Steve Chimombo

He was educated at Zomba Catholic Secondary School, then at the University of Malawi where he earned a B.A.^[3][4] At the University of Wales, he took a teaching diploma in English as a Second Language. At Columbia University in the United States, he was awarded his M.A. and Ph.D. in teaching.^[5] After studying at Leeds, England, Chimombo returned to Malawi to edit the literary bulletin Outlook-lookout.^[6]

He was a professor of English at Chancellor College in Malawi and was considered one of the nation's leading writers.^[5][7] In 1988 his Napolo Poems gained him honorable mention for the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.^[8] He was married to Moira Chimombo.^[7]

The poet Stanley Onjezani Kenani wrote the following appreciation of Chimombo: "Except for J.W. Gwengwe, D.D. Phiri, Jack Mapanje, and Francis Chipasula, I cannot think of any Malawian who has contributed more to Malawian literature than Prof. Chimombo."^[9] He died at the age of 70 on 11 December 2015 in Blantyre.^[9]

• Napolo Poems, Manchichi Publishers, 1987
• Python! Python! An Epic Poem, Wasi Publications, 1992
• Napolo and the Python, Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1994, ISBN 978-0-435-91199-7

• The Rainmaker (1975)
• Wachiona Ndani? (1983)

• The Basket Girl, Popular Publications, 1990
• The Wrath of Napolo, Wasi Publications, 2000, ISBN 978-99908-48-06-9

• The Bird Boy's Song, Wasi Publications, 2002, ISBN 978-99908-48-07-6

• The Hyena Wears Darkness (2006)

• Malawian Oral Literature: The Aesthetics of Indigenous Arts (1988)^[7]
• The Culture of Democracy: Language, Literature, the Arts and Politics in Malawi, 1992–94 (1996)

• Chinua Achebe; Catherine Lynette Innes, eds. (1992). "The rubbish dump". The Heinemann book of contemporary African short stories. Heinemann. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-435-90566-8. Steve Chimombo.
• Gerald Moore; Ulli Beier, eds. (2007). "Napolo: the message". The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry. Translated by Gerald Moore; Ulli Beier. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-042472-0.