Sibongakonke Mama

Born in South Africa in 1989.

Sibongakonke Mama is a writer focusing on poetry and playwriting, based in Johannesburg/South Africa. She is the winner of the National Playwright Competition 2022. Her play Ibuhlungu le ndawo debuted in the main program of the National Arts Festival in Makhanda/South Africa. Her writing has appeared on various South African platforms, including New Coin, where it won the New Coin Poetry Prize.

Sibongakonke holds an MA in Creative Writing (2022) and a BA in Journalism & Media Studies as well as Political & International Studies (2011) from Rhodes University, and a BA (Honors) in Journalism & Media Studies (2020) from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is a former Tender Photo editorial fellow and a 2024 artist-in-residence at Nirox Sculpture Park. In 2022, she was a presenter at the Township Studies Hybrid Conference as part of a special plenary panel on the theme »Discursive Provocations and Creative Performatives«.

Sibongakonke Mama also works in the South African jazz scene as a writer and cultural producer, collaborating with artists such as Thandi Ntuli, Feya Faku, Herbie Tsoaeli, Shane Cooper & MABUTA, Skyjack, as well as Swiss drummer Dominic Egli.