His collection of poems, The Man Lived won the 1999 Association of Nigerian Authors ANA Poetry Prize.
[1] He has identified Birago Diop, Lenrie Peters, Tanure Ojaide and Kwesi Brew as the key influences on his poetry.
It was in 1994 that Kabura Zakama met Prof Zaynab Alkali who invited him to a defining poetry/short story workshop which birthed Vultures in the Air: Voices from Northern Nigeria.
[6] From that time, Kabura Zakama, who was a closet poet, begin to publish his poems in newspapers, magazines and anthologies.
Kabura Zakama now sees his poetry as a calling and he promotes young writers as well as writing in his mother tongue which is gradually disappearing.
[9] In 1999, he won the Association of Nigerian Authors ANA Poetry Prize for his collection of poems, The Man Lived.