ADIPO SIDANG FROM KENYA; POET, PLAYWRIGHT, AUTHOR, AND MORE

ADIPO SIDANG FROM KENYA; AUTHOR, POET, PLAYWRIGHT, AND MORE

 

First, really excited about making it to the long-list. I’m an award-winning author, poet, playwright, culture exponent and governance consultant. I’ve got two books to my name – a collection of poems titled Parliament of Owls published by Native Intelligence under the Contact Zone Series with Goethe Institut (2016), and the 2017 Burt Award winning novella “A Boy Named Koko” published by Longhorn Publishers (2017).

 

I write for fun, for money, but I also write to cause fury and make us angry with ourselves and the world around us, so that we can change it. Writing is my form of advocacy. I tend to see myself as a gadfly that goads the steed of society out of slumber (to quote Socrates). I think that’s what every artist should consider themselves to be, or should at least strive to become.

 

Why were you inclined to submit for the #Babishai2020 haiku award?

 

I love haikus – the form, the invisible force that lingers on despite the brevity of haikus. It’s a way of saying poetry can be short and sweet without necessarily being caged in rhyme.

 

What was your process in writing this particular haiku below?

ringed with its papers
and tracked like jailbird on bail
the immigrant lands...

I don’t really think about this poetry like that; but I can say my process was chaos, anarchy, mental stampede, ideas colliding, moments of silence, questioning, doubts, literary pangs of pain, and the birth of a 5-7-5 haiku; all in under 3 minutes. I remember writing the third line first and the poem fell in place, in reverse. The poem was triggered by the arrival of a migratory Osprey bird in Kenya that flew over 6,000 kilometers from Finland. The interesting thing is that it had a reference ring on its leg; and it got me thinking about the fate of migratory birds, and that of immigrants, what freedom to them looks beyond the borders that chain them, and the illusion of freedom. The bird died a few days later.

 

In your opinion, what is the future of African haiku?

 

Well, hard to tell but it definitely looks promising; poetry in general is increasingly becoming more appreciated in Africa and the world. For a long time, poetry has been confined to the lowest rung of the literary ladder. It’s changing – shrubs are becoming trees, and trees – a forest; and haikus are somewhere in this fecund literary forest.

 

How are we able to share about this haiku experience, with Kenya, and the world?

 

The BN experience? It’s been great. Well, I’ve never been long-listed for writing a three line 17 syllable poem; if it happens – like in this case, it means there is some truth that won’t go away, that makes a reader question or wonder. Besides that, being long listed alongside other poets means there is something that is both common to us and to the literary community. I cherish this experience because you hardly come by it; I mean poetry awards in this part of the world are few, not to mention poetry awards for haikus.

 

 

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AKELLO CHARLOTTE FROM UGANDA; WRITING IS LIKE BREATHING EXERCISES

KELLO CHARLOTTE FROM UGANDA; WRITING IS LIKE A BREATHING EXERCISE

I’m Akello Charlotte. A student at Makerere University, a Ugandan writer and poet. I first got ‘serious’ with writing poetry while at Nabisunsa girls and since then I’ve never looked back. Otherwise, I’ve been a writer since childhood.

I write to take the weight off my chest, to me, writing is like breathing exercises. It takes writing to calm me when I’m in distress. Above all, writing comes to me so naturally that I feel clogged when I don’t write for a few weeks. I also think poetry is beautiful.

I submitted for the Babishai haiku award 2017 and I was shortlisted so I gained some following. Many friends asked me to help them with the ‘trick’ of the haiku. I taught so many people the basics of haiku in the process. I didn’t want to submit this year since most of my students were interested, but most of them encouraged me to. I chose my best from the haikus I’d written, hoping that this time, maybe I will win.

What was your process in writing this particular haiku below?

delicate mounds

parting soil in the night

to die out soon

One thing I didn’t want to do was to be inclined to the rules of the haiku(5/7/5 syllable count). I wanted to be free and free I was. I drew my inspiration from mushrooms, I love mushrooms but they come overnight and wither the next day.

In your opinion, what is the future of African haiku?

There’s so much poetry in Africa as a whole. The late buses, the bleating animals, the shameless acts of corruption, the trees that look like humans in the night. The haiku in particular, a special poem, is allover. I believe we can use the haiku to capture images that cameras can’t. However, many young poets think the haiku is too complex and believe they can’t write it but what I’ve learnt during haiku lessons I teach, once one masters the haiku, it’s very easy.

How are we able to share about this haiku experience, with Uganda,

and the world?

I think we just need to write more, and promote the haiku more, like this kind of competition is a good start. If someone sees a haiku, they will be inclined to see more haikus in places they go.

Many Thanks.

 

ROSE KINYANJUI: POET, AUTHOR, TEACHER, FROM KENYA

My name is Rose Wangari Kinyanjui. I am a married mother of two girls. I was born and brought up in Kenya by Kenyan parents. I am a teacher by profession, having studied the mainstream Kenya curriculum and The Waldorf Education system and have been a teacher under the teacher's service commission and later in the private sector. I love writing because I find it the best way to express my thoughts and ideas. There is a story in everything I see, people, animals, vegetation, name it. I have authored a book, MY FATHER MY HERO, a girl’s celebration of her father living with a disability.

I had heard about babishainiwe about two years ago via social media. I began my year 2020 with a renewed mind and wanted to venture into what I had always sat back and let others do. The renewed mind drove me to take part in the Haiku award 2020 because I believed I had a story to share.

I have a great concern over the depreciating environment. Cryptically, I look at the moral decay that suffocates, justice, upholds impunity and embraces the "NEW NORMAL" of oppressing the poor, the orphan and the window. Truth has been choked beneath the garbage of those with bulging pockets. You breathe when they decide.

Africa is full of poetry. Haiku style is what needs to be embraced and encouraged. It can be taught alongside literature in school. I believe Haikus have a big place in the heart of Africa only if we get to hear them more, understand them more and embrace them as a way of expression and a form of writing.

For us to share this experience with Kenya and the world, we will need to have the experience first as writers/poets. I believe writing is not only geared towards making awards but also being educative and improving self-confidence in freedom of expression. Like an artist behind an easel with paint and brush, so is a poet with a haiku on their lips. We can also have forums to sensitise people through teaching workshops, open cafe entertainment/festivals for the young and old. Perhaps, stakeholders can convince the educationists to consider incorporating this in the curriculum.

DEVIS THE TRANDFORMATIONAL POET, FROM UGANDA

Devis the poet is a Poet, playwright born and raised in Makindye, Kampala.

He started poetry with Milege Uganda, and later joined a poetry community in Makerere University called Kelele @ Makerere. Following that, he founded a group of Poets with his friends, Wake and Kira Waibi, called POTTERS CLAY. He has performed on all major poetry platforms and major arts festivals around the country like KITF, BAYIMBA FESTIVAL OF ARTS, MILEGE WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL, among others. He is a member the pioneer Tebere arts lab (class 2019)

As a solo act now, he has held two one-man shows in one weekend called the 2018 LINES AND RHYMES, and he is an author of a chapbook titled, DOOMED KIDS.

This is why he writes:

The transformation from wanting to be the best poet there is to wanting to be a great leader in my poetry community. To inspire the poets that look up to me by giving them an example that hard work and moving out of comfort zone, is key to every poet's/artist's success. In this particular case, it was "you cannot win, unless you are you are part of the game."

When I saw the call for the #Babishai2020 haiku award, I knew I had to submit, but with new work. Every morning, after reading all sorts of haikus, I would go for a run or walk, hoping to find something to write to about, then I would head home to freshen and go pick my little nephew to take him to his grandmother's then I would return to settle and write. In the taxis back to baby's grandmother (my mother) we would sit next to the window, when there was traffic we would watch everything steadily because the taxi would be moving slowly, but when it was moving fast, it was a tug of war trying to make him sit properly. The day I wrote the haiku, the old lady seated next to us asked why I can't hold the baby properly because he was making her uncomfortable, and I told her I am doing my best but the trees cannot stop running past us, and am I scared there is nothing I can do to stop them. When I got back home, it’s the haiku I wrote.

In the future, as long as competitions and awards like Babishai keep happening and having continental dialogues about the works, we as Africa are going to have a common understanding of an African Haiku.

In the future, Babishai can take it beyond the award, extending it in schools, performance spaces, having working workshops and having winners as Ambassadors for the movement.

BABISHAI AND BUTTERFLIES: ICONIC MOMENTS

BABISHAI AND BUTTERFLIES: ICONIC MOMENTS

By Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva

They are diurnal; active during the day, like most humans have been trained to be. With large activity during the day time, they act as agents of pollination, laying a copious number of eggs, for their own life insurance. Their eggs are often eaten by all types of predators, from spiders, ants and a few birds, therefore reducing the risk of predation, by increasing the number of eggs that they lay. While butterflies come in about fifteen thousand types of species and vary in their lifestyle, after exploring for a while, not as an entomologist, but as someone who’s fascinated by their curious nature, I unearthed (pun intended), a few images of butterflies, taken in 2014.

The Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, which promotes African poetry coordinated an East Africa poetry exchange programme, with a Kenyan poet, Michael Onsando, who visited Kampala for a few days. During his visit, he led discussions on the politics and aesthetics of poetry, during an evening hosted by Femrite, where the discussion varied from the potency of East African poets, to the validation sought by African literary gatekeepers, to sustainable livelihoods in poetry. It was a vibrant evening, laced with intellectual and creative discourse.

Babishai and the butterflies. Getting to that. A friend of Babishai’s and a personal friend of mine too, Tom Forrest, a retired British Diplomat, who has lived in Uganda for decades of years, with a house on Buziga Hill, overlooking one of the most breathtaking views in Uganda, invited us to a brunch. Together with Jackee Batanda, a writer and entrepreneur, and Sophie Alal, writer and winner of the 2010 BN Poetry Award, we had a remarkable time. Tom is a nature enthusiast, whose garden boasts of such a wide variety of plants and flowers, that we were immersed in it for a while. My mother, who runs a successful landscaping business, introduced me to the magnanimity of plants and flowers, and I’m always enamoured by the experience. It was here while we chatted and walked in the garden, which a few butterflies kept flitting around us.

Like any human with fairly good eyesight, we were drawn to their essence. With Jackee’s camera, thanks to her photography skills, we were able to capture some iconic moments of this butterfly. One black and yellow species was by the window sill, stately and striking. How do you capture such beauty in just a photograph? How do you sip enough of it, to quench your insatiable need for nature’s grandeur! It’s impossible. We tried, though.

It was later that I discovered butterflies never fly in straight lines, to confuse their predators. They do not want to leave obvious flight paths, as that would make them easy prey. On reading Robert Greene’s ’48 Laws of Power,’ he too recommends that we should leave a little mystery to our habits and schedules. A change in routine, puts people off-guard and you not only brighten your vibe, but also heighten your security.

I’ve seen photos and videos of heavy set adults chasing butterflies down across miles, with butterfly nets. Their indirect flight confuses the butterfly catchers, and it’s quite a sight to watch.

Lessons from butterflies: We must lay a large number of eggs; because that raises the assurance of survival. Live in such a way that even with half of your ideas, plans, or activities failed, there is assurance that your legacy will remain intact. Not because you had a million ideas, but because the predators could not reach them, or destroy them.

Lessons from butterflies: Be unpredictable. Don’t live such a monotonous and regular life, which leaves no surprises. If you’re a dancer, change the music. If you write, change the characters, and if you’re a parent, change your style.

There are hundreds of iconic moments with Babishai, which were captured in photos. I’ll be sharing more.

Thanks for reading. The various lifestyles of butterflies was information gathered from discussions with friends who love to travel around Uganda, and an article in The Eye Magazine.

Babishai edits poetry, and if you have a collection of fifty poems or more that you would like us to look at, email babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com, or call +256 751 703226.

ANNOUNCEMENT: FESTIVAL, CREATING, HAIKU

27 March, 2020

Dear Friends of Babishai, Lovers of Poetry, and Leaders in the Arts,

We are looking forward to a tomorrow that is better than today.

During this time when the world seems to be spinning under our feet, let’s keep our heads high, and remember the effectiveness of our togetherness, our creativity and our steed. In these unprecedented days with Covid-19 stretching its ugly neck in unwanted spaces, the Babishai team has agreed to postpone our festival, which was scheduled for June, 25-28 in Kibaale, by the crater lake.

We appreciate all who have reached out to us with care and advice. That means a lot, that even with your own challenges, you still think of others. The #Babishai2020 Haiku award deadline passed and the judges shall proceed with their work. The announcement of the shortlist and winners though, shall be postponed to June, until we finalize on a new date for the festival.

Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Keep to the prevention measures, until we kick Corona out of our lives.

Keep writing and reciting too, because people around you need the warmth that stems from a creative mind, more than ever.

Regards,

The Babishai Team