After missing in action for slightly over a year due to some touring in Europe, poet, Linda Gabriel is set to stage her first performance in the country at Dzimbanhete Arts interactions on March 11, 2017.

The show has been dubbed, ‘One on One with Linda Gabriel’.

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“The audience coming will be the first to experience my fresh raw poems. They will get a chance to request a few of my old poems which I will perform per request. The audience will also get a chance to engage in a question and answer session after the performance,” said Linda.

Gabriel also took a moment to reflect on her European excursion saying, “I spent the greater part of 2016 in Europe mainly based in Berlin. I had performances in Denmark, Norway, Switzerland. My time was spent on doing performances, workshops in schools and lecturing at Universities.

“Afric Avenir (google them) were the partnering organisation for most of the activities I engaged in. Whilst in Germany I performed in different cities including Hamburg and Bayreuth. This tour also allowed me to showcase my one woman play You Think You Know Me which is directed by Zaza Muchemwa.”

On whether the craft is bringing bread on her table she said, “It’s a huge challenge, I do number of things to keep going, I am a consultant in development of arts, I make scarves, I do wardrobe consultancy.

“You would be surprised that since 2015, I haven’t had more than five well-paying performances. Many people and organisations here in Zimbabwe they want you to perform for free and many say but we are giving you exposure, many poets will tell you that we have had enough of this exposure talk.

“I know I could earn a living here in Zimbabwe from just my poetry if our communities were more open to consider working with poets the way they work with musicians, imagine my poetry on adverts, billboards, on public health platforms, brand ambassador to some companies. I am tired of knocking doors, I sometimes think maybe many don’t just understand the medium,” she lamented.