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Tafadzwa Zimoyo Senior Arts Reporter
Award-winning poet and author Humphrey Sambo recently released an anthology titled “Freedom Train” that speaks on societal problems and ills.

Sambo said his 53-poem collection has suggested solutions inspired by minds of influential people like Mother Theresa, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Dambudzo Marechera, Charles Mungoshi, Tsitsi Dangarembwa, among others.

In an interview with The Herald Arts, Sambo said he decided to compile the poems out of his passion for writing.

He won the Southern Africa Essay Writing tourney in 2009 and years later scooped the global Stevie Award.

“My motivation comes from the fact that literature must not die and we reignite the African and Zimbabwean writing spirits as have been paved by the late icon Dambudzo Marechera, Tsitsi Dangarembwa and the late Charles Mungoshi among others.

“I named my book Freedom Train because as poets we need to express our minds and continuously move with society as a train.

“A writer should be able to link and be the bridge in a society,” he said. Sambo urged poets and authors to undertake literature exchange programmes that would also help to promote a reading culture.

“My book is a testimony that Zimbabwean writing spirit, which we inherited from our forefathers and ancestors will never die.

“It seeks to put the locals on the international map and is available on Amazon,” he said.