Ugandan poet Beverley Nambozo fascinates world with "Dress Me in Disobedience"

It was a long time coming. 

Ugandan poet Beverley Nambozo has released a scorching second poetry

anthology titled Dress Me in Disobedience.

The poems are deeply personal and tackles issues like romantic love, travel, sexual and emotional abuse and church hypocrisy.

The anthology, published by her company Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation in 2022, is based on the poet’s experiences in three decade as a Christian, and is proof of her boldness and courage in taking on matters mostly discussed behind closed doors.

Nambozo, who has a Master’s of Fine Art in Creative Writing from Lancaster University in the UK, says in the Poet’s Note that the writing the collection was both a nightmare and a fulfilling pleasure.

She says the collection took her two years to compile and that she was grateful for the past few years because, from 2020, she was able to reassess her past 30 years and reclaim her rightful place. 

The poem "Dress Me in Disobedience", which lends the collection its title, states in part;

Dress me in disobedience

allow the fabric of ides

draw its curtain over my eyes

so that I can no longer see you.

The 55-page collection has 41 poems divided into three parts.

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Poets are songwriters - says award winning poet

An award winning poet has heaped a lot of praises on poets.

Poetry Red Carpet award-winner, Farai “Mr Loyal” Mtatabikwa, says poets are songwriters.

Mtatabikwa urged poets to work closely with song writers as this would genetically change the whole concept of music. 

“Poets and songwriters are the same because we both use words to create something interesting.

“A musician can use my poem to be a song and I really think it would work for a hip hop artist in Zimbabwe."

He added that Hip Hop mainly gets its inspiration from poetry. 

He said the difference between music and poetry was that people appreciate music more as they can dance to it. 

“I don’t know how to sing but we can work with each other and create music together,” he added. 

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Bombshells in Ukraine - A poem

Tragic that bombs now reign supreme

evacuate, leave for safety

but not all can get on the busses

Outside tv stations and nations come in solidarity

Refugees welcome

The signs read

The literate students and the workers

Africans and Asians and others of the darker shade of human

get shoved and told to go their place

at the back of the line

or simply

GO “HOME”

ALL refugees welcome?

Maybe

but Africans and Asians have read between the lines

some refugees are more deserving than others

© By Hassen Lorgat

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New Zimbabwean poetry journal 'Ipikai' rolls into motion

Zimbabwean poetry has taken a new ambitious turn with the launch of an exciting poetry journal. 

Cleverly named Ipikai (shona for be open to receiving), the journal is part of a bigger initiative set to be unveiled by the Zimbabwe Poetry Society. 

Zimbabwe Poets Society is the brainchild of two poets, Batsirai Chigama and Fungai Tichawangana. 

They have both positively contributed towards the growth of poetry in Zimbabwe over the past few years. But this is one of their biggest projects to date.  

Everything about the journal was done professionally. 

The first editor of the journal will be poet Tariro Ndoro who holds an MA in Creative Writing from Rhodes University in South Africa. Her debut poetry collection, Agringada: Like a Gringa, Like a Foreigner was the recipient of a NAMA Award for Outstanding Poetry Book. 

Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in a wide range of national and international literary magazines.

The first issue of the Ipikai Poetry Journal, themed, ‘The Duality of Life,’ will be published at the beginning of April 2022. 

The first call for applications has just been announced with the deadline set for March 21, 2022. More information about submissions can be found at www.ipikai.org.

This initiative might as well mark the reawakening of poetry in Zimbabwe. It is a season all poets need to be proud of. 

By Farai Diza - Afro Poetry Times 

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Zimbabwean writing genius Tsitsi Dangarembga to facilitate writing workshop masterclass

The name Tsitsi Dangarembga is synonymous with literature supremacy. 

Her name is known all over the world because of her writing. She is Zimbabwe's literature guru and she is billed to take part as a facilitator for the upcoming English and Kiswahili Writing Masterclass in Nairobi, Kenya from 4-9 July 2022.

She was part of the team, that included the University of East Anglia’s

International Chair of Creative Writing

Programme, which called for submissions. 

The English and Kiswahili manuscripts are sought out from those in East Africa and they stand a chance to attend the week’s residential Masterclass and also have their stories compiled into an anthology.

The submissions from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania run until midnight on 9 May 2022.

The Masterclass WI be a great opportunity for writers to flex their writing muscles. 

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Internationally celebrated Somali poet and Beyonce collaborator Warsan Shire to perform at the Bristol Poetry Festival

On March 7, internationally renowned writer and poet Warsan Shire will be performing at St George’s Bristol – which is also one of the key venues for the upcoming Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival (March 31-April 10).

The Somali-British poet was born in Nairobi and raised in London, where she became the city’s first ever Young Poet Laureate.

Her debut pamphlet Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth went on to become a bestselling poetry book; followed up by a second pamphlet, Her Blue Body.

She made waves as the collaborator on Beyonce’s seminal visual album Lemonade and Disney film Black is King.

Shire is now launching her debut full length poetry collection Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, a series of poems on migration, womanhood, trauma and resilience that Roxane Gay calls “fiercely tender gifts”.

Warsan Shire is at St George’s Bristol, Great George St (off Park St), Bristol, BS1 5RR, on March 7 at 7.30pm. 

Tickets are available at www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk 

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US$1 000 up for grabs in the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize. Entries close on March 7

The Nigerian Students Poetry Prize, an initiative of Poets in Nigeria, has invited entries for its 2022 edition.

The competition, which is open to interested Nigerian undergraduates, will close on March 7, 2022.

Interested persons are expected to submit a 30-line poem on any theme of their choice.

Reputed as one of the foremost poetry l prizes for Nigerian students, the NSPP has awarded N2m to winning entrants and published 541 poems authored by selected entrants in six anthologies — The Sun Will Rise Again (2016), Mixed History (2017), Deep Dreams (2018, Micah (2019), The House That Built Me (2020), and Portrait of Water (2021).

Since its inception in 2016 at the University of Ibadan, the competition has received about 3,500 entries from students representing over 100 tertiary institutions.

In 2021, the awards ceremony was held at the University of Ibadan, with a cash prize of N400,000 (about US$1 000) shared among the winning entrants.

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