Nthabiseng JahRose Jafta is a South African and International Performing Poet, Writer, Author, Translator, Publisher, Library Book Distributor, Festival Curator, Virtual Planner, Artpreneur and Creative Strategist. She is currently admitted as an MA Scholar (Creative Writing) at Rhodes University, has completed a Management and Leadership program, and is a Dream Girl Scholarship holder.
Nthabiseng is the Deputy President of the National Writers Association of South Africa, and founder of the Poetic Blues Virtual Festival, with two Poetic Blues Anthologies published. She has attended the International Writing Centre at Beijing Normal University, with dialogue & translations between Chinese and International poets, and is featured in the poetry anthology Poetry and Poetics Across Languages. Her works have been translated into Mandarin and featured in literary magazines in China.
Nthabiseng performed at the Lu Xun Poetry and Translation College, and recently returned from the Odense Lyrik Festival in Denmark. She was also invited to the USA as a lecturer, and to co-edit a book. Locally, she featured in the Sol Plaatjie Volume iii Poetry Anthology, where her works have been described as “metaphorical with pure imagery”.
Her book “Free State of Mind” has been translated to Braille and adapted for a film documentary. Nthabiseng also featured in the Botsotso poetry anthology “Home Is Where The Mic Is”, and is a founder of Sun Peo where 30 publications were birthed, including poetry anthologies, literary magazines, children books, audiobooks and live poetry performance DVD’s.
Nthabiseng is heavily involved as a youth mentor, facilitating creative writing workshops in schools, coaching young poets and publishing their voices in the “Pocket Your Thoughts” program. Together with other authors from her hometown, she is also involved with the hosting of an annual “Women in Writing” seminar. Nthabiseng believes that creativity needs to make business sense, and that art needs to comprehend the economics of demand and supply.