POLITICAL HARASSMENT
FAROUK ASVAT was banned by the South African
regime between 1973 and 1978; and nominated an Amnesty International "Prisoner
of Conscience" during this period.
He was denied a passport until
1986 when he was issued with a highly restricted document; being granted limited
passports in 1987 and 1988 to take up his scholarships. From 1971 to 1995 Farouk Asvat received numerous
death threats from both the Security Police of the apartheid regime; and then from
the African National Congress/United Democratic Front/Congress of South African
Trade Union alliance on the supposed left of the political spectrum from 1984 onwards,
for his views and writings - including from writers belonging to this alliance. An attempt was also made on his life in 1995 by
the above organisations.
AWARDS
Farouk Asvat won the Vita Literary Award for southern Africa for
his anthology, A Celebration of Flames. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship to the
University of California at Berkeley, for creative writing and post graduate work
in English literature; the EOC Scholarship to the Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands;
and a scholarship by the University of Cape Town Health Care Trust to research the
socio-economic-political situation under apartheid (which was serialised in two
newspapers). He was awarded the Kwanzaa Honors
Certificate by the Africa Network in the United States for his contribution to Horses:
Athlone. His poem, "Possibilities
for a Man Hunted by SBs" was selected to represent South Africa in the International
Portland Review. He was nominated an
Amnesty International "Prisoner of Conscience" in the 1970's.
BOOKS BY FAROUK
ASVAT
● Sadness In The House Of Love (novel)
[amazon & kindle 2015]
● The Gathering Of The Storm (novel)
[amazon & kindle 2016]
● This Masquerade (short stories)
[amazon & kindle 2019]
● I Dream In Long Sentences (poetry)
[amazon & kindle 2015]
● The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs (poetry)
[piquant 2006]
[amazon & kindle 2014]
● A Celebration Of Flames (poetry)
[donker 1987]
[piquant 2007]
[heller fund, berkeley, usa,
1988]
[amazon & kindle 2014]
● The Time Of Our Lives (poetry)
[black thoughts 1982]
[piquant 2007]
[amazon & kindle 2014]
● Bra Frooks … (poetry)
[piquant 2006]
[amazon & kindle 2014]
● The Paanies Are Coming (short stories)
[amazon & kindle 2017]
● Weapons Of Words (comparative literature)
[amazon & kindle 2016]
MEDICAL DOCTOR
He qualified as a medical doctor
at the University of the Witwatersrand, but was unable to secure an internship for
two and a half years because of "political listing;" and subsequently
had difficulties at various hospitals and clinics in finding a job. He worked at the Zanempilo Community Health Centre
in Zinyoka - in contravention of his banning order - at the time of its closure by the regime on 19
October 1977. He subsequently worked at Northdale,
Hillbrow and Coronation hospitals, at the Alexander Health Centre, and at the University
of the Witwatersrand Campus Clinic. He has
also been in private practice, and worked as a consultant for a drug rehabilitation
programme, an orphanage, and for the SA Red Cross.
PUBLISHED IN
His poems, short stories and
essays have been published in:
UNITED
STATES: Berkeley
Poetry Review; International Portland Review;
Gar; Screens And Tasted Parallels; Processed
World; Illuminations; Saasm News; Culture In Another South Africa; African Literature
In The Eighties; WherePoetry24; Goodreads;
Requiem; Pacific Poetry.
CANADA: Descant.
BRAZIL: Cadernos Do Terceiro Mundo.
TURKEY: Çağdaş Güney Afrïka Şïrï Antolojïsï
SWITZERLAND: Geneve-Afrique.
NETHERLANDS: Vrije Azania, O Nag, Kom Gou, Bly Weg!; Zuid.
The poems from
his anthology "A Celebration of Flames",
translated into Dutch as Een Feest Van Vlammen, are published on the blogspot:
faroukasvat-poems.
FRANCE: Notre Libraire; Europe: Afrique de Sud.
GERMANY: Matatu; Awa-Finnaba; Englisch Amerikanische Studien; Dokumente Texte Und Tendenzen: South African
Literature; Crisis and Conflict: essays on southern African literature; Sudafrika-Stipendienfonds;
Perspectives 5: South Africa; South Africa: the privileged and the dispossessed.
ENGLAND: Index on Censorship, The Race Today Review, Wasafiri.
SOUTH
AFRICA: English Academy
Review; Staffrider; Imprint; Izwi; New Classic; Realities; Upstream; Wietie; Sesame;
New Contrast; Critique; Writers' Forum; Tribute; The Star; The Sunday Times; The
Voice; The Indicator; Sowetan; Muslim News; Exiles Within: Seven South African Poets;
Horses: Athlone; Belgravia High School; Benoni Students Movement; Shosholoza; University
Students Bursary Committee; Vuka; Western Areas Table Tennis Association; Voices
From Within; New Inscapes; Reconstruction; The Return Of The Amasi Bird; Some Roses,
a Hamburgher, an AK47 and a Puddle; Poskaarte; Worldscapes; Broken Strings; Ten
Years of Staffrider; My Drum; Ourselves in Southern Africa; The Lonely Art; Poetry
2000; A Writer in Stone; The Paperbook of South African English Poetry; The Vita
Anthology of New South African Short Fiction; A New University Anthology of English
Poetry; Northern Lights, Southern Star; The Lonely Art; Poetry 2000; Botsotso; The
Living Tradition; Voices From All Over; kagablog; al Qalam; The Jo'burg Book: a
guide to the city's history, people and places; Inleiding Tot Die Reg En Regsvaardighede in
Suid-Afrika; & Introduction to Law and Legal Skills (Oxford University
Press).
His poems have been extensively
reviewed in South Africa and abroad by The Rand Daily Mail, The Star, Sowetan,
The Sunday Times, New Nation, The Graphic, The Leader, Natal Post, The Indicator,
Lenasia Times, Gauteng Times, Islamic Focus, Financial Mail, Business Day, Style,
Upstream, National English Literary Museum News; Grocott's Mail, Staffrider, al
Qalam, Sunday Tribune, Weekend Argus, Daily Dispatch, Weekly Mail, Third World Quarterly
Literary Review, and Commonwealth Essay & Studies.
TRANSLATIONS
His poems have been translated
into French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, and Turkish.
READINGS
He has read his poems at numerous
community halls, cinemas, cafes, schools, universities, colleges, bookshops, political
meetings and trade union gatherings, and to art groups and poetry festivals in South
Africa and abroad, including Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, England, Canada
and the United States: including the XIth Conference on Commonwealth Literature
in Aachen and Liege, the 7th Third World and Radical Black Book Fair in London,
the 2nd Bad Boll Conference on South African Literature in Germany, the Culture
in Another South Africa (CASA) Conference in Amsterdam, to the English Olympiad
finalists at King Edward VII School, Johannesburg, at the universities of the Witwatersrand,
the Western Cape, Leiden, Vrije, and Berkeley. He inaugurated the Steve Biko Foundation
Biko 3030 Community Festival in Johannesburg (2007).
His poems have been read on
SABC Radio and performed by the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal.
They have also been read in
London, Paris, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Grenoble, Berlin, Stockholm, San Francisco,
Washington DC, Toronto and Moscow.
He has been interviewed for
radio by BBC Book World, BBC Arts and Africa, BBC Topical Tapes and London Calling;
Radio Antilles; and Radio Deutsche Welle; and for print by The Star, Weekly Mail,
Tribute, Azania Vrije and Cadernos Do Terceiro Mundo; and on youtube.
JOURNALISM
He has freelanced as a journalist,
columnist and art critic for the Sowetan, The Star, The Indicator, The
Voice, Grassroots, and Muslim News.
POLITICAL &
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY
Farouk Asvat initiated the Black
Thoughts group that toured the townships in 1973 with the musical group Dashiki.
He was also a founder of the New Dawn Poets, Vision Publications and the Writers'
Forum; and he has worked with various political, community and artistic groups,
including Vakalisa and eKapa in Cape Town; Community Awareness Theatre, Black Peoples'
Convention, South African Students' Organisation, Black Community Programmes, the
National Forum, the Black Students' Society, the University Students' Bursary Committee,
the Institute of Black Research, and the Alexandra Art Centre.
LECTURES
He delivered a paper on "The
Sad Splendour of Latin American Literature" at the launching of the Writers'
Forum. His essay "Creativity and Development:
A Critical Look At Black South African Literature in the Context of Third World
and Western Fiction," was presented at Leiden University, and at the XIth Conference
on Commonwealth Literature held at Aachen and Liege, and published in "Crisis
and Conflict: Essays on Southern African Literature". He guest-lectured at Berkeley University in classes
on South African Literature under the auspices of Prof Abdul JanMohamed.
GRADUATE SEMINARS
& CREATIVE WRITING CLASSES
He attended Creative Writing
classes run by Sandra Cisneros, Ishmael Reed, Stephen Gray and Lionel Abrahams. He took part in post-graduate seminars on African
literatures under Prof Mineke Scheepers at the Vrije University in Amsterdam. He
also participated in graduate seminars conducted by Prof Genaro Padilla on minority
and ethnic literatures, on African-American texts by Prof Abdul JanMohamed, and
on literatures under colonialism by Dr David Lloyd; He also audited classes by John
Bishop, Ron Lowinsohn, Hugh Richmond, and Elizabeth Abel at the University of California
at Berkeley, USA.
[] NOVELS (complete)
¨
A C**** H***** (quartet):
● book 1: The
F******** of S***** (novel)
● book 2: Sadness In The House Of Love (novel)
● book 3: The Gathering Of The Storm
(novel)
● book 4: IN THE F***** OF S*****
(novel)
Well-advanced
works in progress:
[] The F***** of Apartheid (extended poem)
[] The Poets are S***** (extended poem)
[] An O****** Through a W******** (extended poem)
[] The M****** of the M****** (extended poem)
[] I***** in B****k and W**** (photographs)
[] in the S***** of the S******* C**** (essays, reviews, articles &
journalism under apartheid)
[] C************ with M***** (memoir)
[] the *** of Medical Emergencies (a handbook)
[] Quran: translated into modern english
[] M****: a critique of literatures of the oppressor and the oppressed
under colonialism, imperialism and all forms of discrimination (1492-1992).
REVIEWS
§ FAROUK ASVAT :
WINNER OF THE VITA AWARD
"
"A Celebration Of Flames" is a powerful, impassioned call. The sanity and courage of this collection arises
from the poet's unique experiential perceptions of his milieu, making him one of
the few who can write about these traumatic times with such lucidity and lyricism. The strength of Farouk Asvat's poetry lies in
the way he intertwines the complex elements of social and political conflicts with
intense personal relationships. The wide
tonal range extends from sensual and delicate insights into the nature of passion
to the satiric and humorous use of slang."
VITA AWARD citation
"Like hesitating snowflakes
... his words are fascinating in their capricious willfulness ... like unexpected
strokes of a whip."
Susanne
Baackmann, University Of
Albuquerque
“Farouk Asvat … writes about
love and suffering, about individualism, snobbishness, pretence and pride, about
human and environmental beauty and about opposing oppression, and who deploys metaphysical,
lyrical and colloquial language, slang and standard diction, all with equal strength
and ease.”
Cosmo Pieterse, Culture In Another South Africa, Netherlands
"Since he has been in the
line of fire as both a victim of Apartheid and as a political voice in the struggle
for liberation , his evocation of the contemporary South African battlefield and
his testimony of the humiliation ,isolation, deprivation, degradation and murder,
the collective weapons of Apartheid, are chillingly authentic."
Herbert Steyn, to the English Olympiad finalists at King Edward VII School.
" "A Celebration of Flames" (is)
a powerful, impassioned call. I admire the
sanity and courage of this. Your position
and perception make you one of the few who can write on this subject without obscenity."
Lionel Abrahams, editor, Purple Renoster & Sesame
"The legend of poet extraordinaire
Farouk Asvat: ... like vintage wine, proper poetry matures with time, and like vintage
art the voice and wisdom of a poet worth the name is timeless."
Mphutlane Wa
Bofelo,
"... you almost catch your
breath at some of the stanzas ... you can re-read it several times and be struck
by new ideas, metaphors, elegiac surprises, and the heartfelt poignancy ..."
Aggrey Klaaste, editor, Sowetan
"His love poetry soars
with an intense sensitivity, it celebrates lyrically the joys of a most exquisite
sensuousness."
Marcia Leveson, University of the Witwatersrand, in The
Indicator
" "A Celebration of Flames" is
so near to the bone, so full of despair and sanity. There is such gentleness and sadness in the love
poetry ..."
Debbie Arends, University Of The Witwatersrand
"... one of the most prolific
- and controversial - South African poets "
Jon Qwelane, editor, Sunday Star
" ... carries conviction
and conveys a mounting tension which can be glancingly lyrical and simultaneously
politically authoritative."
Peter Wilhelm, Financial Mail
"Farouk Asvat's award-winning
collection of poems crackles with a passionate consuming pace ..."
Z B Molefe, arts editor, City Press
" "The Time of Our Lives" reveals a writer
who enjoys words: he has a sense of rhythm close to TS Eliot and an eye for the
modern image."
Brian Rose, Rand Daily Mail
"Here is the poetry which
in its very contradictions explores accurately the emotional terrain and tensions
of life in the townships today."
Kelwyn Sole, University of Cape Town, in Staffrider
"Asvat's poems ... with
many depths, clever twists and juxtapositions, are exciting, true, and thought-provoking."
Wendy Vogt &
Alan James, Upstream
"Out of an angry silence,
a polished poet is born."
Anton Harber, editor, Weekly Mail
"... one of the best poets
in the country ..."
Gomolemo Mokae, The Star Tonight
"... ringing celebrations
and criticisms of recent political events ... this collection is an important addition
to South African poetry."
Francis Faller, Johannesburg College of Education, in Tribute
magazine
"... Farouk Asvat regards
the honed word as a means of interrogating the slogans and dreams of the revolution."
Michael Chapman, Southern African Review
"Asvat's distrust of rhetorical
formulas produces a language that is capable of interrogating the dreams and slogans
of the revolution."
Julia Martin, Upstream
"A common feature of the
volume is the mingling of internal and external reality into internal psychological
disturbance."
Duncan Brown, English Academy Review
"This anthology contains
some of the finest political poems published in the past two decades ...."
Heather Mackie, Business Day
"Asvat ... explores ...
the turbulence and fragility of life under apartheid and the sustaining power of
love in these times."
Andrew Martin, National English Literary Museum News
"Asvat's poem ('Possibilities for a
Man Hunted by SBs') is a clear and simple statement of the true state
of affairs ... reducible to mathematical terms."
Mbulelo Mzamane, Perspectives On South African English
Literature
"Asvat's imagery is stark
... his poems taut encapsulations of the injustices wreaked on Black people."
Asha Rambally, The Graphic
" "The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs" ... is
an important addition to any discerning reader's literary collection."
Victor
Metsoamere, Sowetan
" "A Celebration of Flames" has hit the
local best-sellers list - a rare feat for a volume of poetry."
Ameen Akhalwaya, editor, The Indicator
"He conveys a vivid sense
of the country's agony, of the brutalization of all those involved in political
conflict. "
New Nation
"It bears testimony to
the resilience and courage of the oppressed in South Africa ... His poetry is devastatingly
forthright and hard-hitting."
Tyrone August, The Star
"Farouk Asvat's incisive
understanding of human nature and ... evocative description of South African lifestyle
under the draconian laws of apartheid."
Lenasia Times
"... (his) poems mirror
deep sorrow, passion and the pain of love.
Yet others glint with a quicksilver humour and are effectively salted with
the slang of street-talk."
Neill Darke, Weekend Argus
"... they possess considerable
power ... Effective imagery abounds."
Elspeth Johnson, Daily
Dispatch
" "A Celebration of Flames" by Farouk Asvat
addresses the intercommunal atrocities that occurred."
Priya Narismulu, Journal
Of Language And Popular Culture In Africa
" ... a guided tour of
the souls of the South Africans he writes about and cares about. ... Hauntingly
universal ..."
Thomas Rome, New York
"... a love imagery entwined
with pain, blood and violence ..."
Josefa Salmón, Loyola University, USA
"... an almost palpable
tenderness for a country whom the poet alludes to as if she were a lover."
Neela
Alvarez-Pereyre, Commonwealth
Essays & Studies
"Poetry is not viewed primarily
as an art form, but rather as the vital expression of a people struggling to voice
its soul ..."
Phyllis Bischof, The Journal Of
Academic Librarianship, University of California, Berkeley, USA
"In "Bra Frooks ..."
Asvat uses witty, humorous, sarcastic and satiric language to expose the contradictions,
emotional terrains and tensions in both Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. He uses the lingo, voice and logic of the man
and woman in the street to expose the absurdity of political repression and social
control and the mediocrity and hypocrisy of political and religious dogmatism. The tenacity and resilience of people in the face
of repression and suppression is exhibited by their ability to see the humorous
side of every situation, laughing at the short-sightedness of their oppressors as
well as having a good laugh at themselves.
This playfulness and wittiness of slang language comes in handy, especially
where Asvat uses narrative, monologue, dialogue/dramatic techniques ..."
Mphutlane Wa
Bofelo, Bluesology
and Bofelosophy
©
farouk asvat
*
original composed: ?
[Johannesburg, South Africa under apartheid].
# english
translation by farouk asvat: 2006/7 [Johannesburg, South Africa under new
apartheid].
<> blog link: https://faroukasvat-biography.blogspot.com
<> direct post
link: https://faroukasvat-bio.com/2019/04/farouk-asvat-
biography.html
<> blog archive : 17 april 2019
______________________________________________________________
[§] Books
by Farouk Asvat:
● Sadness In The House Of Love (novel)
● The Gathering Of The Storm (novel)
● This Masquerade (short
stories)
● I Dream In Long Sentences (poetry)
● The Wind Still Sings Sad
Songs (poetry)
● A Celebration Of Flames (poetry)
● The Time Of Our Lives (poetry)
● Bra Frooks … (poetry)*
● The Paanies Are Coming (short
stories)*
● In The
House Of Love (novel)*
● Weapons Of Words (comparative
literature & literary criticism)
¨ all my books are now available on amazon: in
paperback & kindle
______________________________________________________________
[] please check out my blogs @:
weapons of words: https://faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com
piquante: https://faroukasvat-piquant.blogspot.com
quran lectures: https://faroukasvat-quran.blogspot.com
biography: https://faroukasvat-biography.blogspot.com
books by farouk asvat: https://faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com
[] please join me on:
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faroukasvat
twitter: https://twitter.com/faroukasvat
______________________________________________________________
© farouk asvat. All rights reserved.
Farouk
Asvat asserts his moral right to be
identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may
be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means
whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing,
photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the internet. This publication shall also not be stored in
a retrieval system. And the writing
shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or binding or
cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission
to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the
author.
Reproduction
of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is
liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.
farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The
House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: in paperback @ $15 & kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry
#southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#faroukasvat #weapons of words #comparative
literature #literary criticism
#farouk
#asvat #biography
