John Lwanda

John Lloyd Chipembere Lwanda is a physician, producer and writer. Born in 1949, he has lived and been educated in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Scotland. His writing focuses on Africa in general, Southern Africa sometimes but more particularly Malawi. His interests include collecting, archiving and recording popular and traditional music, still photography and collecting Malawi artistic and craft objects, including fabrics. At times, one or two people have considered that his writing was politically too critical to the established order. A few have looked at his poetry in similar vein. He is best known for the book Kamuzu Banda of Malawi: Promise, Power and Legacy (Kachere, 2010, ISBN) and his two collections of poetry: Black Thoughts From the Diaspora (Dudu Nsomba, 1994, ISBN 0-9522233-2-5) and The Rhino’s Lament (Dudu Nsomba, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9532396-4-1). A novel, The Second Harvest (Novel, Dudu Nsomba ISBN 0-9522233-1-7) was published in 1994. He claims to be working on a third and definitive collection of poetry and verse.
He has also edited and published a number of books including Padraig O’Malleys’ Living Dangerously (Dudu Nsomba, 1998, ISBN 0-9532396-1-6) and Felix Mnthali’s Yoranivyoto (Dudu Nsomba, 1998, ISBN 0-9532396-0-8). In addition he has compiled, recorded and produced a number of Malawi musicians, notably Alan Namoko & Chimvu Jazz, Wyndham Chechamba and Saleta Phiri.