A new dataset is the outcome of a collaboration with the Centre for Creative Arts, UKZN. This dataset includes biographical information on all the poets who performed at the Poetry Africa festival from 1997 to 2022. The dataset builds on data compiled by University of Kwa-Zulu Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, as part of a broader Poetry Africa Archive Project. The project was conceptualised by Dr. Ismail Mahomed [Director] and Siphindile Hlongwa [Curator for Literature Festivals] and funded by The National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences. Karen Byera Ijumba and Steve Jones developed the data organisation and collection structure and flow, and Ijumba was supported by Sinazo ‘Momo’ Gamedala and Sizwe Hlophe in extracting the date, geographical, biographical and visual data from Poetry Africa Festival Catalogues (1997 – 2022). The foundational data set was first published as the Poetry Africa Digital Map.
ALMEDA intern, Max van Loenen structured Poetry Africa’s existing data, extracted biographical elements from the unstructured prose biographies given by each poet, and then enriched this data through reconciling it with Wikidata and VIAF data. The outcome is a major contribution to the ALMEDA project, which will be linking data about all these poets in its repository.
van Loenen, M., Ijumba, K., Jones, S., Hlongwa, S., Gamedala, S., & Hlope, S. (2025). Poets’ Biographical Data: Poetry Africa Festival 1997–2022 [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14963202
Ursula Oberst and Ashleigh Harris attended the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) summit in Windhoek, Namibia from 19-23 May and presented a paper titled ‘Linking Multilingual Open Data on African Literature and Culture with Wikidata: Experiences, Challenges, and Vision of the ALMEDA Project’. AfLIA works with Libraries and National Library Associations, Governments and Government Agencies responsible…
On 10-21 February 2025, postdoctoral fellow Oulia Makkonen visited the Audiovisual Archives of Radio-Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI) in Côte d’Ivoire. Oulia’s ALMEDA case study focusses on remediations of Kotéba theatre performances. The archive includes some of the works of the famous Ivorian playwright, film director and musician, Souleymane Koly and his Ensemble…
This article provides a case study of the history of the cataloging system at Makerere University Library and discusses how this has come to shape the body of African literature housed there. The article is available as an open access publication. Harris, Ashleigh. “African Literary Metadata and Makerere University’s Library.” Research…
We’re delighted to share the completion of a project carried out by poet and Swahili lecturer (at the Centre for African Studies, Copenhagen University) Lisa Mumbi Macharia. This dataset documents over 10 years of spoken word poetry performances in the city of Nairobi. Mumbi recorded 628 performances from between March…