Renowned poet Robert Chiwamba said Wednesday he is glad to have managed to exhibit 37 poems at the Texas Tech University during a cultural farewell night in United States of America (USA).
Chiwamba, who is Poetry Association of Malawi (Pam) leader, is in USA, having made the list for this year’s six-week flagship programme of the Young African Leaders Initiative (Yali), also known as the Mandela Washington Fellowship, which also includes rapper Suffix and Mervis Maigwa.
“It was such a great outing, especially taking into consideration that it was a cultural night. People were impressed with the poetry I displayed,” he said.
The ‘Uzafa Imfa Yowawa’ creator said the exhibition involved 37 poems of single verse each which were in English.
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“The poems fell into three categories, a personalised poem each on the characters of 24 cohort mates, seven personalised poems dedicated to members of staff, who were helping us, and six poems that talked about general experiences of my time in Lubbock City in Texas,” he said.
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He said was honoured by Texas Tech University which printed the poems into booklets that he shared with people he wrote the poems for and that the university further gave him a chance to share the poems with the president of Texas Tech University.
It was known as Wreck ‘Em Poetry Exhibition.
He said that being a recording poet, exhibiting work had not crossed his mind.
“I hope to do this again in Malawi in the near future,” the Pam leader said.
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Chiwamba, who returns home on August 4, was placed under the Public Management track due to his work with Malawi Revenue Authority.
However, he said he had a chance to meet leaders in other sectors such as the arts sector.
US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Edward Denny said recently that 18 young Malawians are participants in the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.
Denny said since its inception in 2014, nearly 6,500 young leaders from every country in sub- Saharan Africa, including a total of 139 young Malawian leaders, have participated in the Mandela Washington Fellowship.
