Hello! My name is Annick Gisele Umuliza, I'm a poetry fanatic. This December I’ll be the host for #PoetMeUp. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. This is the 20th Episode. This episode we bring you Lise Nova Berwadushime. Lise Nova Berwadushime is a Rwandan writer of poems and children’s stories. She draws her inspiration from nature, real-life situations, emotions and kids' innocence. She has a bachelor's degree in Biology with honours in biochemistry which she obtained from the University of Rwanda - College of science and technology. Berwadushime works as a freelance translator and content creator and when she is not working, she enjoys listening to music and/or watching cooking videos. She’ll be reading two pieces titled Impuruza and Agahinda Nkenyereyeho. Enjoy! BACKGROUND TRACKS Track 1 Track 2

Hello! My name is Sandra Nadege, and welcome to the 19th episode of #PoetMeUp. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have Natacha MUZIRAMAKENGA. Natacha, with the stage name Miziguruka, is a multidisciplinary artist. She has worked for 15 years as a poet, performer, actress and director. Natacha recently made her debut as an exhibition curator. In her professional career, she has also been a cultural project manager and creative director for advertising agencies and companies seeking to improve team cohesion and internal and external communication. It’s been a long road since her debut at the age of 19 as an editor for the national airline's in-flight magazine, Inzozi (Ikaze at the time). She contributed both as a writer and a performer to the play “Learning Feminism from Rwanda” which is touring all over Germany and Switzerland with the Flinn Works company between 2020 and 2021. Natacha’s work was published in Wasafari magazine on November 18, 2020 and in 2019 in a collective work “Below the Volcanoes” published by Sepia. Muziramakenga is a Rwandan currently based between Kigali and Abidjan, she is working on her first novel which deals with memory and transmission. She'll be reading three poems, two of which are exclusive from her upcoming album, Amavuka ya Miziguruka, namely Ce Que J’ai Cru and La Guerre des Opinions, plus A Long Facebook Status. BACKGROUND TRACKS Track 1 Track 2

Hello again! I'm Ganza Moise, standing in for Sandra Nagede as the host for this week’s 18th episode of #PoetMeUp. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have Brian Bazimya. Brian Bazimya is a published poet and spoken word artist who dwells on seeing the little beauties of life and wears his heart on his sleeve with his poetry. He's a final year student at Mount Kenya in journalism, he is a PR officer at a corporate company dealing with tourism called NDA! Bazimya loves to write daily and express himself through poetry because he believes it rules his life and gives him joy and peace. He’ll be reading for us two pieces titled “A Painter’s Love” and “Play Date Diaries”. BACKGROUND TRACKS Track 1 Track 2

Hello, and welcome to the 17th episode of #PoetMeUp podcast. I'm Sandra Nadege, a poet, author, and editor, and I’m the guest host for the month of November. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have Mbabazi Diane. MBABAZI Diane, also known under the pen name Vee, is a first-year student at Kepler's Kigali Campus, where she's finishing her foundation program. She's an enthusiastic writer and poetess who came in second place in the story session of the 2020 Empower African Now Writing Competition. Vee writes books and poems that people will find comfort in. She enjoys singing and spending time with my loved ones. She's going to be reading her piece titled My Last day. BACKGROUND TRACKS Track 1 Track 2

Hello dear listeners, welcome to episode 16 of #PoetMeUp. I’m Ganza Moise, your host for the month of October. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have Sandrine Mignonne Iradukunda. Sandrine Mignonne Iradukunda is a communications practitioner, screenwriter, voice-over artist, narrator, editor and events coordinator. She is an Afro-feminist who values the safety of women justice through education and correct information about their rights and ways they can be well and more informed about their bodies. She uses her social media platforms to inform and engage about mental health, women’s rights, and advocate for the less fortunate. Sandrine holds a diploma in information systems and another one in Multimedia with the focus on storytelling, screenwriting, copywriting and video production. She'll be reading a piece titled "How to be a Culturally Appropriate Woman"  BACKGROUND MUSIC:  Track 1  Track2

Hello and welcome to the 15th episode of #PoetMeUp. I’m Ganza Moise, your host for the month of October. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have Mxnzi le Poete.  Mxnzi Le Poete is an outspoken and eloquent, untied impact-making Rwandan spoken-word artist, poet, playwright, rapper, and actor with an interest in social and political issues. Mxnzi's craft and exploits as a seasoned performer have range, carrying him and allowing him to work in a variety of creative venues. He kicked off his autonomous career with a solo theatre performance "Shrouded Barriers" which was performed first in Kigali and then later on at Kenya International Theater Festival, in Nairobi.  Today’s featured poem, Ubuvanganzo Bw’I Musozi, is from his first studio album, Renaissance Tale 1 which was released early this year. BACKGROUND MUSIC Track 1

Hello and welcome to the 14th episode of #PoetMeUp. I’m Ganza Moise, poet, writer and filmmaker, and I'm your host for the month of October. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have Kenny Nyamulinda. King Kenny Nyamulinda is a 20-year-old Rwandan, currently in his third year of College at Alibaba Business School pursuing a degree in E-commerce. Kenny has always enjoyed writing, starting from essays at school up to recently when he started his blog where he shares writings about the mixture of feelings and thoughts he has. Writing has been a positive outlet for him where he can unload his emotions and also enjoy the creative process of starting from nothing to creating a masterpiece. He’s going to read for us his pieces titled “Utabaye Umugabo Uba Imbwa” and “Falling in Love (Literally)” BACKGROUND TRACK Track 1 Track 2

Hello, dear listeners of #poetMeUp, which is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today is episode 13, you're with me Claudine Karangwa Ingabire, and today we have a special poet. Her name is Mukazi Délice. She's a platform officer under corporate banking in Access Bank Rwanda. But her soul belongs to words. To writing and reading. She enjoys travelling, hiking, and nature in general. Délice Mukazi loves taking care of things and people she loves, and spending quality time with them. Poetry is a way of expressing her feelings. It is a language of her soul. Today she's going to read for us a poem titled You're Not My Friend. BACKGROUND TRACK Track 1 Track 2

Hello, dear listeners of #PoetMeUp Podcast! This is episode 12, and my name is Claudine Karangwa Ingabire. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have a poet whose name is Joselyne Nzisabira. She uses the pen name "TheMedPoetess”. She is a medical student, author, and spoken word poet based in Rwanda. She is the author of “Urukundo Nanze”, an IAfrica co-author, and has published some of her works in the IAfrica 2020 Vaw Magazine entitled “The Voice of African Women". Joselyne won the 2020 Gender Equity Issues during Pandemics writing competition prepared by the Center for Gender Equity and therefore holds the  2020 UGHE-VC Equity award. She is also the founder of Write and Inspires Series, which is an organization aiming at impacting writing through experience and opportunity sharing. Joselyne is currently part of the Writers Space Africa, Rwanda chapter. She's going to be reading for us her piece titled "Niwe Nabaye". BACKGROUND TRACKS: Track 1 Track 2

Hello, beautiful listeners of #PoetMeUp Podcast! My name is Claudine Karangwa Ingabire, I'm today's host of #PoetMeUp, which is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have a poet whose name, her name is Sharon Urusaro Kalimba. She is a Rwandese poet, award-winning filmmaker, producer and director. She focuses on educational storytelling through art, film and short stories. She is an enthusiast and member of the poetry and spoken word community in Rwanda and she's also passionate about stylistic and inclusive creative work.  In today's episode, she's going to read for us a piece called "Empty". The piece is from her forthcoming poetry  collection titled "The Overthinker: And All The Reasons She Seems Too Sensitive" BACKGROUND TRACKS: Track 1 Track 2

Hello beautiful people! My name is Claudine Karangwa Ingabire, I'm the host of today's 10th episode of #PoetMeUp, which is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have a poet whose name is Doris Mugisha. He's also known as Doris the Poet as the penname, he's a spoken word artist from Kigali, Rwanda. He started this career in the last 2 years, he was driven by the passion that can’t let him sleep without scripting. When he's writing, he makes sure to capture all the things related to changing society positively via his poetry. He now has five poems on his YouTube channel, Doris the Poet, namely Dear God, Nkiri Muto, AMARIRA Y'ABIRABURA, Mi Vida, and Umwana wo mu Nkambi. On today's episode, he's going to read for us two pieces titled “Dear God" and "Amarira y'Abirabura“.  Enjoy! Full Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JYquoLQ4HsAt4_4eu2QQI9hYFnOyEaH9h3UylLxC150/edit?usp=sharing

Hello beautiful people! This is #PoetMeUp, which is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. My name is Claudine Karangwa Ingabire, I'm the host for this month of September. This is the ninth episode, we're going to feature a poet whose name is Umurungi Gisèle. She's a student pursuing Biomedical Laboratory Sciences at Ines Ruhengeri. She writes poetry and short stories drawing inspiration from life and everything that occurs during a lifetime. She's also a former journalist at Izuba Radio/Tv and nikaflix.com She's going to read for us a poem titled "The Soloist" FULL TRANSCRIPT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CmpJQxms9X2xPBOO63WTHUW3uSLWYZfiQ22kXYsOhUA/edit?usp=sharing

Hellooo! Welcome once again! My name is Tom Patrick Nzabonimpa, and I am the guest host of #PoetMeUp for the month of August. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today, we're going to host Sandra Nadege, a writer/poet based in Kigali. She is the author of three books, including ‘Light in the Dark, a Memoir', and two poetry collections including ‘First Creation’ and ‘Sense and Sensation’. She is also the editor of 5 Rwandan published books, including 2 novels, 2 poetry collections, and an inspirational book. Apart from that, her artistic ventures include poetry performances, theatre performances, and singing. Her hobbies range from creating handcrafts to hiking to travelling to environment and wildlife conservation. For more of her works, you can visit her website www.sandra-nadege.com to read short stories, poems, articles, and travelogues. She's going to read for us a poem called 'Real Blackness.' Enjoy it! FULL TRANSCRIPT AT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jnR_zHlKGg747cG0tAQ7jQeCwSmif9miPjEntwUgSjY/edit?usp=sharing

Hellooo! My name is Tom Patrick Nzabonimpa, and I am the guest host for #PoetMeUp for the month of August. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today, we're going to host Nina Salim, a Rwandan young artist, screenwriter, poet, theater writer, and actress. She has been writing short stories, poems, theater scripts, and quotes for 17 years and has also attended literature classes in Burundi and learned some technics for writing novels and stage play poetry in Rwanda.  Nina works part-time as a performing artist, and screenwriter of short movies, and does narration of movies. Through a unique rhythm of poetry, she does spoken word in French on stage in a way of evasion with background music which sets her poetry among the most unique in Burundi, Rwanda, and Africa. She going to read for us three pieces, named "Enfonçure", "Au delà". and "Stop la violence au femmes!" Enjoy the poems. FULL TRANSCRIPT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NkahoBAjbex3D_YtmIYkOlbIBk8slPCZPD0RSC26odI/edit?usp=sharing

Hellooo! My name is Tom Patrick Nzabonimpa, and I'm a poet, an editor, and a journalist, and I'm your guest host for #PoetMeUp for the month of August. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today, we're going to host Ganza Moise, a published picturebook author, poet, and independent filmmaker based in Kigali,  Rwanda. He is also the co-founder of Kiruri MFN, an independent production company based in Kigali, Rwanda. His films have been screened in various film festivals worldwide. He recently premiered his latest film Muzunga in the 2022 edition of the Oberhausen international short film festival. He's going to read for us four poems titled "Enter Pain", "Mask", "Guilty", and "I Feel". Enjoy the poems! FULL TRANSCRIPT AT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GMJTIwTb2ks3YaMUscAHXm6i93AOqqh1_Yx4elQNJ_g/edit?usp=sharing

Hellooo! My name is Tom Patrick Nzabonimpa, and I'm your guest host for #PoetMeUp for the month of August. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we're going to host Divine Ukwishatse. She started writing a while back; 3 years ago. She is currently working on improving her skills on flash fiction literature. She enjoys solving Math equations, video-making, talking and comforting people. She dreams of pursuing Aviation in the university. She loves family, friends, and unbelievable laughs. So we're going to listen to her piece named "Color Me". Enjoy this piece! FULL TRANSCRIPT AT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ilCeOytYq56u0sxfVjBi6tDa5GCS-zwpmH1FWpb9L0/edit?usp=sharing

Hello beautiful people, my name is Claudine Karangwa Ingabire. I’m the host of today’s fourth episode of #PoetMeUp, which is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. Today we have a poet who’s called Dusenge Jean de La Croix. He is a 23 years old Rwandan who fell in love with poetry and other forms of art. He's a poet and signs his poems as JDC_Kimirantare. He does free verse poetry and other poetry styles and he's also a spoken word poet. He has a poem to recite for us which is titled Tomorrow Without Us. FULL TRANSCRIPT at https://docs.google.com/document/d/12uCRd7-cJDeeFfV8tIbT3gjB3o0IcA5OzUxUyKdbfM0/edit?usp=sharing

Hello, Welcome back to #PoetMeUp. This is episode 3, and I'm Delice Mukazi. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and renowned Rwandan poets. Today we're with Ingabire Gisele. Gisele is a young passionate female writer. She's currently pursuing her bachelor's degree in law at Ines Ruhengeri. Apart from writing, she enjoys reading books and watching movies. She's friendly and loves being around people. In this episode, Gisele reads for us her piece Secret Tears. READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT AT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tsj7GXoKMZ-iR_80TuyarzNcptI4KjOfeW8-tiYho9o/edit?usp=sharing FEATURED TRACK: https://pixabay.com/music/beats-lofi-study-112191/

TRANSCRIPT Hello, welcome to the second episode of #PoetMeUp podcast, my name is Annie Mpinganzima, your host. #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and renowned Rwandan poets. In this particular episode, we'll be listening from Placide Irad. Munyaneza Iradukunda Placide, known professionally as Placide Irad is a poet, an electronic Dance Music (EDM) artist, and a creative designer. He loves creating and enjoys art. He has been writing since high school, using words as a way to process whatever was happening to him at the time; and he still does, mostly as a way to deal with his mental health. He hopes to combine his writing skills with music to create more compelling stories through his art. As we listen to him in this episode, he will be reciting to us four of his poems, namely, In Case I Die, Is It Too Much to Ask, I Miss The Times When the Poet Was Shy, and It Gets Better. READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT AT https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ij2WOGJV3Gv7XB4OV-7vg2KkqmlIrIvrOZ4uGM3cbTI/edit?usp=sharing Featured track: https://pixabay.com/music/beats-lofi-study-112191/

In this first episode of our weekly reading series #PoetMeUp, Sandra Nadege hosts Tom Patrick as he reads "Death...Love". Enjoy! TRANSCRIPT Hello, my name is Sandra Nadege, and welcome y’all to episode 1 of #PoetMeUp  #PoetMeUp is a weekly series of poetry readings featuring new and well-renowned Rwandan poets. In this episode, we have Tom reading for us his sensational "Death...Love" Tom Patrick Nzabonimpa is a Rwandan poet, writer, and tea lover. He was the winner of the 2020 Empower Africa Now Writing Contest – short story category.  Patrick’s works have appeared in Brittle Paper, Twaweza anthology, Beans Without Korkor? And Other Short Stories anthology, and WSA Magazine, among other places. He is currently a journalist at The New Times and a short stories editor with Writers Space Africa Magazine. He tweets at @tommpoet. You grabbed the rounded container of that poison and poured it inside your yet-to-be cursed mouth! You took in more cubic metres, hoping to forget or perhaps murder your guts for men! You let it whirl as you danced, turning yourself into a quandary; A vulnerable sister, the reflection of a mourning family! Each gulp was a killer of your anger, But a booster of sorrow that arose in your ex's absence. Your feelings are WhatsApp statuses he muted. Say he wasn't a betrayer; he is dead. Do not call his corpse a curse; he is dead. Death shits' cure is true love. Eyes, red like the emojis in our yesterday's chat; You rolled them faster like presidential van's tyres. Each roll, an escalation of fear; Each fear, a regret for loving him. Perhaps you forgot that your depression was his favourite comedy show. You took that poison all night and smelled like it; Perhaps it helped 'cause your friends were tattoos you wish you never had. You scratched your skin with a knife to send them away. Each cut, was a scream; Each scream, was a reminder that you are human and still alive. You are weak and yet you are strong; The pulses of your heartbeat are testimonies. You took that poison for two more days. Your mind tricked you that he was home And you showed up with a stunted smile, Your physique disguised as a corpse. You slept You woke up, his voice screeching around your ears. "He is dead, you know it. He is dead, you saw it. He is dead, you don't look like him. Your skeleton isn't in his closet." I held your shaking hands and kissed your forehead. I wiped away your tears, my hands lessening your pain. Our long hug made your heartbeat snail, The joint of our heavy breaths was a reflection of our worries, But also a proof that death shits' cure is true love. Sweet sister, I know you still love him And were trying so hard to win back his heart Though his accident became the cat that devoured your favourite mouse. But take that poison... Away from your guts. I know you never loved it in those giraffe bottles. The trash chimney is ready to swallow it for you. That was it for today, thank you for tuning in. We hope to be with you in the next episodes.