Keorapetse Kgositsile

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Keorapetse Kgositsile OIS
Kgositsile in 2012
Born	Keorapetse William Kgositsile (1938-09-19)19 September 1938 Johannesburg, South Africa
Died	3 January 2018(2018-01-03) (aged 79) Johannesburg, South Africa
Other names	Kgosi
Occupations	Poet journalist political activist
Years active	1960–2018
Spouses	Baleka Mbete (separated) Cheryl Harris (separated)
Children	5, including Thebe
Writing career
Pen name	Bra Willie
Genre	Jazz
Subject	African culture Black culture African-American literature

Keorapetse William Kgositsile OIS (19 September 1938 – 3 January 2018), also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960s and 1970s, he was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2006.^[1] Kgositsile lived in exile in the United States from 1962 until 1975, the peak of his literary career. He made an extensive study of African-American literature and culture, becoming particularly interested in jazz. During the 1970s he was a central figure among African-American poets, encouraging interest in Africa as well as the practice of poetry as a performance art; he was well known for his readings in New York City jazz clubs. Kgositsile was one of the first to bridge the gap between African poetry and African-American poetry in the United States.