Zuhura Seng’enge

Zuhura Seng’enge is a fresh graduate from the University of Dar es salaam currently volunteering with Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA). She has been very inspired by literature (especially poetry) since her childhood. She wrote her first poem in primary school at age 12, and since then, poetry has always been her way of expressing herself and inspiring others . As a poet Zuhura has participated in events such as; The Woman Scream International Poetry Festival (2014 and 2015), The Swahili Carnival (2014) and the first Dar Poetry Festival (2015). Her dream is to inspire young people to use Art as a tool for change and development in their lives.

Caroline Anande Uliwa

May 22, 2016

Caroline Anande Uliwa aka Carol Anande is a 29-year-old artist residing in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.

She has been a feature journalist since 2008 writing for newspapers in the country and region to include -The Express, Flare Magazine, Daily News, The Citizen, Bang Magazine & The East African. She now runs a blog on arts & culture as well spaces called MKEKA – carolanande.blogspot.co.za

Marta Haileyesus

May 22, 2016

Marta Haileyesus was born in 1986 in Addis Ababa. After getting her first degree in marketing she joined Addis Ababa University to do her second degree in Theatrical arts. Marta is very well known for her radio show Abronet at Bisrat FM and for her role in a radio drama.

Susie Berya

May 10, 2016

Susie Berya is a Tanzanian living in Dar es Salaam. She is a creative writer, and a feminist with a passion for all forms of art. She’s a 24 years old currently studying for her Bachelor’s degree in Economics of Development and working on her first anthology. She writes contemporary poetry usually influenced by her daily experiences and social issues.

Sandra A. Mushi

April 24, 2016

Sandra A. Mushi is an interior architecture designer with a very strong passion for writing. She is the author of The Rhythmn Of My Rhyme, published by Andika Afrika, Tanzania in 2008, is a collection of soulful poems – a journey of self discovery – women in love; women out of love; abused children; abused women; content women, women who have found themselves (emotionally, mentally and sexually) and women who just want to be.

Sandra’s second book, Stains On My Khanga, published by Hadithi Media, SA in 2014, is a collection of short stories and poems and it is centered around justice for women and the challenges women face, the choices women sometimes have to make.

Some of Sandra’s works have also been published on Africa Knowledge Project, also known as AKP, and JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies [JENDA]. AKP is an initiative by Africa Resource Center, Inc., dedicated exclusively to academic research on Africa and its Diaspora. AKP focuses on critical Africa-centered, evidence-based knowledge and research from a diverse range of disciplines. While Jenda is an award-winning peer-reviewed journal which focuses on social, political, economic, and cultural concepts and categories that shape the lives of women in different African societies.

Sandra’s short story Lunch has been featured in Street Level, A collection Of Drawings and Creative Writing Inspired by Dar es Salaam published by Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Tanzania in 2011. Sandra’s poems Chai and Through Change from the collection Stains On My Khanga, have been featured in Street Level 2, A collection Of Drawings and Creative Writing Inspired by Dar es Salaam published by We Don’t Reed Publishers, Tanzania in 2011.

Sandra’s poem Reflections from Stains On My Khanga has been featured in a poetry anthology, Reflections: An Anthology of New Work by African Women Poets – Contemporary African Women’s Poetry published in 2013 by Lynne Reinner Publishers, USA. This anthology of never-before-published poems showcases a new generation of African women poets, some familiar, some just beginning their literary careers. Their rich voices belie popular stereotypes, reflecting the diversity and dynamism of their environment. As they range across topics encompassing family and personal relationships, politics, war, and the ravages of famine and disease, they show the breadth of African women’s experiences and of their thinking about issues both on the continent and globally.

In 2013 FEMRITE, Uganda Women Writers Association, invited Sandra to participate in the 5th Regional Residency for African women writers. Sandra’s manuscripts were rated very highly by the evaluators. This year, the countries participating include; Malawi, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Sandra was nominated for the fall 2011 residency at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Iowa, USA.

In October 2010, Sandra was invited to the international Hay Festival, a literary and art festivals, which was held in Nairobi under Storymoja. She was there as a Tanzanian writer and poet. Sandra was also invited to participate as an external observer in what EASUN and the PSO (a network of 50 NGOs in the Netherlands) planned as a dialogue event between Northern and Southern NGOs. This dialogue which took place between November 8-12, 2009 in Moshi has been dubbed the Moshi Dialogue. Sandra’s observation of the dialogue was put in poetic form and enacted after each daily session.

In 2008, Sandra participated in the Book Slam in Zanzibar, which happened during the Sauti za Busara festival and involved writers from all over the world. In 2006 Sandra was invited by Kwani to the first ever East African Writers Summit in Lukenya, Kenya.

Sandra has also written for several magazines, news papers and corporate newsletter.

Said Suleiman Ali

April 24, 2016

Said Suleiman Ali is phenomenal poet based in Zanzibar, he is the founder and director of the prominent CHAKUWAZA (CHAMA CHA KUENDELEZA WASHAIRI ZANZIBAR) a Swahili poetry organization.

Victoria

March 25, 2016

United Kingdom No Comments

Victoria-Anne Bulley is a British-born Ghanaian poet and writer based in London.

She is an alumna of the Barbican Young Poets and is a member of the Burn After Reading collective, established by poet Jacob Sam-La Rose. In 2010, her poem The Photograph was published in the anthology Did I Tell You? 131 Poems for Children in Need, alongside the work of Patience Agbabi.

Graduating from the University of Kent in 2013 with a BA in English and Drama, she is currently pursuing an MA in Postcolonial Studies at SOAS, University of London.

Her work is an exploration of the limits of knowledge and the body; cultural origins and a search for wholeness. She is working towards her first collection.

llhem Issaoui

March 18, 2016

Ilhem Issaoui (1992/12/30) is a Tunisian translator and writer of poems and short stories. Her writings have appeared in many online and in print magazines in India, USA, Canada, and the Middle East. She is deeply fond of English literature, languages and translation. Among magazines that have published some of her works are: Salisonline, Mind Magazine, danse macabre online, mad swirl, three-line poetry (prolific press), jaffatelaqlam, turk’s head…

She is also the author of a collection of poems: Fragments of a Wounded Soul (amazon publishing)

“Ilhem Issaoui is our mirror, gateway and companion… into the bright and wounded places.” Rich Norman, Editor in chief: Mind magazine

John Eppel

March 11, 2016

Zimbabwe No Comments

John Eppel, born in 1947, is an English teacher in Bulawayo. He published his first poems in the 1960s, in Two Tone, and his first collection, Spoils of War, in 1989. John won the Ingrid Jonker Prize for Poetry for Spoils of War, and the M-Net prize for his first novel, D G G Berry’s The Great North Road. His second novel, Hatchings, was chosen for the series in the Times Literary Supplement of the most significant books to have come out of Africa. His other novels are The Giraffe Man, The Curse of the Ripe Tomato, The Holy Innocents, Absent: The English Teacher, Traffickings and The Boy Who Loved Camping.

John’s other poetry collections are Sonata for Matabeleland, Selected Poems: 1965-1995 and Songs My Country Taught Me. Two collections of his poetry and short stories have been published: The Caruso of Colleen Bawn and White Man Crawling.
Poems and short stories of Eppel’s have appeared online and in many anthologies and journals, and his recent collaborations with other writers include Together, with Julius Chingono, Hewn from the Rock, with Philani A Nyoni, and Textures, with Togara Muzanenhamo.

Semiha

March 11, 2016

Semiha has been writing poetry since the 7th grade, mostly as an alternative to a diary. She has also started writing short stories, and hopes to write a full set someday-but mostly reverts to poetry as her native tongue.

Richard Mbuthia

March 10, 2016

Richard Mbuthia is an English and Literature teacher in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Poetry is his second love: the rhythm, verse and verve of poetry are ingredients of a great love story. The twenty six letters of the alphabet amaze him with their ability to be used as instruments of change – their volatility, pointedness, efficiency and aptness cannot be gainsaid.

His ambition is that one day he will be a poet of high repute; a poet churning out metres and metres of verse; a poet on the drawing board of many a winning verse; a poet charting the way for revolutionary pieces; a poet telling the African story as it is and as it ought to be.

Princely

February 25, 2016

Princely is a poet based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.

Nkateko Masinga

February 22, 2016

South Africa No Comments

Nkateko Masinga is a medical student, poet and writer. She has been writing poetry since primary school and her earlier work has been published in various school yearbooks and anthologies.
Her more recent work has been published in an anthology called “Dear South Africa” in conjunction with Poetry Potion, an online poetry journal in South Africa.

In August 2015, she entered the Speak Out Loud Youth Poetry Competition in Pretoria and was placed in the top 30. In the same month, Nkateko self-published her first poetry chapbook, titled “The Sin In My Blackness.”

She is currently working on an audiobook to accompany her chapbook, as well as writing new poems for her second chapbook.

Ngasuma Kanyeka

February 21, 2016

Ngasuma Kanyeka is a poet based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.

Mihret Kebede

February 21, 2016

Mihret Kebede was born in Dessie, Ethiopia and graduated from AAU School of Fine Arts and Design in painting with distinction, 2007. She then took a one-year photography course with Desta for Africa (DFA). She received a certificate award of recognition as the best practicing female artist in 2013 from Ministry of culture and tourism, Ethiopia.

Mihret is the founding director of Netsa Art Village, Artists collective, manager of Ethio Color band and founder and manager of the popular Tobiya Poetic Jazz monthly event.

Charity Hutete

February 20, 2016

Zimbabwe No Comments

Zimbabwe’s Charity Hutete is a dynamic page and performance poet whose written work has been described as ‘a layered feast’. Her innovative use of words infused with the alluring harmonic refrains that often accompany her acts always result in tasteful, culturally rich and thought provoking entertainment. Charity’s poetry is characterized by rich allegories which interrogate vast social realties earning her the nick-name ‘aCuriousPoet’. She has exhibited her work at several international festivals in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Norway.

“I would describe myself as a lover of life and words. My art speaks my truth expressed in witty words and alluring rhythms. Always worth a listen” Charity Hutete, aCuriousPoet, 2014

Mulumba Ivan Matthias

February 12, 2016

Uganda No Comments

Mulumba Ivan Matthias is a Ugandan author living in Kampala, Uganda. He is a valuation surveyor by profession. He is the author of a collection of poems, Poetry In Motion, published in 2012. His poetry and short fiction have been published in The Kalahari Review, Readers’ Café Africa, Africa Book Club, Munyori Literary Journal and Lawino Magazine. You can see more of his work on his blog http://mimulumba.wordpress.com/.

Nebila Abdulmelik

February 10, 2016

Nebila Abdulmelik is a pan-Africanist and feminist who is passionate about social justice. Birthed in Addis, she has since criss-crossed the earth and found herself back in the city that birthed her. She uses the creative arts, particularly photography and poetry to speak her peace. Connect with her here @aliben86 and http://aliben86.wordpress.com

Langa Sarakikya

February 10, 2016

Langa Sarakikya is a 38 year old single working mother of two children. For her, words are jewels to be respected and valued, their power never to be underestimated. Each word represents a magnificent jewel that when strung together in a particular pattern with other jewels, creates a unique stunning necklace to be worn and displayed with humility and emotion.

Langa has bipolar disorder, a mental illness that can take a person from extreme highs to extreme lows. Much of what she writes is inspired by extreme moods that allow her creativity to manifest in ways that are grounded in Truth. Her own Truth.

Langa has been writing short stories, poems, and keeping a journal since she was a young child but has never been published. She writes to fulfill her own urge to get words down on paper and in so doing expresses herself and achieves a level of satisfaction that nothing else can deliver.

Christine Coates

February 8, 2016

South Africa No Comments

Christine Coates is a poet and writer from Cape Town. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. She has an interest in life-writing or memoir, and the recovery of personal history through public and private imagery. She makes hand-wrought books from found objects, paper and leather. She has undertaken the 800km pilgrimage across Spain, on the Camino de Compostela, and written an account of it.

Her stories and poems have been published in various literary journals; New Contrast, New Coin, Deep Water Literary Journal, scrutiny2, Stanzas, McGregor Poetry festival anthologies 2014, 2015. Found Poem was a finalist in the Cambridge Conference of Contemporary Poetry Review 2002, Africa Focus. Her poems were selected for the EU Sol Plaatje Poetry anthologies 2011 – 2015, and the Best “New” African Poets 2015 Anthology. Her debut collection, Homegrown, published in 2014 by Modjaji Books received an honourable mention from the Glenna Luschei Prize. Of the Prize judge Gabeba Baderoon said, “I read these books and many of the poems again and again. The [finalist books] feel thoughtfully shaped, rivetingly intelligent and superbly crafted. I found them a pleasure and an education to read. Indeed, my horizons were vastly expanded by the extraordinarily well-realized poems in these collections.”

Her short stories have been highly commended; “The Cat’s Wife” in ADULTS ONLY, the Short.Sharp.Stories anthology 2014, and “How We Look Now” in WATER, the Short Story Day Africa anthology 2015.

She has also written a cookbook: From the Heart; family, food and memory. Christine belongs to Finuala Dowling’s monthly poetry group and a women’s writing collaborative; The Grail Women Writers. She has worked as a teacher and adult educator. Now she freelances as an editor and writing coach.

Gonsalves Mpili

February 7, 2016

Gonsalves Mpili started writing poems at the age of 16 during his secondary education. He is now a graduate from the Institute of Finance Management, and still continues to write. He is the organiser of Woman Scream, a worldwide movement to fight violence against women through art and poetry.

Christine Yohannes

February 7, 2016

I love life; life loves me because it has blessed me with a gift: Poetry, my doorway to the secrets of the Universe. I never claim to express undeniable truth but my own, one I wish to share with the world. Words have power, my mission is to use these words to paint the life I wish to live as well as the world I wish to live in … and poetry is my paint brush! My vision is simple, through the words I express I want to bring change! Thank you for joining me on this journey!

Haji Gora Haji

February 6, 2016

Haji Gora Haji is a poet, a writer and a minstrel whose art remained largely unknown to a wider Swahili public until the publication of his brief anthology Kimbunga (The Hurricane) in 1994. For forty years he has been active in a broad spectrum of Swalili literature. He is a word artist in the true Swahili tradition.

Demere Kitunga

January 31, 2016

Demere Kitunga is a feminist activist and advocate for literacy. She engages with literature and knowledge generation in various forms and through it mentor young people to become free thinkers and creative communicators.

She is the head of E&D Readership and Development Agency popularly known as Soma (synonym for read and learn in Kiswahili), a not for profit outfit which runs Soma Book Café, a literary hub for leisure, culture and learning.

She shares her poems individually and in relevant platforms including: Tanzanian and African feminist collective; Fanani Flava, Kisima cha Mashairi (an online poetry collective); and Waka Poetry Consortium. Her published poems include but are not limited to: a translation into Kiswahili of A new Initiation Song by Elizabeth Khaxas first published in Sister Namibia; and a few in Diwani ya Kisima Juzuu la I a Swahili anthology I co-edited with Kahabi Isangula published online (available on Amazon).

Liyou Libsekal

January 31, 2016

Liyou Libsekal is an Ethiopian poet living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She grew up traveling and living mainly in East Africa. Liyou’s chapbook, Bearing Heavy Things is part of the 2015 African Poetry Book Fund’s New Generation African Poets series.

Moroka Moreri

January 31, 2016

Moroka Moreri is a renowned Setswana oral poet who has penned several poetry books such as Motlhaolosa, Tshokele, Khuduela, Mmamowe, Sehutswelo and Thotse. His masterpiece Motlhaolosa was prescribed for junior schools and used in Cambridge examinations. Coupled with this talent is his immense skill of translation which was called upon in translating a mathematics textbook for primary schools. Moreri is also a renowned cultural activist whose poems have been extensively used by musicians on collaborative ventures.

Nomangesi Kelemi

South Africa No Comments

Nomangesi was born in 1966 in the Eastern Cape in the Grahamstown district. She can speak two languages, English and IsiXhosa. She started writing poetry in 2007, which are in isiXhosa and are unpublished.

Japhala “Aether” Gwangwa

Aether, real name Japhala Gwangwa has had a fascination for music and creative writing since he was very, very young. At 18 months he had his first toy guitar (which he named “Fay Fay” after the George Michael song Faith), at 12 he decided he wanted to be in a band “as a guitarist or a drummer”, but he still passionately pursued creative writing, at 15 he said why not both, and started writing a book and got his first real guitar, all the while freestyle rapping on a whim.

From this point forth his love for writing and music exploded setting him further along the already blazing path toward his dreams where he taught himself the guitar, drums, the art of freestyle rap and spoken word as well as composing music digitally with the aid of his live instrumentation skills. Around the same time, he nurtured his passion for creative writing and after writing a several hundred page manuscript, started studying Sound Technology at Limkokwing Botswana.

As a performer, Aether is multifaceted. In 2008 he was rhythm guitarist and lead singer for “The Substance” an alternative rock band that went from playing in clubs and cafes to Woodstock Botswana in the course of one year. IN 2009/2010 he rapped, a lot, working with local artists and having a few songs on local and online radio. In 2010/11 he played drums for a popular reggae band while ‘session guitaring’ for artists who needed it. He sharpened his freestyle skills and spent time battling other rappers until he got bored of this and in 2012 he released a mix tape titled Memories of the Darkside, during this time he completed his Sound Technology diploma, passing with flying colours and getting a scholarship to continue his studies in Malaysia, where he acquired his Degree in Film and Television.

While he was in Malaysia he performed regularly. Of his regular performances one of his most memorable was at Urbanscapes Malaysia 2013.

In June 2014 he joined local superband the Contrabanditz which was made up of 5 solo artists united by a common cause.

In October 2014 he was invited by the World Islamic Economic Forum to Perform at the 7th annual MocaFEST in Dubai where he also performed at an event called ARTNIGHTS @ Gate Village, which is one of the most widely attended art exhibitions in Dubai every year.

In October 2015, he attend Maun International Poetry Festival with the Contrabanditz, as well as opening for Freshly Ground and Oliver Mtukudzi. In November Aether along with the Contrabanditz opened for Joss Stone at the Mascom Live Sessions.

Boasting a repertoire of conscious lyrics inspired by the Light. Aether sets out to inspire all he comes across, with the goal of lighting a fire in them, one that will cause ripples of Hope, Faith and Love to wash over a darkening world.

Tiro Sebina

Tiro Sebina teaches courses in Literary Theory and Criticism at University of Botswana. He also coordinates (UB) Writers’ Workshop on Wednesday evenings. His poems appear in a number of anthologies and journals. He coaches Creative Writing on Friday afternoons at the Gaborone Public Library’s Children’s Section. Besides contributing occasional book reviews, he intermittently writes opinion columns in some newspapers in Botswana.

Ndi’Aphrykah