IN CONVERSATION with Roshnie Moonsammy (Founder of Afro Arts SA)

With over 30 years of experience in cultural event production, Roshnie Moonsammy has dedicated her career to creating platforms that bring education and entertainment together while celebrating African creativity. Working with both local and international artists, she was among the team that established the Arts Alive Festival in 1993, supported by the City of Johannesburg, where she worked until 2000 before assisting with the festival in later years. She went on to establish the Urban Voices Festival, which helped bring performance poetry into the mainstream in South Africa, before founding Afro Arts SA, the organisation behind the African Women Writers’ Symposium. Now celebrating its 12th edition, the symposium, supported by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, continues to amplify African women’s voices and create space for conversations about literature, leadership, unity and social justice. With expertise spanning curation, marketing, fundraising and event production, Moonsammy remains committed to preserving African literary legacies while creating opportunities for writers and artists to shape contemporary cultural narratives.