Keorapetse Kgositsile Biography
Keorapetse Kgositsile was born on September 19, 1938 in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1961 Kgositsile was one of the first young members of the African National Congress (ANC) who were instructed to leave the country by the leadership of the national liberation movement.
After a year in Tanzania, where he worked on the Spearhead Magazine as Frene Jinwalla’s editorial assistant, Kgositsile got a scholarship to study Literature and Creative Writing in the United States. Since his first post at Sarah Lawrence College in New York in 1969, he taught Literature and Creative Writing at a number of universities in the United States and on the African continent, including the University of Denver, Wayne State University, New School for Social Research, University of California at Los Angeles and the universities of Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Fort Hare.
An omelette cannot be unscrambled. Not even the one prepared in the crucible of 19th century sordid European design.
When Europe cut up this continent into little pockets of its imperialist want and greed it was not for aesthetic reasons, nor was it in the service of any African interest, intent, or purpose.
...
We now know past any argument
that places can have scars
and they can be warm
or cold or full of intrigue
...
If destroying all the maps known
would erase all the boundaries
from the face of this earth
...
The festive heart knows that
it is always possible to do more
of what you must do
and to do it better, always
...
When I swim in my music
a harmattan of colours
becomes an area of feeling
where a rainbow of feathers
...
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12/24/2025 3:13:32 AM # 1.0.0
