The wind raves of this August month are muted by the release of the nerve-wrecking and psyche-grinding collection of brave poesy. The super-militant poetry folio is a display of voices calling out for freedom and freedoms, these spirited word- combatants and their communities are vulgarized by the stink of political decadence, incessant odors of corruption, soul- rending lashes of poverty, bouts of economic turmoil and moral discord.
This revolutionary gig is an early dawn cockerel shrill for freedom, mid-afternoon pigeon echo for liberation and a late-night hoot for justice. It is a sudden yearn of resistance, nonviolent but showcase against iron-fisted oligarchs, blood reaping warlords (Maiduguri, South Sudan, DR Congo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and more) and unrepentant dictatorships.
Voices of Africa: A Call for Freedom is an African flavored buffet of verse concocted with a not so disappointing breed of camaraderie word carvers from the climes of Holland, Cyprus, Argentina, the Republic of China, Arab Emirates, Kyzrgstan, Greece, Philippines, Belgium and more.
The literary beverage tastes as the roasted African- sweet potato of satire, Indo-spiced samps of metaphors, the paradox was splashed onto the now COVID 19 crystal-clear horizons of Sino- Asia and as imageries of war are the glitz of Kyzrgstan bullet-pelted lampposts.
Holland and Belgium sing an ironic baritone inside the near- exploding pages of revolutionary poetic keg. Greece, you are the prologue of literary ideology, good morning Cyprus, daughters of dawn are writing /singing against night-darkened shadows of ideological spooks
Voices of Africa collection is a pan-writivism band led by African patriots’ poets alongside their poetess patriots. Ghana, once the colonial coast of gold sings her soprano to bones and soul of tata Nkrumah to rise and walk again for another dawn of renaissance ,South Africa handles the alto but Madiba was the shield against whirlwinds of xenophobia, alas the rainbow grand-kindred is no more , Kenya handles the tenor as the election mood gets electrifying until the dust settles down again and Ruto-the hustler president becomes the incumbent -cum- president -elect. The hot seat is both sweet and hot. Please Halla me ,Halla me please, these are sure-times of Second Republics, Second Republics are common like Vuvuzela and Sweet potato, Zimbabwe jives onto the literary revolutionary podium with a reggae like Bob-Marley dance. Zambia is not here; the new king is still roasting Zambezi breams for dinner. Malawi joins the brave -bandwagon reciting heart-pricking verses to the ghosts of Kamuzu and the unrepentant phantoms of Mutharika, grand-daughters of Sarowiwa and grandsons of Soyinka are like red honey bees, their spirits are fizzy pop-popping with pain, war, trouble and politics, they are singing Zangariwa songs. Sing sons and daughters of Achebe and Chimamanda, sing to the land eaten by termites and grazed upon by baboons before the harvest of real freedom.
This pan African Ihraf based collection is a concotional mix of drama, comedy, parody, horror, emotion, patriotism, love, hate, bravery and laughter altogether.
The International Human Rights Art Festival(ihraf.org) led by its founder Tom Block is thrilled to publish our first books including the Pan African writivism latest Voices of Africa: A Call for Freedom. These literary gems give us another manner of highlighting voices from around the world, exploring issues of concern to the writers in their home countries and cultures. The books are available on Amazon and in select bookstores.
This creatively amazing and mesmerizing militant -revolutionary poetic collection was curated and edited by Mbizo Chirasha, Author of A Letter to the President and Pilgrims of Zame, UNESCO- RILA Affiliate Artist, 2020 Fictional Cafe Poet in Residence,2020 PEN Germany Free-Speech Fellow (Writers in Exile), 2019 Ihraf African Fellow, Co-editor of Corpses of Unity, editor of Second Name of Earth is Peace (Anti-War Collection). Co-editor of Street Voice 7(bilingual German/English Collection),Founder of the Time of Poet Republic,Curator at WomaWordsLiterary Press, Editor at Brave Voices Poetry journal, PAfrican Contributor to the Evergreen Review, Monk Arts and Soul, Poetry London, Bezine.com, Poesi.si, FemAsia Mag, Zimblicious, Table of Words, Atunis Galatika, Oxford Poetry School (Blackwell Poetry Pamphlet), PostScript Mag, Spill Words Mag, Festival de-Medellin, NewCoin, Poetry Bulawayo and more.
Mbizo Chirasha (African WilliamBlake) 