John Lwanda


John Lloyd Chipembere Lwanda is a Malawian medical doctor, writer, poet, researcher, publisher, and music producer. He is a published author and also a publisher of books and music. He was an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow Department of Primary Care until 2005. Lwanda did his history and social science PhD at the University of Edinburgh's Centre of African Studies.

Education

Lwanda was educated in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Scotland at Anglican, Catholic, and Presbyterian schools and colleges. He spent a politically and musically influential elective year in the USA in 1974. Though he had intended to pursue the arts, his father advised him to take up medicine. Graduating in medicine in 1976, he specialised in paediatrics before turning to adult general medicine.

Career

He has worked as a Census Enumerator for the Malawi National Census 1966 and as a clerk in the Ministry of Education between 1967 and 1968 under Brian McLaughlin. At the University of Malawi he was a Senior Laboratory Assistant working under Professors Peter Mwanza and Margaret Kalk. He has studied and worked in Scotland since 1970 and, briefly, Malawi as a government doctor and lecturer at the College of Medicine. He has also worked in various medical fields since. He is currently a general medical practitioner in Lanarkshire and is an honorary senior research fellow in the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, School of Politics and Social Science, Glasgow University. Although his first article was published in Moni magazine in 1965, he only began working regularly as a Freelance writer and journalist from 1981. He, by default, became a Music and Book Researcher and Publisher in 1988. Between 1991 and 1994 he was involved in the activism that led to a multiparty dispensation in Malawi Lwanda describes music as his first love

Publishing career

Pamtondo

Pamtondo was set up in 1988 by John Lwanda and George Claver with the aim of recording and disseminating Malawi music. It recorded and issued a number of releases of Malawi music, including recordings by Kasambwe, Alan Namoko and Chimvu, Saleta Phiri and AB Sounds, CheChamba, Kamwendo Brothers Band, as well as co-operating on some compilations.

Pamvision

Since 1994 Pamvision has been making Malawian music video recordings and films. The first recording was of Chief Chipoka Band. Over twenty five different acts, ranging from gospel through popular music to traditional, have been video recorded, mostly for academic research.These include the Malawi National Dance Troupe, the Mount Sinai Choir, Sambangoma Dance Troupe, Bondo Village Nyau Group, Kwandege Cultural Troupe, Chileka, and the Mchinji Ingoma Troupe.

Dudu Nsomba Publications

Established in 1993,Dudu Nsomba Publications publishes books on Malawi and Africa. Dudu Nsomba supports the Copyright Society of Malawi. The first book was Kamuzu Banda of Malawi.
Books Edited and Published by Dudu Nsomba

Books

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/ajar/2003/00000002/00000002/art00005
Lwanda, who sometimes describes himself as a subsistence farmer, has three grand children: Evelyn Onani, Muliko, and Tazilwa.