DAVID RUBADIRI (Malawi, 1930)

David Rubadiri was born in Liuli, Malawi, on July 19, 1930. Poet, novelist, playwright, university professor and
diplomat, permanent ambassador of his country to the United Nations. He made studies in Makerere University
College, Kampala, Uganda, between 1952 and 1956 and later he studied Literature at King’s Collage, Cambridge. He
received a Diploma in Education from Bristol University, England. He has been teacher at the University of
Botswana and dean of the Language and Social Sciences Education Department at the same university. Member of
the Executive Committee of the National Theater of Kenia, between 1975 and 1980. Publications: Growing Up With
Poetry: An Anthology
Última for Secondary
actualización: 28/06/2018Schools, 1989; Poems from East Africa, 1971; No Bride Price (novel, 1967) in
which he shows his disillusion with the post-independent style of Kamuzu Banda, that guided Malawi toward its
independence from the British Empire, but whose actions as president were very controversial because of his
relations with the pro-white movement of South Africa. He also wrote the play,Come to Tea, in 1965.His work has
appeared in international publications such as Transition, Black Orpheus Présence Africaine, as well as in the first
anthology Modern Poetry of Africa, in 1963. Currently he is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malawi. His
poems show a fruitful conscient combination of African influences and European poetical forms. Although there is a
certain melancholy in his poems, which is a common characteristic of black poets from Africa and other regions of
the world, it is maybe the black humor that better describes the poetry of Rubadiri. In his creations, that melancholy
is accompanied with irony and sarcasm that painfully touch the vital experience of his race. However, this classic of
African poetry, from whom we will not forget his quality as a very recognized poet in the world, he gathers some
elements that make his poetry one of the richest of contemporary Africa. Always particular, when he approaches the
issue of love he makes it differently, without romanticism but with the sufficient evocative force for drawing us near
to the riverside of his love.
Martin Carter was born in 1927 and received his secondary school
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College.Carter's
DuringBibliography
his early twenties he joined the
turbulent political movement for national independence, quickly becoming
a leading spokesman for the more radical forces of the movement. This
After his release
prominence from prison
inevitably Carter
led to his remained
arrest active in thebyindependence
and imprisonment the British
movement and in 1965inwas
colonial administration a member
1953. of the
At the time of colony's delegation
his detention Carterto
hadthe
Guyana Constitutional
already launched Conference
his career in London,
as a poet, the final hurdle
having contributed before
works to A.the
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formal achievement of nationhood. Thereafter he served
Seymour literary magazine, Kyk-over-al, and to Seymour 'Miniature Poet' for two years
(1966-67) as a member
series of poetry pamphlets of Guyana's delegation
(Hill of Fire Glows Red) to the United
. But it wasNations. He
during his
has also served
imprisonment in he
that thecomposed
Guyanesehis government at home,
most important most notably
collection, Poemsasof
minister of information
Resistance, which wasand culture,published
eventually finally leaving the government
in London, in 1954. in 1971.
Throughout this entire period he has maintained the dual roles of poet and
activist, an appropriate choice in one whose most important writings have
passionately advocated involvement and commitment. Consequently the
years of political activity and government service also saw the appearance
of the first half of his published output, followed by works ranging from the
last of his outspoken collections, Poems of Shape and Motion (1955) , to
the cryptic reticence of Poems of Affinity: 1978-1980 (1980) .