Bibliofemme News
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07/01/2005
Malawi poet to give Dublin talk
Acclaimed Malawi poet Jack Mapanje will give a talk in Dublin this Saturday, January 8th.
Mapanje is Malawi's best-known poet and is as famous for his poetry as for his treatment by the Malawian government.
His first book of poems Chameleons and Gods (1981) was banned in Malawi and in 1987 while working at the Department of English at the University of Malawi, he was arrested and imprisoned without trial or charge.
Writers Harold Pinter, Wole Soyinka, Susan Sontag and Noam Chomsky were among the many who campaigned for his release, which finally came about in 1991, after nearly four years in prison. The poems in The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison (1993) were composed during this period of incarceration, as was most of his third collection of poetry, Skipping Without Ropes (1998).
He is a recipient of the Rotterdam Poetry International Award for his New & Selected Poems (2004).
The evening starts at 7.30pm at the Irish Writers Centre, 19 Parnell Square Dublin 1. Admission is free.
For more information contact: +353 1 8721302
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