I write to express myself, performance poet, Hauwa speaks
I write because I want to express myself” says performance poet, Hauwa Saleh Abubakar. “I like what other works have done for me so I want to do it for others, I like the fact that some poems make me cry or think or smile this is what I want to do for others”.
Hauwa who hails from Taraba State but was raised in Kaduna State told Daily Trust that she started writing poetry when she was 15-years-old and “never stopped since”.
The author of a poetry chap book ‘How to practice forgetting’ said transitioning from being a page poet to a performance poet “was a journey”.
She explained that spoken word poetry wasn’t a love at first sight scenario for her, as she initially did not like it. However, overtime through the work of some poets and the ‘Button Poetry’ channel on YouTube she came to love it.
On learning the skills to transition, the Ahmadu Bello University Law graduate said, “It was a journey, I started performing at the Creative Writers Club at ABU and three years back I discovered Purple Silver.”
On the challenges, she said: “For me I think my challenges come from learning how to perform well because I started badly, I had to push myself so it was a journey, it took years for me to reach this stage.”
She said performing at the 2018 edition of KABAFEST made her feel she had reached a commendable milestone.
She also performed at ABUFEST in 2018, “I was supposed to headline the [ABUFEST 2019] poetry performance this year but the festival was cancelled”.
“I have been performing at the Yasmin El Rufai Foundation literary evenings which holds every last Saturday of the month and at Purple silver we meet every Sunday – It’s a community for writers here in Kaduna”, she said.
Hauwa, who writes short stories said she does not restrict herself to any issue “I write a variety of things. I don’t have a particular thing I write about. I write about women, I write about, myself as a person, I write about simple things, I have poems about things that I love, like food.”