Chronicle Editor
Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Reporter
SIERRA LEONE-based Zimbabwean poet S’phongo continues to raise the Zimbabwean flag high after he winning the inaugural Utterance Worldwide Slam held at the Sunrose Arts Festival held in the United Kingdom.
The event drew performers from across the globe, with the theme of the slam dubbed confidence.
Slammers competed to win a headlining slot at next month’s Utterance, a paid slot to compete at the Utterance Grand Slam Final at Sunrose Arts Festival 2023, and a trophy.
The audience (both virtual and in-person) voted for their winning slammer, scoring each poet five stars for engagement, relevance to the theme, and their enjoyment.
Said S’phongo: “Sunrose Arts Festival is all about bringing the community together to celebrate the arts, offer opportunities to everyone and engage the world with arts they wouldn’t normally see. Utterance poetry slam started a year ago, with a loyal following from my previous open mics that I had been running since 2018. Utterance was to engage people with spoken word and challenge their ideas of it.
“The festival includes the Utterance Grand Slam Final which happens on the last evening of the festival to close it, where we celebrate the poets who compete on the theme “the best of the best”, sharing their favourite poetry to date. Everything Sunrose is everything love, wanting to celebrate people no matter who they are for their creativity and their joy.”
S’phongo said winning is a great start for the year in his career and a learning curve moment.
“Everything poetry fires me up. It makes me feel young again, though I’m only 25. It was a great Monday evening as the other poets brought nothing but fire to the stage and I loved their work. I have followed some of them on their social media platforms and I’m connecting more with their art,” said S’phongo.
@mthabisi_mthire
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