Lebogang Mashile (born 7 February 1979) is an American-born South African actress, writer and performance poet.

Biography

The daughter of exiled South African parents, Mashile was born in the United States, in

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket ( ) is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence, Rhode Island, Prov ...

, and returned to South Africa in the mid-1990s after the end of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. She began to study law and international relations at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

but became more interested in the arts. With Myesha Jenkins, Ntsiki Mazwai and Napo Masheane, she founded the poetry group Feela Sistah. She appeared in the 2004 film ''

Hotel Rwanda ''Hotel Rwanda'' is a 2004 biographical historical drama film co-written and directed by Terry George. It was adapted from a screenplay by George and Keir Pearson, and stars Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and h ...

'' and has performed in a number of theatre productions, including ''Threads'', which combined dance, music and poetry. She also recorded a live performance album incorporating music and poetry, titled ''Lebo Mashile Live''. She co-produced and hosted the documentary programme ''L’Attitude'' on

SABC 1 SABC 1 is a South African public television network operated by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It broadcasts programming in English and Nguni languages. SABC 1 was established in 1996 following the SABC's restructuring of it ...

and hosted a game show called ''Drawing the Line'' on

SABC 2 SABC 2 is a South African free-to-air television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The channel was createdin its current form on 4 February 1996, due to the restructuring of the three national SABC networks. As ...

. In 2005, she published her first poetry collection, ''In a Ribbon of Rhythm'', for which she received the

Noma Award The Noma Prizes were established by Shoichi Noma, or in his honor. More than one award is conventionally identified as the ''Noma Prize''. Noma was the former head of Kodansha, the Japanese publishing and bookselling company. Kodansha is Japan's ...

in 2006. She was included in ''Beyond Words: South African Poetics'' (

flipped eye publishing Founded in 2001 by Nii Ayikwei Parkes and J. A. Parkes, flipped eye publishing is a company that publishes original poetry and prose on a not-for-profit model. The not-for-profit approach has allowed flipped eye to focus on new writers with poten ...

, 2009), alongside

Keorapetse Kgositsile Keorapetse William Kgositsile (19 September 1938 – 3 January 2018), also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana people, Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congr ...

Don Mattera Donato Francisco Mattera (29 December 1935 – 18 July 2022), better known as Don Mattera, was a South African poet and author. Overview Born in 1935 in Western Native Township (now Westbury), Johannesburg, Union of South Africa, Mattera g ...

and Phillippa Yaa de Villiers), and she is a contributor to the 2019 anthology '' New Daughters of Africa'', edited by

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

. Mashile and musician, performer, writer Majola released an EP in 2016." Majola and Lebo Mashile release E.P"
Artlink.

Awards and honours

Mashile was named one of South Africa's Awesome Women of 2005 by ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'' and one of the Top 100 youth in South Africa by the ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'', formerly the ''Weekly Mail'', is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, loca ...

'' in 2006, 2007 and 2009. In 2006, she was named the top personality in television by '' The Star'' in their annual Top 100 list, in 2007 she was the recipient of the City Press/

Rapport Rapport ( ; ) is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned are "in sync" with each other, understand each other's feelings or ideas, and communicate smoothly. The word derives from the French language, French ve ...

Woman of Prestige Award, and was also named Woman of the Year for 2010 in the category of Arts and Culture by '' Glamour'' magazine. Mashile was cited as one of the Top 100 Africans by ''

New African ''New African'' is an English-language monthly news magazine based in London. Published since 1966, it is read by many people across the African continent and the African diaspora. It claims to be the oldest pan-African monthly in English, as well ...

'' magazine in 2011 and in 2012 she won the Art Ambassador award at the inaugural Mbokodo Awards for South African Women in the Arts. Mashile performed at the Opening of Parliament in 2009. She has been described as "probably the first name that comes to mind when thinking about a female writer making colossal waves in the poetry space".

Selected works

* ''In a Ribbon of Rhythm'', poetry (Oshun Books, 2005, ) * ''Flying Above the Sky'', poetry (African Perspective, 2008, )"Flying Above the Sky"
at Goodreads.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mashile, Lebogang 1979 births Living people 21st-century South African actresses 21st-century South African poets 21st-century South African women writers South African television presenters South African women poets South African women television presenters University of the Witwatersrand alumni