Wednesday, March 30, 2016

IN DEPTH INTERVIEW SERIES: Week of 28 March 2016

This week BNAP features Angolan poet TAGORE RABIN DINURA and Nigerian poet Kelechi Ezeigwe

1-CONTE-NOS SOBRE SI MESMO E SUA FORMAÇÃO LITERÁRIA.
TAGORE RABIN DINURA, pseudónimo de Dilen Alsungas Pandieira José, nasceu aos 12 de Outubro de 1987, no Sumbe, em Angola. Nasci nos finais dos anos 8o. Mas ainda criança meus pais me levaram para capital, Luanda. Na época o país estava em guerra.
Angola é minha paisagem, e o essencial de minha poesia são as coisas simples.
Pois ser poeta: “É descrever o que se sente verdadeiramente, a cada instante da existência.
Não acredito num sistema poético, numa organização poética. Irei
Mais longe: não creio nas escolas, nem no Simbolismo, nem no Realismo, nem
No Surrealismo. Sou absolutamente desligado dos rótulos que se colocam nos
Produtos. Gosto dos produtos, não dos rótulos”. Por isso me defino como devorador de livros.
 Gosto do produto e não do rótulo. Pois me entrego a fundo a procura dos grandes sentimentos humanos, como o amor, a amizade e a liberdade.

Quero levar a minha poesia a muitos habitantes. E há muitos lugares, exprimindo em meus versos os anseios da África. Com o efeito de uma força natural, vitalizada no destino e nos sonhos de um continente”. Cheio de senso de humor camponês, de uma bondade activa e infatigável.
Quero revelar ao mundo. Empenho e na resistência do amor.
Convertendo – me numa cifra de metal sem nome, uma espécie de guerreiro que protesta contra a injustiça social.

Assim me defino poeta do povo. Cuidando a forma, o ritmo, e sem perder meu
Ímpeto original, buscando novas e simples reacções, de um novo mundo harmonioso, cheio de amor pela existência. Na certeza de uma vocação escolhida.





2-O QUE VOCÊ ACHA CONJUNTOS QUE MAIS ALÉM DA SUA GERAÇÃO DE POETAS?
OS POETAS MAIS ALÉM DA MINHA GERAÇÃO FORAM DIGNOS DO SEU TEMPO

3-QUAIS SÃO SEUS LIVROS FAVORITOS, AUTORES, ARTISTAS E POR QUÊ.
Meus livros favoritos são dos escritores da era dourada da poesia, estou falando dos anos vinte. E por a adiante….
4- O que você está trabalhando agora?
SOU UM HOMEM DE MUITA CRIATIVIDADE, TENHO SEMPRE IDEIAS.
5-QUANTAS VEZES VOCÊ ESCREVE?

Sou um poeta estudante, que não leva uma vida extravagante. Defendo meus hábitos literários
Trabalhando em meu quarto, escrevendo 5 poemas por dia.
Tomando intermináveis chávenas de chá…  

6-o que leva a sua criatividade?
A minha criatividade da ao homem o que é do homem, leva, estrelas, sonho e luz, noite, razão e paixão para singelos habitantes que pedem: água e lua elementos da  ordem orgãos imutável: escolas, pão e vinho guitarras e ferramentas.
7-qual é a sua comida, bebida favorita
NÃO TENHO. COMO TUDO QUE FAZ BEM AO MEU ESTOMAGO.
8- Conte-nos algo que você fez ou o que aconteceu para você que você ainda pode se envergonhar.
ENGRAÇADA ESTA PERGUNTA, LEMBRO QUE UMA VEZ ESCREVI NA MINHA FOLHA DE PROVA DE MATEMATICA: “ A MATEMATICA NÃO É DIFICIL O MAIS DIFICIL É SABER TRANSMITIR.
E O MEU PROFESSOAR A BRAÇOU-ME E DISSE MUITO OBRIGADO POR ESTA BELA LIÇÃO.


 Kelechi Ezeigwe: “Writing is my Calling”
This week I got to meet Lagos based writer, Kelechi Ezeigwe, who breaks from the mould of accepted African  literature by writing queer poetry. Renowned writer, Charles Bukowski* once wrote, “unless it [poetry] comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut, don't do it [write].” Kelechi Ezeigwe definitely didn’t start writing for fame or recognition but because of an inner calling that could not be ignored, “I am poet not because I am supposed to be or because I learnt to become one or because being a writer comes with this gorgeous aura. I am a poet because it is my calling. I am born with it and what I should be bothered about is whether I am doing that which I am called to do. Nothing attracted me to writing poetry. It runs in the vein.”


TN: What has drawn you to writing feminist poetry?
KE: I once told a friend that there is a sharp difference not only between a man and a woman, but also between a man and an effeminate man. I know how it feels to be suppressed, to be perceived as inferior. It comes with something that kills you, that quenches a fire within. I tell people I’m a feminist because I saw myself being a feminist. I support women’s rights but I never knew there was a defined name for that until I was mature enough to discover they call us feminists and I’m happy being one because it soothes my ideology of freedom, to have a defined individualism, to be who you are as a human, a woman, an effeminate man, as any common man out there hatching his or herself out of this suppressing conformity. There are rights worthy to be fought for; feminist rights, gay rights. I am fortunate to be woven into these two.

TN: What sort of challenges have you experienced as a budding writer?
KE: Well I am still that kind of budding writer who is yet to feel the warmth or maybe harshness of the weather. But if there is any challenge I encounter it is the fact that I am interested in and I prefer to write queer poetry. It is not ‘conformity’, it is not the ‘African culture’, so many people would say I’m crazy, that I am rotten not knowing that being Gay is like being black or white or heterosexual, or African. It is an identity as one of my friends once said. Writing this kind of literature in a world that detests it is a mountain of a challenge.

TN: How have you been influenced by other writers?
KE: Since I met Audre Lords I walked through the streets with my head much higher than it used to be. I am happy that I have always been comfortable with myself; I have always been proud of myself as an effeminate man. Audre Lords fanned the furnace. I love the fact she is out with whom she is. She is a poet with hundreds of amazons inside of her.

TN: And how do you feel about the completed project of the BNAP anthology?
KE: The anthology is a new birth to the world, growing everyday with this admirable vitality. I read some of the reviews and I am happy there are other writers who are interested in writing queer literature. It is inspiring; it is refreshing. The most beautiful of all is the fine nature of the book to bear in itself every piece of humanity, every word and emotion in the heart of humanity, to be born with this spring of diverse colours of rainbow, of you and of me and of someone out there seeing his or herself through that anthology; the hundreds of poems. There is nothing more splendid.  

Kelechi Ezeigwe has been published in The Muse journal of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is a first prize winner for poetry in the 2015 Muse Literary Arts Festival. He lives in Lagos.

*Charles Bukowski, “So You Want to be a Writer”



Wednesday, March 23, 2016

IN DEPTH INTERVIEW SERIES: Week of 21 February 2016

This week BEST NEW AFRICAN POETS has a double interview with Fiona Khan and Magno Domingos
 
Em ser um PEN- GUINÉ , Fiona Khan leva-nos profundamente em seu mundo bonito e animado como um poeta , pessoa, mulher, artista e pensador, e cito: " Tudo é por uma razão ou uma escolha ou uma motivação . Nada é incidental. O Universo eu vejo como uma criação relativa. É uma fonte de energia transiente e é binária . Nossas vidas aqui são apenas uma passagem, uma passagem ou um cruzamento. Não há permanência de qualquer coisa " .

And here is Magno Domingos secret. Some day he went to church late with his wife, thus they had to sit at separate places since the church was almost full. Midway into the preacher man’s boring sermon, he left for home, forgetting he had come with his wife to church. Midway home he remembered he had left his wife at church, thus he drove back to pick her. Magno says this still embarrasses him


ON BEING A PEN-GUINE:   Fiona Khan
       
My literary meandering started in 1992. It was my first poem published in America entitled The Cheetah and the Antelope. It was the start of many successes. These successes came from a very painful backdrop of domestic violence, emotional and mental abuse. There was only one thing that could save my sanity and that was one thing I was born with. My writing! Being gifted was something my teachers discovered when I entered school. They groomed and nurtured that talent through much toil and encouragement because I guess I always broke the conventions. I made and lived by my own rules and restrictions. My appetite and thirst for writing and reading was and still is voracious. I feel bereft or lost without it. Having a lonely childhood with very much older brothers and sisters my only companions were music and books. I am a fantastic singer from opera to pop. I wrote on everything. Toilet paper, tissues, newspapers, walls, books, pages ….
There were many poems published internationally in many magazines and anthologies. In 1995 I had my first children’s book published called I Am What I Am in five languages. It set me on a path that has been an adrenalin rush and I marvelled and cherished every moment.
What sets me apart from other poets is that I was raised and taught classics in literature. So I write with an excellent vocabulary and many feel that it makes me too bourgeoisie. It was a harsh lesson to tone down. I started spoken word poetry in 1995 and even converted it into a dramatic art form on stage with Windows of a Women’s Mind. I know how to teach students and children to write and perform poetry using rap, musical instruments and drama. I can write immediately on any topic and that’s versatility. I don’t need prompts. I have not been promoted much because of racism. Writing and publishing in South Africa has always been white and elitist and sadly I stood alone all these years fighting the system. Now we have young black yuppies who have taken up the fight and I am glad. I was really ostracised for speaking out against the system.
I am a bookaholic and invented the word ‘únputdownable’ in 1982. I live breathe and write books. I am listless if I do not read. I have become more sophisticated now with the social media where I receive all my news, reviews and the latest on everything. I have quirkiness like I must read a new book or the daily paper that is untouched. I love the fresh smell and the crispness of the pages.
My favourite books started at three years old. I was raised on fairy tales and there was one story that was edged in my mind as it was used to scare or control my waywardness. It was called The Hobbiyas and little Dog Turpy. At 4 years old I was an avid reader. At 5 the librarian used to keep all the Noddy books for me. I revelled in Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter and read them voraciously. I was fluent at 5 years of age. My appetite for books was unstoppable. Even the librarian and my family couldn’t cope. As I grew as an orphan it became my only solace.  I was captivated by Shakespeare at the age of 12 and Thomas Hardy and Dickens, then the Iliad and the Odyssey, I read Lady Chatterley’s Lover at 12 years. It was a banned book in South Africa. My brother brought history alive with his vivid narratives of Egypt and Rome and those books filled my imagination with Helen of Troy, Cleopatra and Julius Ceaser. I loved French books from Napoleon and Three Musketeers, then Jules Verne and his Science Fiction, Wilbur Smith because being a South African he never supported the SA government and apartheid. Unlike other authors who cried apartheid but forced us to study their hardcore narratives at school and were supported financially by the education department. I loved the Orientalists in Ghalib, Tagore and Khalil Gibran. Gibran inspired my love for poetry until I found that he was very inspired and indirectly copied the styles of Indian Poets and writers. To Sir with Love was my first introduction into African literature, then Things Fall Apart. Bessie Head and the American writers.
I am presently working on a youth novel, a collection of essays on a gender issue, and my novels, two of them actually. I break this up with poetry and indeed I work so I have a full day. My social life is my writing and my followers or my colleagues. I am the project manager of the Minara Aziz Hassim Literary Award that focuses on debut and published writers. We kick started the project last year to a resounding success. I am presently completing my MBA and I am loving it. It’s my dabbling in the corporate world and its exciting.
I write every day even if its dabbling, doodling or just toying with ideas. I start at 4 am till 6am then again at 6pm until 10pm. I am flexible with time. My greatest distraction is procrastination. I do get a bit lazy. Sometimes I ponder both sides of a story or thought or idea. It takes a few days to reach a resolution. Then I get back to the writing process. I have had many challenges to divert my attention and time is not my best buddy write now. There is too much to do and too little time.
Everything inspires me. From a bee on a flower, to prayer, to the weather. I see beauty in all of God’s creation. Because I am a spiritual being, everything is viewed on a metaphysical level. Everything is for a reason or a choice or a motivation. Nothing is incidental. The Universe I view as a relative creation. It’s a source of transient energy and is binary. Our lives here are just a passage, a passing or a crossing. There is no permanency of anything.
Food for me has no value anymore as it has become too genetically modified and engineered. As a third world country we have become the dumping ground for the rest of the world. I am an award winning environmentalist. I firmly believe in permaculture and organic grown foods. The effects of climate change is devastating and has created a world -wide compromise on food, water and survival. It’s the catalyst for future wars and civil unrest. So I eat organic with a balanced diet and keep living simple. My vice is chocolate.
I am most cautious in everything I do. I know what’s my destination and I don’t allow people to deter me. If they do deter me it’s through scheming and conniving. And I do believe that karma is a bitch scorned. It comes back ten-fold to bite you in the ass and how.
The Leaf did not Fall is based on my observation last Winter and is an allegory for our political restlessness. I watched a tree shed its leaves but this one leaf, grey and shrivelled, refused to fall. For 4 months it bobbed and twirled and sung to and fro but would not fall. I thought of our President. Tenacious and indefatigable in keeping his position. No matter how hard his opposers and political foes dig up the evidence against him, he rises above them and does not fall.  Almost like a weed. I included this line which is very biblical and a metaphor.
Shaded by the Leaven’
In the Gospel of Luke, they speak of leavened bread. Leaven is a raising agent like yeast used to make the bread rise. But is also speaks of the work Jesus did in the community for which few people valued, most never appreciated his prophethood. And it refers to women being domesticated. When one looks at the president it is the women who are his strongest supporters, they who keep the home fires burning.
So the humble beginnings of our President has now become infected and has grown and has become too large for his own good and that of his country.
‘The parched thirst of African soil . . .’
Are the people of SA. They are tired of being raped and ripped. Then will come the succession after the elections. People are fickle and feeble with minds that change all the time. If they are not in favour of a leader ,they will be vocal by the way they vote. A typical
comparison to Animal Farm by Orwell.

BNAP is innovative in this continent in its strategy. It was researched and targeted well, looking for a niche market. This concept is only found in America but has been adapted to suit the African market and expand the opportunities in publishing. The strategic marketing via social media and using the poet’s websites and social media site to promote the book in fact encouraged the self -awareness and sales of the book. Publishing of poetry is limited to an elite few in Africa. BNAP has created a platform for emerging poets and a jump for established poets. At cost free the exposure and marketing of the talent and profiles related in making the poets a commodity and improved their profiles and saleability. With BNAP on their CV’s they are on the move. BNAP is the springboard for success for emerging poets.
My suggestion is that the poems be converted to a spoken word poetry slam at relevant venues. Its art. Its performance, its poetry.

 Magno Domingos

Conte-nos sobre si mesmo e sua formação literária .
 - Não tenho propriamente uma formação na área de literatura. Sou gestor, agricultor e estudante de economia. Tenho 39 anos de idade, sou pai (de muitos filhos), e participe das coisas da sociedade. Sou do tipo que não olha a sociedade a acontecer, prefiro me envolver.

O que você acha conjuntos que mais além da sua geração de poetas ?

- Creio que não escrevo para ser melhor, nem almejo ser especial. Apenas escrevo o que me vem à alma, sem seguir as regras e padrões impostos pela literatura. Na realidade escrevo de forma solta, de forma algo rebelde. Aí possivelmente está a diferença.

Quais são seus livros favoritos , autores, artistas e por quê
- Já li muito... Muito mesmo. Sou absolutamente fã da criatividade de Uanhenga Xitu retratada em Mestre Tamoda, Caito, Bola de Feitiço. Sou fã de Pepetela desde as suas Aventuras de Ngunga, Lueji até ao que ele escreve agora.
- Na verdade aprecio quase tudo que se escreve por aí, desde que eu consiga por as minhas mãos nas obras.
- Mas foi The Canterbury Tales de Chaucer que mais me impressionou até agora. Acho aquilo uma estrela de obra.

O que você está trabalhando agora?
- Neste momento estou a escrever dois livros (nem entendo porquê não terminei ainda), um sobre contos populares, e outro sobre uma infeliz experiência de cadeia por que passei a alguns meses atrás.


Quantas vezes você escreve?
- Escrevo sempre que tiver chance, escrevo a toda a hora, estou sempre a escrever.


O que leva a sua criatividade?
- Tudo que acontece na vida, me inspira a escrever. Absolutamente tudo. Eu escrevo sobre alegria e sobre tristeza. Também escrevo sobre os momento intermediários dos dois extremos.

Qual é a sua comida / bebida favorita?
- Gosto de comer massas, mesmo não sendo italiano.
- Ando a algum tempo a lutar contra um mini-vicio em Coca cola.


Conte-nos algo que você fez ou o que aconteceu para você que você ainda pode se envergonhar
- Fui uma vez com a esposa a igreja, chegamos tarde e o protocolo sentou-nós em lugares diferentes. No final, como não gosto de ficar nas rodas de conversas, levantei fui para fora, peguei o carro e fui-me embora... Só já quando estava chegar a casa é que recordei que havia ido com a esposa e deixei-a na igreja. Esqueci totalmente que não havia ido sozinho. Voltei, pedi desculpas... Mas enfim, até agora me envergonho de ter esquecido que fui acompanhado.


Conte-nos sobre seus poemas em BNAP
- escrevo esporadicamente. Nunca planeio o que vou escrever. Acho que sou uma espécie de observador das coisas que acontecem em todas as dimensões da vida, e está me inspiram a escrever.
- Os poemas que estão no BNAP foram feitos assim, a partir de observações que faço das moções da sociedade em angola.


O que você diria que é único sobre os melhores poetas novos africanos ( BNAP ) antologia e que tipo de impacto você acha que BNAP terá sobre a próxima geração de escrita Africano ?
- A liberdade e espontaneidade que estão patentes nesta obra, não têm par. E a obra acaba também por dar espaço a poetas, escritores e pensadores que de alguma forma não tinham espaço para fazer sair o que escrevem. E de repente temos esta visibilidade toda.
- É um exercício bom, que espero que continue é que tenha também divulgação a nível mais local.
- Claro... A continuidade vai certamente dar aos mais jovens a oportunidade de poderem influenciar-se naquilo que já está escrito, e a terem também a sua oportunidade de se anunciar.


Monday, March 14, 2016

IN DEPTH INTERVIEWS SERIES: Week of 14 March 2016

a good plate of white palm oil bean, fried fish and salad



Bem na verdade nunca tive nenhuma formação literária pois a minha área de formação é Marketing A minha única formação foi mesmo na "Universidade da Vida"



Acho que os poetas da nova geração perderam o norte em relação a verdadeira essência principalmente da literatura poética temos que nos afincar determinadamente no alcance do resgate de valores


Eu leio vários livros de autores Africanos e não só o último livro que li foi "O quase fim do mundo" de Pepetela e neste momento estou a ler "O Inferno" de Dan Brown


agora estou a trabalhar na minha mais recente obra literária um livro de poesia cujo titulo será revelado ao publico em breve. Eu escrevo sempre que me encontro inspirado ou impelido a faze-lo


quanto ao numero de vezes que escrevo depende muito do que me vai na alma no momento a inspiração é um dom divino e há momentos em que nos sentimos mais inspirados e outros menos enfim o que me leva a criatividade a minha Angola e as suas realidades as suas utopias o sofrimento e a alegria dos musseques de Luanda a quitandeira a peixeira o monandengue brincando com o seu carrinho de lata tudo isso me inspira e gera criatividade


minha comida preferida é um bom prato de branco feijão de oleo de palma peixe frito e salada


bem quanto a ultima resposta diria que os ultimos serão os primeiros e quem se humilha certamente será exaltado ademais ninguém é melhor do que ninguém e quando acharmos que somos os melhores Deus fará sempre com que apareça alguém melhor do que nós


quanto ao impacto da nossa participação BNAP será sem sombra de duvidas bastante positive pois impulsionará a nova geração a se aprimorar no mundo da escrita abraços

Friday, March 11, 2016

IN DEPTH INTERVIEWS SERIES, Week of 7 March 2016

An interview with Cape poet, Archie Swanson
  How long have you been in the poetry game?

    I started writing when I was 13 and had poems published in our school magazine and a South African national publication of school poetry called English Alive, when I was 16

What kind of poetry/ storytelling tradition exist in your culture/country and has this had any bearing on your writing?

    I think that there has always been a strong tradition of political activist poetry because of apartheid but there are also strong themes relating to the natural beauty of South Africa. We are a very diverse culture with many traditions but story telling is a strong theme. Most of our indigenous history in South Africa, and I guess the rest of Africa, has been handed down from one generation to another through story telling

What urban influences (eg hip hop, slam poetry) have influenced your writing?

    I grew up in the 70’s when there was a strong theme of the struggle of concrete jungle versus nature. I attend quite a few  slam poetry events but it’s not my genre really. I read my own poetry very regularly

What style of writing (free verse, lyrical etc) do you lean towards?

    I like simplicity. My poems have no capitals and no punctuation. Free verse is my primary medium but I do quite a bit of lyrical stuff and rhyming poetry – also some traditional forms like sonnets.


 Which writers have influenced your writing?

    I try not to be too influenced by anyone in particular but I have to say that my early influences were Khalil Gibran and Dylan Thomas. I am continually assimilating the poetry of those around me such as the  great poets at Off the Wall like Hugh Hodge, Jacques Coetzee, Ralph Goodman and Riaz Solke, not to mention all the work that has come to light in the new anthology.

You mention that you’ve been a guest poet at Off the Wall, how do you think spoken word events help to preserve the art form and how do you think they’ve “changed the game.”

    I believe that the relevance of any poets work is in the ear of the hearer. Poetry stirs the  depth and breadth of our emotions. It inspires, warns and laughs with us. All of this cannot happen just as words on a page. There is an interaction when poetry is read and when you read you very soon discover what has quality and what has not by the reaction of those in the room. Reading and performing is completely essential. It’s the  life-blood of what we do as poets.

 In what ways have you used poetry to engage with your community?

    I have written poems that relate to political hierarchy, war, poverty, religion. In London recently I was staying near an old Victorian School that was being torn down and wrote a poem about it that was used as part of the anti-demolition campaign on their website. (Unfortunately we failed, but at least we tried!) Poets are relevant. We reflect the ethos of our own thinking and the societies we live in. When great events are remembered it is always poems that are read because we reflect the deepest thoughts and emotions of the communities we form part of.

Have you read the anthology as yet, if so how do you think it changes the shape of African literature?

     I received my copy just the other day. I’m not finished reading it yet. Time will tell how significant this anthology is. We walk in the steps of great African writers and, who knows, maybe some of the anthology poets will rise to the levels of those that have gone before. I personally think that the value of the anthology lies in its diversity – many poems on many subjects written by many African voices from many diverse cultures and countries within our great mother continent.

BEST "NEW" AFRICAN POETS 2015 ANTHOLOGY can be purchased at Amazon and in South Africa at Exclusive books here 
    http://www.exclus1ves.co.za/books/Best-New-African-Poets-2015-Anthology-Edited-by-Tendai-R-Mwanaka-Edited-by-Daniel-Da-Purifacacao/000000000100000000001000000000000000000000000009789956763481/

Friday, March 4, 2016

IN DEPTH INTERVIEWS: Week of 29 February 2016

An interview with Edward Dzonze

Edward Dzonze: Motivated by the Audience
“I fell in love with poetry at the age of 9,” says Harare based poet Edward Dzonze. “I started reading poetry when I was in grade four – my mother had a copy of O’kot p Bitek’s Song of Lawino and at first I thought the book was a collection of songs .When my mother heard me singing the poems that is when she explained to me what poetry was. Right then I told her my dream was to become a poet someday. Over the years, poetry has allowed me to express my feelings and thoughts and engage with the world around me on issues that concern us all in one way or the other. My writing is not influenced by any particular form or pattern because I write to express and address any situation in whatever form and manner that I think and feel will get the message, in its inspired form, across to the reader.”


“I started slamming in 2007 and it has given me the courage and strength to keep writing because I know there is someone out there, someone is looking forward to what I have to offer. Sometimes I feel like writing is not worth it but when I get to meet an audience that looks at me with awe, I’m inspired to go home and write on. I joined the House Of Hunger Poetry Slam in 2007 and slamming along the likes of Cde Fatso, veteran poet Mbizo Chirasha , Shoes Lambada , the late Tsino Maruma , Cynthia Marangwanda , Khadija and other poets gave me all the experience and confidence a writer needs. I learnt to believe in my work even though I never emerged the lucky poet in all the slams I part-took .The Book Café also helped us [young writers] with workshops in which we got to interact with  seasoned writers who gave us the hope to believe in the pen. The likes of Musayemura Zimunya, the late Chenjerai Hove and Chirikure Chirikure. Looking at the recently published BNAP anthology, I guess the tone of the book is what makes it memorable – the voices contained therein carry the zeal and assurance that in Africa there are always voices that are yearning to be heard which can equally express what seasoned writers can.”