Name: Mongane Wally Serote, National Poet Laureate of South Africa
Start: 2026-10-28
End: 2026-10-28

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Salt Lake is the place where the Wasatch mountain peaks frame city streets. Sure, Salt Lake's famed for our winter powder ([four legendary ski resorts](https://www.visitsaltlake.com/things-to-do/skiing-snowboarding/) just 30 minutes from downtown), but that's just one season's story. Summer brings families [hiking through wildflower meadows](https://www.visitsaltlake.com/things-to-do/outdoor-recreation/) before cooling off at a Jazz game or the Gateway fountains. Autumn paints our mountain canyons in gold, perfect for morning strolls that end at local coffee shops. Spring? That's when you might spot baby bison on Antelope Island before heading to the Eccles Theater for a Broadway show. Our soaring Wasatch Mountains rise dramatically from downtown Salt Lake, creating a place where every day offers both natural wonders and urban energy. And while we sit perfectly between the [national parks](https://www.visitsaltlake.com/things-to-do/outdoor-recreation/state-national-parks/) with Yellowstone's geysers and Utah's red rock country, the real magic happens right here, where everyone can [discover the history](https://www.visitsaltlake.com/plan-your-visit/about-salt-lake/) of the city as they find their own rhythm between mountain adventure and city life.

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South African poet and novelist Mongane Wally Serote, born in 1944, was politically active against the apartheid regime. He was detained without trial and held in solitary confinement under the Terrorism Act. After earning an MFA at Columbia University on a Fulbright scholarship, he was barred from reentering South Africa, and he lived in exile in Botswana and London before returning to South Africa in 1990. A member of the African National Congress, he was elected to Parliament in the pivotal election of Nelson Mandela’s government in 1994.Serote’s talk will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Soweto uprising in the context of his friendship with Steve Biko and other members of the Black Consciousness Movement, and will consider parallels to the Black Power Movement and Black Lives Matter Movement. He will also give a short reading from his work.Serote’s work speaks directly to political resistance and engagement. His collections include Yakhal’inkomo (The Cry of Cattle at the Slaughterhouse, 1972), No Baby Must Weep (1975), Third World Express (1992), and History Is the Home Address (2004). His novels include To Every Birth Its Blood (1981) and Revelations (2011).Serote’s honors include the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize, and the Chilean government’s Pablo Neruda Award.This event is co-sponsored by the Department of English, and is part of the Utah Humanities Books Festival. Additional support from Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks, the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Public Library, and O.C. Tanner.Views expressed in Tanner Humanities Center events do not reflect the official views of the Center or the University of Utah.This calendar listing is brought to you by NowPlayingUtah.com, Utah's one-stop, online website for arts and entertainment events, powered by the Utah Cultural Alliance.

Mongane Wally Serote, National Poet Laureate of South Africa

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