Professor Francis P. B. Moto (born 1952) is a Malawian writer, academic, and diplomat. His home is Golomoti in the

Dedza District Dedza is a district in the Central Region of Malawi. It covers an area of 3,624 km.² to the south of the Malawi capital, Lilongwe, between Mozambique and Lake Malawi. The capital is Dedza. Geography The western part of the district is on t ...

of Malawi. He attended secondary school in Chichiri in

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

and was admitted to the

University of Malawi The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university established in 1965 and until 4 May 2021, when the university underwent a delinking, was composed of four constituent colleges located in Zomba, Blantyre, and Lilongwe. Of the four colleges, ...

in 1972, obtaining a degree in linguistics in 1977.''Nzeru Umati Zako Nzokuuza'', author information. From 1978-1980 Francis Moto studied at the

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

in London, obtaining an MA in linguistics. He was awarded a PhD from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

in 1989. From 1990-93, he served as Education Attaché of Malawi in London,Malawi Update, published by the Scottish Malawi Network, July 2006. Later he worked as lecturer in

Chichewa Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) is a Bantu language spoken in much of Southern, Southeast and East Africa, namely the countries of Malawi , where it is an official language, and Mozambique and Zambia. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for la ...

and linguistics at Chancellor College (part of the University of Malawi). From 1998-2005 he was Principal of Chancellor College. In 2005, following disturbances at the university, Francis Moto was removed as Principal by the then President of Malawi

Bingu wa Mutharika Bingu wa Mutharika (; born Brightson Webster Ryson Thom; 24 February 1934 – 5 April 2012) was a Malawian politician and economist who was President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012. He was also President of the Democ ...

. He was subsequently appointed High Commissioner of Malawi in London from 2005–10, and later served as the first Ambassador of Malawi in Brazil from 2011-15. Francis Moto's book ''Trends in Malawi Literature'' (2001) has been the subject of a detailed critique by Professor Harri Englund of the University of Cambridge.Englund, Harri (2004). "Gender Relations in African-Language Literature: Interpretative Politics and Possibilities". ''African Sociological Review'' 8.1. (Available on the Internet).

Publications

*Five poems in the

language published in Enoch Mvula (ed.) ''Akoma Akagonera''. Popular Publications, Limbe. (1981). *(with S. Mchombo
"Tone and the Theory of Syntax"
''Studies in African Linguistics'', Supplement 8, 92-95. (1981). *"Aspects of tone assignment in Chichewa", ''Journal of Contemporary African Studies'', 3: 1, 199-209 (1983).

*''Nzeru Umati Zako Nzokuuza'' ("The wisdom you say is yours is what they tell you") Popular Publications, Limbe (1987), a collection of eleven short stories in the

language. *''Phonology of the Bantu Lexicon''. Doctoral Dissertation, University College London, (1989). *''Gazing at the Setting Sun''. Zomba: FEGS Publications International, (1994). (Poetry in English.) *"Burying political commentary in animal metaphor: a study of Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga, Malunga's ''Makangano a Nyama''". ''Tizame'', Issue No. 6, (1998), pp. 24-27. *"The tonal phonology of Bantu ideophones". ''Malilime: The Malawian Journal of Linguistics'', (1999), no.1, 100-120.
"The semantics of poetic and dramatic works : the case of Mapanje and Chimombo"
Paper to be presented at the.International Conference on Historical and Social Science Research in Malawi : Problems and Prospects. (2000) *''Trends in Malawian Literature''. Chancellor College Publishers. . (2001)
"Language and Societal Attitudes: A Study of Malawi's 'New Language'"
''Nordic Journal of African Studies'' 10(3): 320-343 (2001).
"Towards a Study of the Lexicon of Sex and HIV/AIDS"
''Nordic Journal of African Studies'' 13(3): 343–362 (2004) *''The Context and Language of

Jack Mapanje Jack Mapanje (born 25 March 1944)University of Malawi alumni Alumni of SOAS University of London Alumni of University College London

University of Malawi faculty A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Short story writers Malawian poets Malawian diplomats 1952 births Living people Chewa-language writers