort and Grahamstown. It consists of a group of colleagues [...]

That Old, Material Utensil, Language - Dryad Press (Michèle Betty, Joan Hambidge and Sally Ann Murray) Take that old, material utensil, language, found all about you, blank with familiarity, smeared with daily use, and make it into something that means more than it says. Adrienne Rich, “Someone is Writing a Poem” The blurb for Sally [...]

Mettie Maan gepla - Gaireyah Fredericks, Jadrick Pedro Koopman and Duane Miller (‘n lekka mix van Afrikaans, Engels en Kaapse) Our collaborated Anthology we will be reading from is called: "Mettie MAAN gepla" and as always it is produced especially for the festival. Our session Mettie MAAN gepla's time will be divided sparingly and equal [...]

Event #38: Open Mic hosted by Bob Commin Venue: The Poetry-Library at Temenos

Scarborough Voices - Hugh Hodge and Julia Kramer Scarborough Voices – a poetry reading of “As You Like it. Variations on a Theme of Jaques” and some other poems. Venue: The-Well at Temenos BOOK YOUR TICKETS

The Ministry of Poetry - Eyethu Mfazwe Eyethu Mfazwe is from Cofimvaba, in the Transkei and grew up in East London. She is an aspiring spoken word artist and writer. She is the author of her debut poetry book, Ndinethemba: My Hope, My Strength, My Progress. Her work has been featured in numerous online magazines [...]

Every night I rise anew - Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa An interactive performance of poems that remind us of how, like the moon, we rise, and die again and again. Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa: Storyteller. Mother. Writer. Memoirist. Dreamer. Work-in-progress. Ugandan-South African. She is the co-founder, and co-host of The Story Club Cape Town, a monthly platform that promotes the [...]

Poetry from Ukraine by Oksana Kutsenko (Rozumna) Oksana Kutsenko (Rozumna) and Patricia Schonstein read bilingually Since we have decided to focus on the Moon, I would like to perform my poetry regarding my personally “from far away” from my mother land. Globalization gives us an opportunity to be observers, like the Moon. The observers of our history, [...]

Shifting Phases - The Creative Sisterhood (Jane De Sousa, Carri Kuhn, Clare Manicom and Sue Woodward) An exploration through poetry of the different aspects of feminine energy – nurturing and containing, creative and playful, fierce and protective, wild and free, and mysterious. A look at a woman’s choice to shift between and give centre stage [...]

Proefiet van Adam Small, djy? -Willem Fransman Jr (Afrikaans) Willem Fransman Jr staan as 'n eksponent van Kaapse Afrikaans in vermaaklikheidskringe bekend. Vir die werk van die vader van Kaaps, Adam Smal, het hy heilige respek. In dié Woordkunsproduksie wil Willem Fransman Jr die gehoor oortuig dat hy 'n navolgeling van Adam Smal is, Fransman [...]

Knocking on the Moonlit Door - Patricia Schonstein -  (readings from Stanzas and the Africa! anthologies) Patricia Schonstein reads a selection of poems from the Africa! anthologies and Stanzas,  introducing them with Walter de la Mare’s The Listeners Patricia Schonstein is a published novelist, poet, author of children’s books and curator of anthologies. Venue: Caritas [...]

A Finger Pointing at the Moon - Dawn Garisch, Karin Schimke, and Liesl Jobson The heart fills or breaks; A poem is a finger Pointing at the moon. Poetry that speaks to the body is a way to align with the tides of the moon and the heart. We can understand a poem by the [...]

Other Spaces - Kobus Moolman, Sindiswa Busuku-Mathese and Musa Khanyile Renowned poet and educator, Kobus Moolman, will read with young poets Sindiswa Busuku-Mathese and Musa Khanyile. Both Sindiswa and Musa have previously completed their Masters degrees in Creative Writing with Kobus. Sindiswa is the winner of the 2017 Ingrid Jonker award for her debut collection, Loud and [...]

Event #48: Sweet is the Fruit of the Prickly - Chris Mann This is a programme of song-poems for the guitar where I appear in disguise as 'Fafa Hopkins' and sing a series of original song-poems based on life in the hinterlands of South Africa. Chris Mann’s most recent books are Lifelines (encounters with animals [...]

Seahorn Messiah - Dan Wylie "Seahorn Messiah: Me, poetry and Sydney Clouts". Dan Wylie reads some of Sydney Clouts's wonderful but neglected poetry, which has been republished in an updated edition, and from his study of Clouts, 'Intimate Lightning' (UNISA Press). Venue: The Little Way Chapel at Temenos BOOK YOUR TICKETS

Open Mic hosted by Graham Dukas Venue: The Book-Tent at Temenos  

Lutesong- Lente Louw (mezzo soprano) and Uwe Grosser (Renaissance lute) presents Miniature Masterpieces - Elizabethan court poetry in the songs of John Dowland (1563-1626) Lente Louw (mezzo soprano) and Uwe Grosser (Renaissance lute) present a selection of songs by John Dowland. Highly regarded as lutenist and composer in courts and homes throughout Elizabethan Europe, scholars [...]

All is changed - Off the Wall Poets introduced by Douglas Reid Skinner (Eduard Burle, Mari de Beer, Jean Watermeyer and Stuart Payne) We are four poets based in Cape Town and part of the weekly Off the Wall poetry meetings. Douglas Reid Skinner will introduce us. Despite differences in style, our poems share a common interest [...]

Black Thoughts Revisited - Reverend  Michael Weeder, Thokozile Madonko, Zane Dangor, Makhanda Senzangakhona We are a curious group of poets who have teamed up to share our poetry and hold a discussion group at the Poetry in McGregor Festival under the theme "Black Thoughts Revisited" Each poet brings with them reflections on living, loving and [...]

Stomme Jonge Poetry Club (Jennifer Pape and Tom Dreyer) Twee van ons digters lees gedigte uit hul digbundels-in-wording, asook twee blitsgedigte oor ‘n onderwerp wat deur die gehoor gekies gaan word.   In addition to her role as founder and convener of the Stomme Jonge Poetry Club, Jennifer Pape is a web designer for New Contrast Magazine and [...]

A Magdala Circle - for Raising Poets - Vivien Claire As night falls come gather round the well in a Magdala conversation circle to deepening your sense of belonging in a  community of poetry lovers.  Join Vivien, and others, who feel awe at how much poetry in our time is rising up from the wells [...]

"Pretend You Don’t Know Me" - brings together in one volume the best of Finuala Dowling’s funny, poignant and idiosyncratic poetry from earlier prize-winning collections, with a section devoted to new poems. Pretend You Don’t Know Me brings together in one volume the best of Finuala Dowling’s funny, poignant and idiosyncratic poetry from four earlier [...]

The Gathering Moon - Sally Argent, Bob Commin, Cornelia Rohde and Elizabeth Trew The moon circles us on its light-journey of changing moods.  It ascends and fades, mirrors and eludes our hearts.  Our poems reflect some of the moon’s aspects:  now ghostly, now bittersweet, now dappled, now golden and full of promise. Sally Argent is [...]

Lord's Wines in-conjunction with the McGregor Poetry Festival presents an evening of comedy genius, dinner, wine and a barrel of laughs at the cellar situated 10km outside McGregor on the road-to-nowhere. The Republic of South Africa proudly welcomes home, BENNY BUSHWHACKER (aka BEN VOSS), the world`s funniest conservationist, and the only man to have walked [...]

Poetry Eucharist  with Rev. Bob Commin An offering will be taken for a local charity   Venue: The Little Way Chapel  

Clarke's Bookshop will be open for book browsing, networking and mingling with fellow poets in The Book Tent on the Temenos Lawn. Clemengold Gin Bar and Camissa Coffee and pastries will be available.

The Marriage of Poetry and Art -Bernard Levinson My wife is a professional Artist. Once she has completed a painting, the painting no longer belongs to her. It belongs to you, and to me. It has to stand totally on its own. Express its own magic. Proclaim its own personal mystery. It’s at this point [...]

The Voices of Tyrants and Heroes - Jim Pascual Agustin Tyrants & Heroes: readings from How to Make a Salagubang Helicopter & other poems. The poet presents work from his latest collection, focusing on the ever-growing murders and attacks on dissenting voices since Rodrigo Duterte took the reins of power in the Philippines in 2016. [...]

Poets from the Dryad Press Living Poets Series read from their work (Sally Ann Murray, Michèle Betty and Brian Walter) Listen to poets from the Dryad Press Living Poets Series read from their work. Featuring, Sally Ann Murray (Otherwise Occupied, 2019), Brian Walter (forthcoming in Allegories of the Everyday, 2019) and Michèle Betty (Metaphysical Balm, [...]

A Poetry Reading - Andries Walter Olifant Andries Walter Oliphant – born in 1955 in Heidelberg, Gauteng – is a literary scholar, writer and cultural policy advisor. He has worked in the South African Department of Arts and Culture. His writings on South African literature, art and photography are published locally and internationally, and he [...]

What Remains - Jacques Coetzee and Eduard Burle The poems we bring to the festival were all born out of our experience of deep change: frequently messy, often uncomfortable, but always carrying within it the potential for reflection and renewal. These poems all ask, in one way or another, what remains in the wake of [...]

Jozi - Mike Alfred Mike has lived in Johannesburg for nearly eighty years. He has written about the city as a journalist, poet, biographical essayist and historian. He’s run walking tours through ‘historic Joburg.’ The city has expanded so fast it has left him and others who grew up in the ‘old’ suburbs, gasping. His [...]

This year’s entries for our annual Poetry Competition were of the highest standard to date. Inspired by our theme, poets  from across the country submitted a wide range of eye opening and jaw dropping entries. We have invited well known actor Ashley Dowds to read the finalists’ poems so that you may enjoy  the full [...]

The First Fifty Years - Douglas Reid Skinner South African poet and editor, Douglas Reid Skinner, has been writing on and off for some fifty years. His first collection appeared in 1981 and his most recent in 2017. His publications include two books of translated poems. On his seventieth birthday he looks back and reads [...]

Asof Geen Berge - Join Pieter Odendaal for a reading from his exquisite collection Asof geen berge ooit hier gewoon het nie (nominated for the 2019 Ingrid Jonker Prize as well as the 2019 Elisabeth Eybers Prize) Asof geen berge ooit hier gewoon het nie is an exciting and intricately woven debut from the pen [...]

She is the Moon - Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa A performance of poetry and song about women, and the ebb and flow of being woman. Some of these are new poems and some are old. There will be a sprinkling of poems by other people. Some of them will be portraits of women I know. Some will be [...]

“Kimonos in the Karoo” - Erns Grundling and Toast Coetzer In this bilingual discussion, Toast and Erns will talk about recent travels and writings ranging from Japan to the Karoo. Erns travelled to Japan to film a KykNet TV series and his book about the adventure, “Sushi & Shosholoza” will be out soon. Toast’s band [...]

A Return to Nature  -Troydon Wainwright;  and 'dust devils all the way to bloemfontein' - Thandi Sliepen A Return To Nature is a journey into the wonders of nature and the depths of human nature. Featuring two dynamic poets and poems that both inspire and the challenge the audience, A Return To Nature is a [...]

The Horn of Plenty - Chris Mann and Julia Skeen-Mann This is a series of painting-poems that celebrate fruits, vegetables and cereals such as pawpaws, aubergines and rice (and weeds!). The handwritten poems are incorporated in the original images. The event would include at least one walk-about and reading by Julia (the artist) and me (writer of [...]

Open Mic hosted by David Magner Venue: The Book-Tent at Temenos

Raven Games - Dan Wylie Birds, ecology and poetry: a readng".  Dan Wylie reads his own poetry, especially that which engages with our relations with the natural world, in the light of the global ecological crisis. "Seahorn Messiah: Me, poetry and Sydney Clouts". Dan Wylie reads some of Sydney Clouts's wonderful but neglected poetry, which [...]

Eros - Malcolm Gooding and Quinne Brown - script written by Bernard Levinson A play in verse. I have always been intrigued by the astounding masculine contract made between Eros and Psyche. He will come to her only at night. They will make love. At first light he will vanish. He can never be revealed….In [...]

Sound of Broken Moon  - Jacques Coetzee, Barbara Fairhead, Kris Marais and Maura Talbot These poems speak of liminal spaces—areas in which the boundaries between self and the world become porous, or momentarily disappear. They shine a disquieting light on areas that are usually considered forbidden: the long aftershock of militarisation, the residue of complicated [...]

Poets on their Favourite Poems (Joan Hambidge, Michèle Betty, Sally Ann Murray and Brian Walter) Joan Hambidge will facilitate this discussion with Michèle Betty, Sally Ann Murray and Brian Walter discussing and reading some of their favourite poems. Sally Ann Murray is Chair of the English Department at the University of Stellenbosch. She has an [...]

the shores of years - Book launch by Archie Swanson; and Messages from the Bees - Robin Winckel Archie Swanson’s poetry was first published in 1973 in English Alive, an anthology of South African high school creative writing. His poems have been published in Stanzas, New Contrast and the Best New African Poetry anthologies as [...]

Open Mic hosted by Neil Sloane Venue: Chalice at Temenos