Samir Mtamba

Samir R. Mtamba was a Zimbabwean poet and prose writer of Malawian descent. Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in  November 1959, he published in Australia Kunapipi, in America World Literature Today , Germany RODOPI, Ireland, and South Africa among other places. He started writing poetry in primary school. He studied at the University of Malawi, Chancellor College and was active in its Writers’ Workshop where he  edited the English Department’s critical broadsheet, The Muse from undergraduate to postgraduate years. He briefly attended Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia for his Graduate Studies. Samir taught in Zimbabwean high schools and at Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU).  He was also an independent researcher interested in the writings of J.M. Coetzee, Ayi Kwei Armah and R.K. Narayan. “Poetry is useless if it is not committed to addressing the immediate problems that we face as human beings in society at the hands of unscrupulous leaders/politicians of every kind, colour and creed. Free verse with discipline and commitment can do better than traditional verse.” Samir died on 27 August 2017, at the aged 58. Compiled by Chimwemwe Mtamba.