Toni Giselle Stuart: 'Great-Grandmother Wetland'
Toni Giselle Stuart is a South African poet, performer and spoken word educator whose work has been published in anthologies, journals and books around the world.
Stuart’s poem 'Great-Grandmother Wetland' premiered in front of an audience here at the Southbank Centre as part of Poetry International, at an event to celebrate the launch of Hot Poets International.
Poetry fans and regulars to the Southbank Centre may already be familiar with Hot Poets, the award-winning poetry and climate science project led by Liv Torc and Chris Redmond. Previously this has been a UK-based project, but now it expands beyond these shores as Torc and Redmond join us at Poetry International, to launch this new global expansion.
Hot Poets International – delivered in partnership with the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Resilience Frontiers, a radical initiative mapping eight pathways to a more resilient future – partners poets and scientists from around the world, shining light on extraordinary work being done to save our planet and its inhabitants.
To celebrate the launch of this new direction for Hot Poets, and as part of our climate-centred Planet Summer season of arts, events and conversations, the Southbank Centre commissioned this film of 'Great-Grandmother Wetland', which Stuart created in collaboration with Princess Vlei Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa.
The launch of Hot Poets: International took place at the Southbank Centre as part of the 2023 edition of Poetry International.