22-YEAR-OLD VINCENT SUGIRA has found his niche in the art of poetry and acting and is determined to strengthen it to achieve greatness. Although he is disappointed by people who do not understand the value of poetry, he believes that the form of art can make him a living. “People still think that poetry is an easy art to do and do not take it seriously as a profession that can make a poet a living, but it really can,” he said. “You can participate in festivals and other events. Again, the cinema industry is growing and most of them need poems to use and so they hire poets.” The student at the African Leadership University (ALU) revealed that he has always been intrigued by literature though he did not get a chance to pursue it in school – an incident that didn’t limit the art of writing from finding its way to him although he was doing sciences. He used to write short stories and other literary works regarding his feelings in small diaries and later in 2016, he jotted down some lines and titled them “My Strength” and when he shared them with his friend, she said they were amazing and unique. “That is when I openly started writing poetry,” narrates Sugira. “Later on, I joined the school’s monthly magazine (Liquidnet Magazine) where I started to publish my works. That is when I started painting my name in many people’s hearts.” That happened when he was a student at Agahozo Shalom Youth Village. Many people congratulated him, providing positive comments that made him realise that he had a talent for poetry and writing. From then on, he wrote more poems and attended some competitions, drawing inspiration from the environment, daily troubles and experiences, world scenes, and the communitys daily encounters. “My poems range from various themes,” Sugira continues. “What I love about poetry is that it frees the language from its common meaning to an entirely different and yet expressive meaning. Poetry is an incredible way of healing and helping the community.” Some of his popular poems include “My Ride or Die”, “You’ll Never Understand”, and “A Confession of a Lost Child”, among others. Since the day he started doing poetry, Sugira has made many important connections, received poetry gigs, named as the Writer of the Week by Writers Space Africa-Rwanda, attended different competitions, opened doors for himself as a writer and helped people to deal with their daily troubles. He perceives poetry as an improved and yet a promising art sector in Rwanda, declaring that there are so many good poets and that poetry events that recognise poets have been rolled out which he believes will slowly turn into a good source of income for poets. However, according to him, there is still a long way to go because poetry requires persistent learning and improvement although he is aware that platforms like Writers Space Africa-Rwanda, Spoken Word Rwanda, Ministry of Culture, among others, are helping poets. Talking about challenges, Sugira said that Rwanda has less active platforms that help poets regularly, adding that some works are used without the artist’s consent which discourages them. He is not only a poet but also an actor – a journey he started in 2021 during the East African Contemporary Festival where his debut appearance took place. He shared that he has loved acting since he was young and that he likes it because it exposes artists and introduces them to the practicability of different personalities – some of which they had never thought of living and perceives it as an incredible way of conveying a message. He plans to release a poetry collection of his poems and strengthen his copywriting skills as well as poetry and acting skills. He can be found on Instagram: sugira_prince_vinc, Facebook: Prince Vinc, Twitter: Prince Vinc, @SugiraVincent or LinkedIn: Sugira Vincent
