BY SHARON SIBINDI VICTORIA FALLS-BASED poet Obert Dube said his level of poetry had matured as evidenced by recent invitations to perform beyond the borders.
The award-winning poet was one of the guests invited to partake at The All-African Youth Pre-Congress event organised by All-Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Dube told NewsDay Life & Style that 2021 became his best year as it opened some doors in his career.
“I see the level of my poetry going up gradually. This is because I keep getting invitations away from “home” ……Hence, I challenge myself to work extra hard. There is still room for improvement as I am eyeing international recognition,” he said.
“2021 was a big stepping stone in my poetry career. I saw myself going to Kenya at the All-Africa Youth Conference in Nairobi. I met Professor Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba, he was the first person to come and see me when he heard that I was in the country and later invited me to his home.”
He added: “In that same 2021 I also got an invitation to perform at South Africa Traditional Merit Achievements Awards where I shared the stage with the likes of Kelly Khumalo and I even met Mzwakhe Mbuli.”
“For the first time in 2021, I appeared on SABC and Channel 404…So, indeed I challenge myself to work extra harder. I even won two poetry awards during the Pan African Cultural Festival and Amaqhawanentaba FM Music Awards 2021 in South Africa.”
“My debut novel was also nominated at the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards.”
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Dube said very few people seemed to be interested in poetry, a situation that called for one to work hard to attract a wider audience.
“Poetry has a small fan-base, hence you need to work hard to reach out to people. Working hard pays while making noise does not. Social media has, however, also helped me in my career, it has a big influence as it is wide open to the world,” he said.
“Normally I do not count unhatched eggs as chicks, but this year I am working on doing collaborations with other artists in poetry, comedy and writing.”
“In comedy I was lucky comedians I wanted to work with have all agreed and we started earlier than planned. I have eyed people like Madlela, Mahlalela, Mdawini the senior landlord, among others.”
- Follow Sharon on Twitter @SibindiSharon
