Frank Chipasula

Biography

Frank Mkalawile Chipasula was born in 1949 in Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). A notable voice in African literature, Chipasula was the first Malawian writer to have a poetry book published in English Visions and Reflections (1972). He is the author of critically acclaimed poetry collections such as A_ Decade in Poetry_ (1980), O Earth, Wait for Me (1984), Nightwatcher, Nightsong (1986), When My Brothers Come Home: Poems from Central and Southern Africa, Middletown (1985), Whispers in the Wings (1991), and others. Chipasula attended the University of Zambia. In 1978, Chipasula went into exile and moved to the United States, where he received a master’s degree in creative writing, a master’s in African American studies at Yale, and a PhD in English literature from Brown University in 1987. His awards and nominations include the BBC Poetry Prize, Pushcart Prize, Fulbright travel grant (1978-80), Noma Award mention, African Book Publishing Record (1985), and others. He worked as a professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Southern Illinois University.

Birth Date

1949-01-01

Place of Birth

Country of Nationality

Malawi

Languages Spoken

English

Poetry Collections

Visions and Reflections (Lusaka, Zambia: NEZCAM, 1972); Nightwatcher, Nightsong chapbook (Peterborough: Paul Green,1986);
On the Shoulders of the Mountain: A Selection of Poems (2007); Whispers in the Wings (1991, Heinemann, African Writers Series, Oxford);
O Earth, Wait for Me (Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1984);
When My Brothers Come Home: Poems from Central and Southern Africa, Middletown (Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press; Scranton, Pa.: Distributed by Harper & Row, 1985);
A Decade in Poetry (Kenneth Kaunda Foundation, Lusaka, 1980);
The Heinemann Book of African Women’s Poetry (1995, co-edited with Stella (Heinemann Publishers, Oxford);
Bending the Bow: An Anthology of African Love Poetry (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, USA, 2009).

Sources

"Frank Chipasula." Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/frank-chipasula. Accessed 13 March 2022.
 
"Frank Chipasula." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 April 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Chipasula. Accessed 14 October 2024.
 
"Frank M. Chipasula’s Writings." African Postcolonial Literature in the Postcolonial Web, www.postcolonialweb.org/africa/chipasula/bibliography.html. Accessed 15 March 2022.
 
Ojaide, Tanure. "Frank, Chipasula." Encyclopedia.com, www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/chipasula-frank-mkalawile. Accessed 14 March 2022.