Uyanda Kiva, THE POET

My name is Uyanda Kiva, born and raised in the Eastern Cape, Middledrift (eXesi).

I am the 5th child of 6 kids. I am currently in my 3rd year of study in Film And Video Production at the Cape Peninsula University Of Technology and this was a choice made out of passion for telling stories and narrating reality of many.

I was 13 when I was told that the way I write describes poetry by my Art and culture teacher in grade 9 at the Ben Cox English Medium School, in Dimbaza 2013.

From there I was motivated even more by my English teacher in Grade 10, Mrs Gabisile Mncono, as she would teach and explain poetry that made me interested in the world of poetry. When I wrote, I remembered her lessons and that’s a guide to how I structure my work.

My favorite genre of poetry is Narrative Poetry and praise poetry. This comes from my love of telling stories. I believe myself to be the Voice of many without courage to speak out.

What makes me different is that I own up to my work, I don’t follow the rules of the poetry world which include fancy metaphors and grammar, I tell stories exactly how they are and I call a spade a spade. Most of my written work I have never performed, because my performances are always motivated by energy from the crowd. I also feature art work matching the theme of the event.

What I have obtained through my poetry journey recently has been an Interview and Performance with Cape Town TV EKSE TV show, a prize of 2nd place in a Poetry and Spoken Competition hosted by the City of Cape Town back in June 2022 and What I hope to be a Life Time partnership with CPUT as their head Poet.

After completing my Diploma, I hope to work fully in the Film industry and grow my hair business @ HAIR_NATIVE into a bigger platform. I also hope for a signed partnership with CPUT as their Poet and the rest lies in the hands of the universe but this won’t be the end of me.

Those who wish to Book me can contact me on Instagram @Mbomby_k or Facebook @Uyanda Kiva also via email UYANDAKIVA45@GMAIL.COM.