According to the Sowetan, 35-year-old poetry legend, Lebo Mashile needed to chip away at her material again and again to make sure that it was matching the expectations of quality her fans will have here in Johannesburg.
The poet comment initially kicked her poetry career off in the city of gold, so returning was emotional for her. "I am challenging myself for this year. I have new material and I am excited about it. But it has been stressing me and I have not been sleeping [much] because I have been writing.
"The people who love poetry in Johannesburg are the people who raised me in the art form. They have watched me over the past 14 years and it comes with a certain expectation," she says.
Mashile says the issues she generally develops in her written work - politics, gender and identity - will structure a piece of her execution.
The yearly Arts Alive Festival, which started a week ago and will end on Wednesday and as well as poetry, will be displaying artists from music, performing arts and other fine arts.
Credit Image:Facebook.Lebo Mashile