Up and coming poet Gift Matimba has released his debut poetry collection, Secrets of the Heart, which he said addressed a wide range of themes centred on love.
Matimba said that although the collection was his first published work, readers should expect more in future.
“This is my first publication and there is more to come in the form of poetry and short stories or even novels,” he said.
“What inspired the collection is love in general hence I spoke in different voices. For instance, in the poem, Am I Not? I tried to speak of how a woman in an abusive marriage feels.”
Matimba, who drew inspiration from renowned writers Shimmer Chinodya, Thomas Bvuma and Wellington Kusema, said he hoped to grow his readership beyond the country’s borders.
Although he was introduced to poetry by his Grade 3 teacher Batsirai Makondo, the interest blossomed in high school.
“I couldn’t spend the whole day without writing a piece of poetry. I hoped that one day I could write a book,” he recalled.
Matimba’s poetry collection was published in Harare by Royalty Books.
