(photos taken by Carol Muller)
The small room with tightly arranged seats set a cozy atmosphere that would eventually absorb the voices of TJ Dema and Gabeba Baderoon. TJ Dema, poet and arts administrator living in Gaborone, Botswana, has done much work with Botswana’s literary community. Her work has earned her an honorary degree at the University of Iowa. South African Baderoon is a poet and author of a three published works. On September 11, Dema and Baderoon provided their voices to the listeners of the Kelly Writer’s House. Open and willing ears greeted them. Although both poets have ties to Africa, their poetry differs greatly. Dema’s voice was powerful and strong, which conveyed a message of confusion, yet internal peace. Baderoon, in contrast, provided a light voice and imagery that I found hard to draw connections with in my own life.
-Misgana Ghidewon, SAS ’18
An interview with TJ Dema during her residency at the University of Iowa
“The best thing about being a writer in Botswana, I think you are very much at the forefront of contemporary history if you like. And for us, writing is very much a new thing as in committing to the page, not the telling stories…It’s knowing that you are, in a sense, at the beginning of a movement.”
TJ Dema performaing “Neon Poem”
A poem by Gabeba Baderoon
“I cannot myself”
To come to this country,
my body must assemble itself
into photographs and signatures.
Among them they will search for me.
I must leave behind all uncertainties.
I cannot myself be a question.
(from The Dream in the Next Body, Kwela Books/Snailpress, Cape Town, April 2005)
Baderoon discussing and reciting her poem “Contemporary Architecture”