By Onny Gangata
AWARD winning poet and writer, Mbizo Chirasha has defended his artistic style and writings saying nothing will compromise his works.
Speaking at his inaugural African writer/poet in the Diaspora presentation seminar in Gweru recently, Chirasha said artists must maintain their independence and freely express themselves.
“I am a artist and I have come a long way to be where I am today, I cannot be bought because I am expensive, the only person who can afford me is God,” said the 2017 PEN Deutschland exiled writer grant recipient.
“I do not care about the cars that some are getting, I have no problem with not being given one. All I want is to be able to freely express myself in the way I want as a poet and writer.”
The outspoken poet has previously had brushes with local authorities due to his works which have been viewed as too radical and anti establishment.
In 2019, Chirasha went into exile as he feared for his life following the publishing of his poetry collection titled ‘A letter to the President.’
He only returned to the country in 2022. Chirasha however, berated locals for not supporting artists saying local arts organizations need to do more to support artists.
“I have not even received a single cent from local organisations,not even a single. A lot of support i receive is from outside,” he decried.
“More needs to be done by our local arts organizations to support artists so that they can express themselves freely, artists must not be muzzled, they mustn’t be shackled.”
