Published in Overland Issue Audio Overland II: Resistance · Writing Flag and future Ngwatilo Mawiyoo Ngwatilo Mawiyoo Poet and writer Ngwatilo Mawiyoo’s new research explores the lives of 20 rural Kenyan families over 200 days. She plans to share her experience on Kenyan and international radio and other digital platforms, and thereafter publish a book of poems (and essays), to follow her critically acclaimed first collection, Blue Mothertongue (2010). The collection explores notions of identity as they manifest in her native Nairobi and the African diaspora. Ngwatilo has previously showcased her work on various international stages across Africa & Europe, and has been translated to Swedish and German. She also enjoys collaborating with musicians and other artists to collectively ‘tell’ poetry in an aesthetic she dubs ‘Puesic’ [pew-zik]. Her 6track E.P album Introducing Ngwatilo (2011) showcases some of her solo and music-based collaborations. In conjunction with the Africa Centre in South Africa, Ngwatilo is an Artist-in-Residence at Bundanon Trust, Australia in April 2013. More by Ngwatilo Mawiyoo › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 10 March 202610 March 2026 · Writing The role of the committed writer in an unfree world André Dao No, the committed writer is a movement writer. I mean that the committed writer knows that they know very little, and that the way to remedy that ignorance is through solidarity with people in struggle. 1 1 December 20251 December 2025 · Writing With respect to the poor essay Jonno Revanche Style is now a feature that we surrender to a digital pattern recognition machine, which attempts to replicate our own but often falls short, feeling convincing enough but too superficial in its noticing to get to the heart of human concerns.
