Author and poet Zamokuhle Madinana is a man on a mission and his priority is to influence bookworms all over the African continent.
The Soweto-based writer is now setting his sights on captivating those who love the written word in the neighbouring Mozambique as he jets out of South Africa on Friday.
Born in KwaZulu-Natal but based in Johannesburg, the self-published author caught up with Entertainment SA to reveal the details of his next trip.
There is no doubt he is excited to visit the Southern African country and ‘Zama’ says promoting Water and Lights is going well so far and thanks the media for their support.
His latest poetry book, Water and Lights, has received coverage in major news outlets as far as Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the United States of America to mention but a few.
The 37-year-old revealed that this trip to Maputo comes as he plans to wow his followers in the SADC region.
Furthermore, he says his book aims to address the plight of South Africans on matters such as electricity power cuts and the scarcity of basic necessities such as water.
The cool, calm and collected writer and poet says the tour to the Southern African region follows trips to Cape Town and around Johannesburg.
“I am very excited about this trip. I can’t wait to share my work with the people of Mozambique,” he tells ESA.
“Look, this opportunity came last year, I did a national book (Water & Lights) tour so this year, the mission is to broaden my audience. So, I am doing a SADC region book tour. I was in Botswana in April which was also exciting.
“I met and engaged with very intelligent young people, who are very passionate about this continent. Who are very passionate about art. It’s funny that I have been invited to the Poetas D’Alma International Festival in October. So yeah I am going back to Mozambique in October.”
When profiling the neighbouring former Portuguese colony, a majority of Mozambicans are fluent in Portuguese as an official language but Madinana has some tricks under his sleeve – to win his audience.
“Yes, I am aware that Portuguese is the country’s most spoken language but they also speak English. I’ll be selling my book there. Water and Lights’ has been doing very well. We have sold almost 300 copies so far,” adds the talented author.
Speaking about his future plans as his latest book is the third offering since launching his career as a book writer, Madinana explains that he has set his sights on Zambia and the mountainous kingdom, Lesotho.
“This journey’s been very interesting. My work has appeared in journals and magazines in countries like Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the US,” he continues.
“We are planning to go to Zambia and Lesotho. I’ll be performing at Galeria Piriquitas tomorrow (Friday 29th of July 2022.). I will be supported by local artists Nguyra Zene and Tony Nhangale.” Madinana seems to subscribe to the notion that a writer has to read and empower his craft, that is the reason he is currently focusing on his studies towards a degree in Creative Writing and exploring various avenues as far as authoring is concerned
Main Image: Zama Madinana/Supplied
