"Motivation is spiritual leadership is viral" is a personal
statement that I live with, it defines who I am and summarizes my
life purpose as a motivational/leadership writer. Now that the book African
Sketches has been launched and published, I have set a standard and have left a
land mark in the field of writing. The book is my gift to the world .What many
people have been interested in ,is how I did it .On that note let me shed some
light and say that it is the process that matters the most that the results. I
have learnt a lot in the process of writing especially the editing part of it.
This is largely because when you write and get to a point where you are content
but an editor (in this case Christopher Mlalazi) disagrees with part of your
line of thinking and gets some work deleted in a process called removing
the dead wood .This was a painfull process but it was for the best and i ahve learnt that we write better when we allow for critcism and opinion for at the end of the day we do not write for ourselves but for public consumption .A major learning point is that in every industry there are
people who believe that we can’t do anything without involving them
.These people are self-cantered achievers ,who
never realize that their names have a larger growth potential when
they uplift others. I had the same challenge with my style of writing as some
poets criticised it .All I knew was that i had a story to tell
and boom there I was introducing a new genre of poetry (motivational
poetry) which I believe is here to stay. I f you are a writer, keep writing for
we are all writes, writing the story of our lives through our daily experiences.
The opposite of the people who discouraged me was outclassed by the critical
review statements by renowned writes who wrote the following review statements:
“Sketches” is an apt description of these laconic poems, which
range in content from domestic issues such as family relationships, through a
meta-textual awareness of words (the tools of the poet) to the sensitive, and
sometimes dangerous, issue of Zimbabwean politics.
These sketches are deeply African, not only in content but in form,
since the chief influences of the poet’s style are praise poetry (connecting us
to our oral tradition), and rap: a style created by Africans in the Diaspora,
in particular the West Indies and the USA.
Njabulo Moyo is one of a group of talented young poets from Bulawayo
who dare to be noticed. We, the older generation of writers, are
very proud of them. John Eppel
African Sketches is a book with a lot of marks and traces. It meanders
with different themes which exude the theme of hope and motivation. The poems
are written in a unique manner which is simply but imbued with intellectual
sophistication that seeks to speak to you and all.
"Because poetry is a language" Bhekumusa Moyo -The
Protest Poet
“The poems are sketches of the modern African psyche” Chris
Mlalazi
Njabulo Moyo’s debut Poetry collection African Sketches is a social
commentary as well as a political commentary. The language is highly accessible
which a good thing is as the modern poet tries to shrug off the centuries old
stereotype of poetry: That it is difficult and therefore not for the ordinary
man on the street. African Sketches is a good first effort from Njabulo and we
look forward to more of his work. Mgcini Nyoni -Creative Director, Poetry
Bulawayo
Remember that it is not what a goal is that matters, it is what it does.
Through the book i have achieved a goal and it is doing wonders for me and the
world for African Sketches signal s the birth of motivational poetry and is a reflection
of the fact that purpose is a virtue