No opportunities for budding writers in Malawi, Kaluma
Project Project, a poetry initiative being run by Q.Malewezi, Yolanda Kaluma and Chisomo Matandika has said it will remain a dream for Malawi to have more writers if no platform is created to support the budding artists.
Kaluma said this in an interview when giving update on their college to college tour with poetry which started mid this year. She said the tour has exposed that the country has potential budding writers who if given a good platform can grow into professional writers and contribute to the anthologies of Malawi.
“The College to College tour has taken us to some of the best colleges in Malawi and we interacted with many aspiring writers. No one can dispute that we have a good crop of writers who just need to be promoted and groomed into professional writers,” she said.
Kaluma said they have meet poets and short story writers among others at Chancellor College, Polytechnic, Mzuzu University, African Bible College and Catholic University and all sessions exposed that budding writers are not motivated to write more because there is no platform that recognises and support publication of their work.
She added that they will produce a report after the whole tour which they will use to influence authorities to create an environment that would support the budding writers and their work.
“We have heard what the budding writers want and it will be our duty to inform the authorities to take an action. We believe in that the cream in academics for Malawi comes from the Universities and our tour has prioritised the best universities. It is also the same quality that can contribute good materials for our literature, “said Kaluma.
She said they are remaining with two universities, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) and DMI St John the Baptist University. She revealed that the plan was to visit them this year, but they have shifted the trip to January due to lack of funds.
“We run the project for the love of poetry and we use our own resources. We have exhausted what we gathered. We are looking for some money and we are hoping to visit the Universities in January when another school session begins,” she said.
During the tour, the students are given a chance to voice out their concerns on writing and this is followed with a training session on the basics of creative writing and a performance by the Project Project members.
