Episode 9 (Bonus): Bongani Kona

The ICA Podcast

“When I think of Cape Town, I don't think of the Indian or Atlantic Ocean, or Table Mountain. I think of borders, boundaries, dividing lines which mark territory, and I think of personhood. And the harder, more devastating question, as novelist Madeleine Thien says, of who, here, is allowed to be a person?”

In this bonus episode, our Season 1 finale, we switch focus to bring you the profile of a writer – Bongani Kona. Beginning at a war monument in central Cape Town, and with a public performance that Kona witnessed there in 2010, this episode is about memorialisation, master narratives, home and belonging, and the politics of place and memory. Interspersed with readings from Kona's non-fiction writing, we discuss the history of Zimbabwe as Kona lived it, about immigrating to South Africa, living in Cape Town, and people and things left behind.

Bongani Kona is a writer, editor and co-curator of the Archive of Forgetfulness project. His work has appeared in a variety of places including Chimurenga, Safe House: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction, The Daily Assortment of Astonishing Things and Other Stories, The Baffler and BBC Radio 4. He was awarded the Ruth First Fellowship in 2019 and shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2016.

Music in this episode features the tracks 'Further Discovery', 'Learning from Kids' and 'Emphatic Solace' by Blear Moon, licensed under: CC BY-NC. And by Blue Dot Sessions: An Accumulation, Helmer Sprak, Emmit Sprak, Halpver, Exquisite Motion, Flor Vjell, Kovd and Pull Beyond Pull.

The ICA Podcast is a creation of the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) at the University of Cape Town. Produced and edited by Catherine Boulle.

Read more about the ICA and the vision for the podcast: www.ica.uct.ac.za/ica/podcast/abouttheicapodcast and keep an eye on our social media for Season 2, to be released later in the year.