Life

Robert Chiwamba

Translated from the Chichewa

He bears the name of a fatherhe has not seen.Now and again, he asks the troubling question:Where is my father?My response is always one.I also once loved deeply,only not to be favored bylove’s cooperation and sympathy.It is not all of uswho were created to love and be loved in equalmeasure.You must be tired, my son.Go and find solace in sleep.

Moyo

Dzina la bambo ali naloBambo ake sanawapenyekoNde akakhalakhala amandifunsaBambo anga ali kutiYankho langa limakhala limodziNanenso ndidakonda padzanaKoma chikondi sichidandimvereSitonse amene tidalengedwa kudzakondan’kukondedwaKagone watopa mwana

Feature Date

August 18, 2023

Series

Translation

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Featured Poet

Robert Chiwamba is a multi-award-winning local Chichewa language spoken word poet from Malawi. An overall winner of the European Union’s DEVCO Communication Award (2018) and the UN Women’s Malawi HeForShe Art Contest (2014), Chiwamba commands a followership of over 400,000 people across his social media platforms. He has performed during UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy events as well as at the state houses of Iceland and Malawi. He was also the chief judge for the UN Malawi’s Peace Poetry Contest (2021) and Plan Malawi International’s Rewrite Her Story Contest (2020). A creative writing workshop facilitator for UNESCO’s commission of Korea (2016) and Lake of Stars (2016), Chiwamba was also a judge for World Bank Malawi’s ‘poetry on poverty’ Arts Contest (2014) and has performed at all premium festivals in Malawi.

Featured Translator

Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga is a retired higher education manager with a doctorate degree in business administration with an emphasis on higher education management. Additionally, he is a published translator, short story writer, poet, essayist, critic, and music composer. Apart from numerous stories and poems published internationally and locally, he has two major book translations and three poetry anthologies. His other poems have appeared in two anthologies on Amazon.

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Southern Humanities Review

Vol. 56.2

Auburn, Alabama

Auburn University

Editors
Anton DiSclafani, Rose McLarney

Managing Editor
Caitlin Rae Taylor

Poetry Editor
Rose McLarney

Featured journal

Southern Humanities Review is the literary quarterly published from the Department of English at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Founded in 1967, SHR publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Work published in Southern Humanities Review is considered for Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, New Stories from the South, Prize Stories: O. Henry Awards, and the Pushcart Prize.

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