By Humairaa Mayet
Edited by Imaan Moosa
Performance artist, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers is a nationally and internationally renowned poet who has been a creative artist for 35 years, starting in theatre, moving to television, and finally to poetry and creative writing. She spoke to To EmpowHER about her experiences in the field of Creative Arts.
When I was in the very first year of my Bachelor of Arts degree, determined to one day go into creative writing, I won second place in a poetry competition I had entered on a whim. One of the prizes was an autographed copy of ice cream headache in my bone, a volume of poetry by Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, who handed it to me herself and shook my hand. I went home that evening and read the anthology from cover to cover, awestruck by the beautiful words which stained the pages. I would like to think that reading her collection in one night inspired me to go into creative writing more than anything had before.
Unfortunately, I did not go into creative writing and am currently pursuing my other passion, International Relations, but still write poetry when I can.
Phillippa Yaa de Villiers is a full-time lecturer in the Creative Writing Department at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. She obtained a degree in Journalism at Rhodes University and then an honours degree in Dramatic Arts and Scriptwriting from the University of the Witwatersrand.
De Villiers is also a graduate of the Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris, France. After living abroad for several years, she returned to South Africa where she worked as an actor, performed in street theatre, and wrote television scripts.
In 2006, de Villiers published her first volume of poetry, Taller Than Buildings. Her second volume, The Everyday Wife, was published in 2010, and ice cream headache in my bone, was published in 2017. She has contributed to an array of South African and international anthologies and journals.
Original Skin, de Villiers’ one-woman autobiographical show, was performed across the country and around the world. She has participated in numerous festivals where she performed spoken word poetry and exchanged knowledge with poets and lovers of poetry in workshops and master classes.
I think I've been fortunate in having a unique personal story which I felt compelled to share at a certain time of my life. When I started writing poetry seriously, I found a community far beyond what I could ever imagine, which becomes its own reward every day.
The subject matter of de Villiers’ writings varies. A common thread can be found in her volumes of poetry about her own experience from a perspective which cannot be described as anything but poetic. I have read poems about her childhood and watched them come to life in front of me.
Excerpt from Original Skin:
I joined the thousands at Matthew Goniwe’s funeral,
carrying burning flames of righteous indignation.
And on that day
I saw my first communist flag:
borne above the dust
by the army of the dispossessed.
And I felt so connected.
The flag was the sun rising in the east
like the dawn of a new day of justice and equality.
All our pain carried away on the wings of a freedom song.
What innocent hope, what sincerity.
our raised fists in the innocent air ringing with freedom songs.
Singa masoja ka Mandela
Singa masoja ka Mandela
Innocence until the police opened fire on the crowd, first with teargas
then with live ammunition, and the crowd surged towards
the cop car like a hungry beast and pulled a black policeman out
and quicker than you could say state of emergency,
threw a tyre over his neck,
doused him in petrol and set him on fire.
And we cheered because
here was our power, burning flame
destroying an agent of the dark conspiracy
that kept us chained to our shamed identity.
Sashisa impimpi, sashisa, sashisa!
This day branded me with a warning:
emotions, long bottled, breaking free
cause destruction. A cycle of pain
coming back to haunt us again.
One two, buckle my shoe,
pamphlets were the petrol bombs I threw
three, four, the prison doors
closed on our hoping fingers.
Lapho, lapho, lapho siya khona
Thina silinde lukufa kwethu
De Villiers told To EmpowHER that, above all else, it is nature, revolution, friendship, and love that inspire her writing. This is visible in all her poetry. She writes about race and class in South Africa under the apartheid regime, generational trauma, religion, and a multitude of other issues. Oftentimes, some of the issues tackled by de Villiers are difficult to approach and seen as taboo but this is not at all evident in her work. She writes about each issue as though she is comfortable and familiar with it, no matter how complex and nuanced it is.
I started writing poetry when I was a child, my first published poem was when I was 11. I was brought up in a home that loved poetry and literature, especially the English language. But it was only when I was older that I realised that writing is so much more than words playing on a page. Writing contains the writer, their concerns, their social context and their history.
Reading inspired de Villiers to become a writer. She particularly enjoys reading works of writing which are sometimes funny and sometimes touching but always descriptive.
Although does not feel as though she works in a male-dominated field, she acknowledges that patriarchy is everywhere. “All work that is hard, underpaid and under-appreciated is usually done by women,” says de Villiers. Try being a paediatric nurse in a very poor township! I think we sometimes over-dramatise how difficult it is to be an artist. Yes, we don’t have the same support that other countries give their artists, but we should also remember that so many great artists had day jobs. Toni Morrison worked as an editor in a publishing company for many years, Charles Bukowski worked at the post office, and Pablo Neruda was, in his prime, an ambassador, but before that lots of more menial jobs.
De Villiers has won several awards for her writing, including de Buren Writing Beyond the Fringe Prize and a South African Literary Award. She also won the Overseas Scholarship for studies in Creative Writing. She graduated from Lancaster University with a Master of Arts degree, which she achieved with distinction.
Her most noteworthy accolade is being chosen as Commonwealth poet in 2014 — the Commonwealth Education Trust commissioned her to write a poem which reflected on Mandela’s contribution to humanity, in celebration of Commonwealth Day. She performed ‘Courage, It Takes More’ in front of Queen Elizabeth II, other members of the Royal Family, members of the Commonwealth, and 2000 school children, at Westminster Abbey on 10 March, sharing the bill with Laura Mvula, which added to the intense thrill of the experience.
At present, de Villiers spends her time lecturing Creative Writing, which she finds especially fulfilling – she says the students make it worth her while. Being exposed to great teachers who believed in her was integral to becoming a teacher.
De Villiers imparted some advice to aspiring young writers:
Try to find a circle of other writers to support, read and critique. If you’re a poet, seek out poetry platforms. Read. James Baldwin said, ‘I thought my suffering was unique until I started reading.’ Listen. Come to the 2022 Nadine Gordimer Lecture, which will be given by Mandla Langa. Read Mandla’s latest book! It’s awesome. Writing is a horrible career. Try to avoid it by learning how to do something else well enough for someone to pay you. Remember to eat, fall in love, and have a rich, fulfilling life. Get off Instagram and into the forest and the library. Above all, be patient.
More about Phillippa Yaa de Villiers:
She enjoys exploring nature, listening to music, and dancing.
Meditation, writing, checking her mail, teaching, prepping for classes, marking assignments, exercising, and reading all form part of her daily routine, along with walking her dogs, gossiping on the phone, and trying to avoid obsessively playing computer games.
In September 2016, she joined the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF), an organisation that promotes and advances the development and publication of the poetic arts of Africa.
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