Jack Mapanje's guest appearances

Jack Mapanje

Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005

Rift Valley Institute

Witness History: Archive 2012

Amelia Earhart

Ewan McGregor

Tupac Shakur

James Joyce

Gordon Ramsay

Ian McEwan

Nigella Lawson

Claire Tomalin

Pat Barker

Philip Pullman

Meera Syal

Michael Morpurgo

Christopher Frayling

Simon Callow

David Linley

OwlTail

Adan Abokor

This podcast, made during the 2014 Book Fair, records a conversation between the poet Jack Mapanje and Dr Adan Abokor about their experiences of being imprisoned under the former authoritarian governments in Malawi and Somalia, respectively. They explain how while isolated in their prison cells they developed secret languages that enabled them to communicate with fellow prisoners and to sustain their minds and their spirits. The interview was conducted by Elizabeth Spackman.

Jack Mapanje and Dr Adan Abokor in conversation

It is 25 years since the poet was imprisoned without trial in Malawi.He was held for over 3 and a half years in one of Hastings Banda's jails.Photo: Dr Jack Mapanje on his return to Malawi from exile in 1995.

It is 25 years since the poet was imprisoned without trial in Malawi. He was held for over 3 and a half years in one of Hastings Banda's jails. Photo: Dr Jack Mapanje on his return to Malawi from exile in 1995.

The arrest of Jack Mapanje

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the poet Dr Jack Mapanje who is one of the most important living African poets. He was born into a poor household in a typical African village in 1944, when Malawi (then Nyasaland) was a British colony, but while he was still a child it became part of the Central African Federation, together with Northern and Southern Rhodesia. Jack started writing poems, inspired by his despair at the political woes besetting his country. Although his book, Of Chameleons and Gods, was only sold in one book shop in Malawi, it won considerable acclaim around the world and was awarded the Rotterdam International Poetry Prize. He was ambitious and set up a writers group within his own University and, although he knew it was dangerous, felt compelled to continue with his writing. He was arrested in 1987 while drinking in a bar. The World Service broadcast a news item about Mapanje's arrest the following day and his cause was taken up by writers' groups and activists across the world. Dr Mapanje was held without charge or trial in Mikuyu Prison for more than three years, scarcely aware of the international campaign to free him. When he was finally released, again it was without warning or explanation. Believing his life was still in danger, he fled with his wife and children to Britain. He has lived here ever since and now lectures at the University of Newcastle. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Ave Maria by Johann Sebastian BachBook: Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenLuxury: A guitar

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the poet Dr Jack Mapanje who is one of the most important living African poets. He was born into a poor household in a typical African village in 1944, when Malawi (then Nyasaland) was a British colony, but while he was still a child it became part of the Central African Federation, together with Northern and Southern Rhodesia. Jack started writing poems, inspired by his despair at the political woes besetting his country. Although his book, Of Chameleons and Gods, was only sold in one book shop in Malawi, it won considerable acclaim around the world and was awarded the Rotterdam International Poetry Prize. He was ambitious and set up a writers group within his own University and, although he knew it was dangerous, felt compelled to continue with his writing. He was arrested in 1987 while drinking in a bar. The World Service broadcast a news item about Mapanje's arrest the following day and his cause was taken up by writers' groups and activists across the world. Dr Mapanje was held without charge or trial in Mikuyu Prison for more than three years, scarcely aware of the international campaign to free him. When he was finally released, again it was without warning or explanation. Believing his life was still in danger, he fled with his wife and children to Britain. He has lived here ever since and now lectures at the University of Newcastle. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Ave Maria by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Luxury: A guitar