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PROFESSOR ZAKES MDA IMPARTS WRITING KNOWLEDGE WITH DUT STUDENTS AS PART OF THE TIME OF THE WRITER FESTIVAL
Professor Mda, who was awarded an honorary doctorate in Visual and Performing Arts by DUT in 2021 for his contribution and achievements in literature and various other scholarly works, was part of more than
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WHO TOOK PART IN THE FESTIVAL, CURATED UNDER THE THEME, “REFLECTIONS, RESONANCE AND REVIVAL.”
WRITERS
Pictured: Cedric Nunn and Professor Zakes Mda at the workshop.
Acclaimed novelist and poet, Professor Zakes Mda, recently shared valuable knowledge with budding Durban University of Technology (DUT) writers and artists at a writing workshop held as part of the 27th annual Time of the Writer festival.
The workshop was recently hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Design’s Art for Humanity organisation in partnership with Africa South Africa Initiative.
Speaking at the workshop attended by DUT and University of KwaZulu-Natal students, Professor Mda shared:“One of the biggest strengths you can have as a writer is the ability to think visually.”
He said one of the joys of reading is the ability to fill in the gaps left by the writer.
“That is one of the many things people love about my writing, I place them right in the middle of the story,” he said.
According to Professor Mda, the reader becomes a co-creator of the story, because of the gaps that are left by the writer.
“If you were to be spoon-fed everything by the writer, that would be a very boring story and it takes away your God-given right to be a creator in the story,” he said.
At the event, Professor Mda got a opportunity to meet Cedric Nunn for the first time. Nunn is an award-winning photographer from
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DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY