Tjawangwa Dema

Tjwangwa Dema, famously known as TJ Dema, is a Motswana poet, educator, literary events and project producer. She is currently an honorary senior research associate at the University of Bristol.

Quotes

• "I studied in Botswana and in the classroom it was the reading of stories that drew me to language, not poetry specifically".
  • The Power Of Poetry - Tjawangwa Dema

• "Do not ask me what I good poem is, I only know one when I see or smell it, hear it coming, or sense it scrambling off the stage or page".
  • The Art of Alteration with TJ Dema 25 February 2019

• "This process of refining is everything is the goal is to write a good (read necessary, urgent) poem".
  • The Art of Alteration with TJ Dema 25 February 2019

• "When my chapbook, Mandible, got published I don't believe I thought about curation very much".
  • "So You Wanna Win a Book Prize" w/ Tjawangwa Dema March 3, 2020

• "My sister works well at the daily chore of keeping everyone alive"
  • Naomi by Tjawangwa Dema March 5, 2019

• "I remember seeing the sky as it scrunched its face, filling its cheeks with smoke hurling rage at every mans' door".
  • TJ DEMA- BREAD FOR THE BIRDS Accessed in July 19, 2022

• "Here is a line between mana and man / and nature / man-made / as all false boundaries are".
  • Tjawangwa Dema, What are the Boundaries Between Humans and Nature Accessed in July 19, 2022

• "One of the things I was afraid I would miss out on with a digital residency was the very local and human voice but thankfully through technology we can approximate some of what a conversation in person accomplishes".
  • 'Complicating Fragments or You Are Here' - A poem by QuayWords Summer Digital writer-in-residnece, Tjawangwa Dema Accessed in July 19, 2022

• "My clay begins elesewhere where Okavango pours into Boteti & re appears here to watch this other water from a distance".
  • Complicating Fragments or You Are Here by TJ Dema Accessed in July 19, 2022