Meet Tanzanian author and poet Gloria D. Gonsalves. Like most writers, Gloria’s love for reading began in her childhood. While attending primary and secondary school in Tanzania at the Kifungilo Girls’ School, Gloria read novels to improve her English. Reading inspired Gloria to write, entering contests and composing plays to much success. It was many years later, while pursuing her Masters Degree in Environmental Science at the University of Cologne, that Gloria started blogging and sharing her work with the world.
Gloria finds pleasure in writing both for adults and children. However, she is also passionate about encouraging literacy and a love for reading in others, particularly in children. She founded World Children’s Poetry Day (WoChiPoDa), an initiative to encourage a love for poetry in children by having them write and draw. Gloria is also a part of Read a Book, Make a Difference (RABMAD) an organization that promotes authors who give a percentage of their sales back to the community. Her passion for giving back to Africa and changing the world’s perspective of the continent led her to start “Africa Is Not What You Know”; a call to improve the face of Africa.
Gloria’s body of literary work includes her body of work includes her poetry collections Mists of Sense Require Fierce Poesy and “MAHABA” Prints in My Heart for adults, and Diamonds Forever for children. She has written the memoirs I am Tausi and The Wisdom Huntress, and children’s books Danloria and Swahili Folklore. Swahili Folklore contains rhymes and Swahili folktales translated into English.
“In addition to writing poetry and fiction, Gloria writes photographic snippets for her non-boring nature blog titled “Petals in a Lawyer”. She is a contributing author/poet to AuthorHouse Author’s Digest, When Women Waken journal and Naturewriting.com. Gloria currently lives in Germany.”
For more information on Gloria’s books or her humanitarian efforts please visit AuntieGlo.
World Children’s Poetry Day (WoChiPoDa) shall be next month on October 4th, 2014.
