House of Hunger Poetry Slam

October 28, 2008 by Lavuka Arts ·
Filed under: Events, Poetry

THE ‘FEEL-GOOD’ POETRY SLAM
The Book Café, Harare, Zimbabwe

Sat 01 Nov 2008, 2-5pm
Harare’s Book Café will be blazing hot on Saturday 01 November with the monthly ‘House of Hunger Poetry Slam’ from 2-5pm, giving poets a platform to express themselves freely and explicitly through the spoken word.

The theme for November is ‘Giving each other a boost’ – poetry that feels good and leaves the listener with renewed energy to embrace each day, despite the mad man-made challenges Zimbabweans are facing as a people. “Life is tough, times are terribly hard and we need to give each other a boost; to celebrate the love and strength we give to each other in our daily lives,” said Mandla Ncube, project officer for Pamberi Trust which hosts the slam.

“Despite the immense challenges that we have faced and continue to face, we refuse to indulge in negativity or pessimism. We are an organization that believes in the arts as a vital tool for nation-building, and work constantly to empower artists to produce their best work.”

The House of Hunger Poetry Slam is a Project by Pamberi Trust, an arts development organization in Harare that runs development programmes for music, poetry, theatre, information technology, gender and literature.

This month’s Poetry Slam will focus on upcoming poets, talent that is raw and fresh which craves for space and a platform for public performance. However there will still be great expectations of veteran poets like Ticha Muzavazi, ‘Guerilla Poet’, ‘Murewa The Unknown’ and Larry Kwirirayi, who is also the Slam Master. These are some of the many poets who have participated in and supported the Poetry Slam for a long time, and helped to make the event productive and exciting.

Ncube issued a wide-open invitation to all poets and poetry-lovers of the capital and beyond. “We call upon all poets to come out and join the freedom train, a train that moves freely and has no limits. We encourage young poets from schools, colleges and varsities to come and be part of the slam either as a participating poet, or part of the audience.

As part of Pamberi Trust’s outreach program The House Of Hunger Poetry Slam is also proud to have assisted the Mlomo Wakho Poetry Slam in Bulawayo in October, which saw more than 80 Bulawayo poets come together for a memorable slam event.Ncube added, “We also encourage poets to come forward, drop into our offices and offer ideas that may contribute to the growth of poetry in all parts of Zimbabwe.”

Come down to The Book Café on Saturday 01 November 2-5pm and ‘Feel Good’ in the slam!

Mandla Ncube
Pamberi Trust
House of Hunger Poetry Slam
Projects Officer

Tell the world: