Bio

Ongezwa Mbele is an applied theatre practitioner, storyteller, and published poet. She is a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a PhD candidate at the University of Johannesburg, and a 2021 Atlantic fellow for Racial Equity. She has been a guest editor for Agenda Journal and Imbiza Journal for African writing. She has co-authored various research journal articles. Her poems have been featured in multiple anthologies. Her professional interest lies in utilizing theatre techniques and storytelling to engage diverse communities on relevant matters. Thus, she has facilitated theatre programmes/projects with young people and incarcerated people in South Africa and Norway, and intercultural workshops for Norwegian and African professional exchange programmes, Norec. Collaboration is at the heart of her interest, and she desires to achieve and practice theatrical interventions with communities deemed in the margins. So, her research practice and service work collaborate dynamically with various communities.