Reading Liu Xiaobo in South Africa

BOOK Southern Africa has posted videos from a reading last week organized by South African PEN and Poetry International Web South Africa. Part of a protest reading that took place in 33 countries around the world, South African writers shared their own prison writing alongside English and Afrikaans translations of Liu's "Charter 08" and "You Wait for me with Dust."

The final item on the programme was the reading of Xiaobo’s poem, “You Wait for Me with Dust”. First it was read in the original Mandarin by an anonymous, masked reader. This was a haunting encounter for those who imagined the solitude from which it was written. It was followed in English, read by Liesl Jobson, and an Afrikaans translation by Johann de Lange was read by Karin Schimke.

The reading was a call for free speech as Liu remains in prison despite the international attention his Nobel Peace Prize drew last year. In solidarity, SA PEN's newly formed Writers in Prison Committee announced that they would begin efforts to bring attention to imprisoned writers throughout Africa.