IHRAM Creativity laureate Mbizo Chirasha speaks to a Malawian Academic and literary maverick Asante Lucy Mtenje

MC: Who is Asante Lucy Mtenje and for how long have you been writing?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: I am a poet and writer of fiction from Malawi. I am passionate about writing, promoting writing and reading, interior designing, art and promoting art. I am also an Associate Professor in the Department of Literary Studies at the University of Malawi, where I've been teaching since 2012. I call myself a Zomba girl, which is a city where I grew up in and also were I currently live and work. The physical and intellectual landscape of Zomba has profoundly shaped me as a writer as well as an academic.
My writing journey started when I was in secondary school many years ago. I would write fictional love stories in my notebooks and my friends loved reading those stories. However, I only started writing poetry in 2011. I have been writing for a while now but wrote less in the past few years because of work demands.

MC: Which genres are you comfortable writing on?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: Even though I write poetry, I feel I am more comfortable writing fiction probably because that is the genre I first started writing in.

MC: Are you published in anthologies, journals or folios in your country or around the world , name a few 
Asante Lucy Mtenje: Some of my stories and poems are published on African writers.com as well as a website for Malawian women’s writing called Makewana’s Daughters. My poetry and fiction has also been published in local anthologies and newspapers.

MC: You have since published and launched a book in Malawi , What is the book about  and How is book received?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: The book is my debut poetry collection titled Forms of Slaughter and Other Poems. The collection borrows it’s title from a poem in the collection which I wrote 12 years ago as a response to the violence that was enacted on women's bodies in 2012 when male vendors from all the major cities of Malawi decided to strip women and girls who were wearing trousers, shorts and mini-skirts as their clothing was considered to be unMalawian. I have always considered this violence as a form of slaughter to the dignity and rights of women. The title of this poem was inspired by a poem by the late Nigerian poet Catherine Obianuju Acholonu which is titled "Other Forms of Slaughter". It talks about the physical and sexual violation of women's bodies during the Biafran war. In my poem, I am having a conversation with Acholonu about various forms of slaughter that continue to be enacted on women’s bodies. The collection touches on a number of themes including the erasure of women’s contributions from collective memory, questions of gender and sexuality, violence of history, female agency, love, loss and the every day.

MC: How is the publishing , book and writing industry in Malawi  and are writers respected?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: The literary industry in Malawi is still growing. The major challenge that industry faces is the lack of publishing infrastructure in the country and as a writers have to resort to other means of publishing their work which at times compromises the quality of their work.

MC: Does your work reflects anything on freedom expression and free speech?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: My work shows the ways in which speech/women’s voices are silenced, controlled, manipulated by patriarchal institutions and the need to assert and reclaim those voices.    

MC: Who is your best inspiration among African writers?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: That is a tough one! I am inspired by writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Tsitsi Jaji, Maaza Mengiste.

MC: Have you won any prizes with your work?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: Not yet.

MC: Does to the Malawian leadership respect free xpression, writers and artists.
Asante Lucy Mtenje: I cant recall any instances recently where writers have been arrested for writing against the leadership even though there are monitoring/censoring agents that are active.

MC: Are copyright laws respected in your country?
Asante Lucy Mtenje: Piracy is still an issue that the Copyright Society of Malawi is working on curbing. I believe there should be more sensitization on copyright laws so that people can abide to them.

Asante Lucy Mtenje is an Associate Professor in the Department of Literary Studies at University of Malawi where she teaches courses in African literature. She holds a PhD in English Studies from Stellenbosch University. She is a receipt of a number of fellowships including the STIAS Iso Lomso Fellowship (2022-2025), JIAS Creative Writing Fellowship (2021), the Africa-Oxford (AfOx) Visiting Fellowship (2020) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)- African Humanities Program (AHP) postdoctoral fellowship (2017). She is also a published poet and short story writer.