New Ways of Writing
Ilkley Playhouse Wharfeside 7.30–9.15pm

On a rare visit to the UK, Togara Muzanenhamo from Zimbabwe launches his new collection Gumiguru – a month of dryness and heat before the first rains fall. Togara, whose first collection Spirit Brides was published to acclaim in 2006, represented Zimbabwe at the Poetry Parnassus in London 2012.
This cycle of poems framed through the natural and agricultural landscapes of Zimbabwe is both an elegy for the poet’s father and a hymn to the veldt, farms and villages, and the people whose lives are interwoven with the season.
The event begins with an introduction to contemporary writing from Zimbabwe by Dr Emily Marshall, Leeds Beckett University, and includes work by the Festival’s 2013 Apprentice Poet in Residence, playwright and poet Zodwa Nyoni, herself originally from Zimbabwe.
£6/4.
In association with Carcanet Press.