I got interested in English language in Malawi where I read a lot of Fairy tales and Greek mythology, and teenage mystery fiction, The Hardy Boys. Just before I left Malawi I had started writing poetry on my own without any knowledge of its elements. My real passion into story writing came when I came to this country in 1976. I still remember writing short stories for my English classes and the teacher reading them out. I had no clue about the grammar or the correct use of the words.

I read a lot of fairy tales, Agatha Christine and Sherlock Holmes.

I guess it must be in my genes that I should be drawn towards poetry and literature for I have no inkling how I got into reading Shakespeare, Elizabethan and Victorian poets/poetesses.

When I first read Shakespeare’s two narrative poems I read them like one listens to music; it was the ear with my own interruptions, which mostly was far-fetched. It was the same with his sonnets. However I was able to grasp most of his Julius Ceasar, mainly because of the movies and the writing. I still find difficult to understand his other plays. But what I understand is simply brilliant; his insight to humanness and metaphors. He was a great metaphysical poet, a characteristic which is the heart of my poetry.