EDITORIAL
Congratulations: Rutendo Shadaya, 16, was one of the four
winners from Waikato who made the 2024 YWCA’s Y25 list that recognized women
under the age of 25 for making a positive difference in New Zealand.
We welcome you to our special issue which closes the year as
a gift for you, a gift you will carry over into the New Year. We bring you some of the best
and worst moments of 2024. Together we celebrated, but also together we cried.
It must be said the local literary arts
sector was a hive of activity throughout the year. Workshops, book launches,
discussions, festivals, awards ceremonies, and many others which we couldn’t
keep track of. A plus for writers also is the new book store recently opened at
the Herald House, Harare, which is expected to open new branches across the
country.
We indeed congratulate everyone for the
success.
Sad moments haunted us, though. For instance, the passing of respected historian and writer Pathisa Nyathi pained the literary community. May his soul rest in peace. We will, in our next newsletter, feature a special tribute from veteran writer, publisher and translator Barbara Makhalisa Nkala.
Now that 2025 is right by the corner,
everyone may be asking: what’s in the future? We believe there’s so much, only
if we believe!
At WIN, the Executive Board has great
plans in store for 2025. The Community Library project in Epworth has had its
falls and rises during the year, but its Children’s Reading Club had school children
from the community spending wonderful reading moments at the library. The Board
will re-accommodate activities for the adult membership, such activities as
workshops and manuscript assessment.
Please accept our gratitude for the
support you continue to give us, wishing you all the best in 2025 and forever!
Enjoy!
WE SHALL
OVERCOME
Memory Chirere
Win Online
Philani A Nyoni speaking about “Rights
and Translations: Navigating Markets, Cultures and Opportunities”, one of the
topics which were under discussion during the LitFest 2024 in Harare. Other
panellists were Kristian Carlson from Sweden (far left), Dr Lame Pusetso from
Botswana and Dr Ignatius Mabasa from Zimbabwe [Photo: Mgcini Nyoni]
The Testament of Black Jesus, an epic poem by Philani Amadeus Nyoni, trended remarkably well this year with a streak of three awards received locally and abroad.
In Harare, Nyoni was honoured with the Phoenix Author’s
Award at the Phoenix Publishing Book Awards. Since 2022, Phoenix has recognized
local writers and uplifted their works into the limelight.
At the 2024 Botswana Literature Awards, The Testament of Black Jesus won the Best Outstanding Publishing
Work award.
Nyoni’s achievements have made Zimbabwe proud. Of literary
genius we now speak of him among many others here and in the diaspora.
And no wonder he feels as proud as a parent.
“I’m as proud as any parent would be to see their child go
out into the world and conquer. I hope the book brings comfort to those in need
of it, and discomfort to the deserving as well. The book has been out for less
than a year, I’m more concerned with helping it reach a new lease of life and
finding it new spaces and homes,” he says.
The Testament of Black
Jesus is Nyoni’s 2024
epic noted for its unusual construct and perspective.
In a review featured on the online journal Munyori, the
reviewer concluded that the book “carries a message of
the radical return to the source of African pride”.
BLESSING MUSARIRI KEEPS RISING
Congratulations!
‘READING TIME SERIES’ PROJECT LEAVES MARK
Win Online
Four primary school writers’ clubs from Bhoora and another from Harare will always acknowledge the joys of reading after participating in a year-long Reading Time Series project conducted by writer Brenda Dzangare.
The project, supported by the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe, started in October 2023.
The exciting reading sessions which then ended with an inter-schools quiz competition on November 26, 2024, had
participants from Little Kids Junior School, Oribi Junior School, Bradford
College Eastview, Bradford College Skyline, all from Bhoora, and Makomo Primary
School (Harare).
Makomo Primary School reading club was
host and first-prize winner of the quiz contest which was graced by Culture
Fund officials.
Guest of Honour Mrs Chihambakwe, Director
Gaudalupe Association of Zimbabwe, told the children about how religion and
science have linked viewpoints in life matters. She encouraged the children to
grow up knowing that life is very important and abortion is bad.
Tatenda Tofarirepi, aka Hombarume the Giant, rendered powerful ‘spoken word’ poetry at intervals. Hombarume, who published his Shona poetry collection Muvhimi WeNduri this year, also performed at the LitFest.
Dzangare said her major aim is to promote
reading culture in children by working with schools in various provinces.
“My aim is to promote reading culture in
children by establishing reading clubs. I intend to continue implementing the
reading clubs I established and start new clubs in new schools,” she said.
The clubs received books which they were
required to read and discuss under supervision of their patrons. Dzangare would
also conduct some reading sessions with them. The Reading Time Series is made
up of ten books, all written by Brenda Dzangare.
The kids garnered valuable knowledge from
the books such as Healthy Living
which tells the story of a sick boy while it educates the young readers about
the balanced diet, The Gift in which
the main character is an autistic girl who shows that talent knows no
disability, and Our Zimbabwe which
explains the different backgrounds of some of Zimbabwe’s heritage sites. The
other titles Morning Star, Tom and Faith,
Seasons, Paulo and Sammy, Good Citizenship, also carry valuable information
for the young learners.
The competition tested how much the
children had read and understood the books and surely, they did not disappoint.
Little Kids Junior School
club
Bradford College
TENDAI HUCHU EXPLORES THE FANTASTIC IN HIS ‘EDINBURGH NIGHTS SERIES’
Win Online
Front cover of The Legacy of Arniston House, 2024
Tendai L Huchu
Writer Tendai Huchu, writing as T L Huchu for the Edinburgh Night Series which now has four books, believes that fantasy opens the door to further mysterious discoveries about this real world.
Speaking recently about fantasy as a
literary genre, Huchu said, “Fantasy is our original way of understanding the
world – it’s the stuff of myth and religion. It fills us with a childlike
wonder and points to the mystery we all know which is that there’s more to this world than we could ever imagine.”
The Edinburgh Night Series has confirmed
Huchu’s love for the genre as he invested his creative imagination to producing
a book yearly for the Scotland-set series published by Tor Books, beginning
with Library of The Dead in 2021. In
2022 and 2023 Our Lady of Mysterious
Ailments and The Mystery at Dunvegan
Castle were published, respectively.
And in November, 2024, The Legacy of Arniston House, the
fourth instalment, came out, with other writers such as Genevieve Cogman
reportedly describing it as “engrossing and entertaining … with genuine emotion
– and genuine betrayal”.
One would want to read all the books so
far published in the series, telling by the wide recognition the genre has
received. The mythologies, folklore, are an adventure for not only the young
but also adults. In this new century, the genre has been further developed so
as to blend with modern world cultures. Just as said by Huchu, the fresh
perspectives born of fantasy have always been what even African oral tradition
offered.
His description of the first person
narrator, girl named Ropa who is main character in all the series, evokes
curiosity.
“She is the ghost-talker and uses mbira
to communicate with ghosts,” he says.
Huchu hosted the 2024 Nommo Awards in
Glasgow, an event which acknowledged African writers making inroads in the
world ‘science fiction, fantasy, horror and philosophical fiction’. The annual
Nommo awards are known to be organized by African Speculative Fiction Society
(ASFS), ‘celebrate the best in African speculative fiction’.
He also facilitated one of the Portobello
Bookshop writers’ master classes and hopes to do so in the future.
Earlier books by Huchu include ‘The Hairdresser of Harare’ and ‘The Maestro, The Magistrate and The
Mathematician’, which were published to international acclaim and have been
translated into various languages.
WRITERS CHERISH
ESSENTIALS 2024 GET-TOGETHER
Writers at the
great book launch happily show off some of the books published this year by Essentials
The third edition, graced by award-winning literary journalist and
WIN director Beaven Tapureta as Guest of Honour, brought together emerging writers
whose works were published by Essentials in 2024.
More than ten titles were launched amid celebration which was
spiced up by poetry performances, interviews, readings and book exhibition.
Guest of Honour urged the writers to think of new book marketing
and promotion strategies within the Zimbabwean context. By engaging schools and
communities, he said the writers can mentor critical readers and book buyers.
He said the launch was not the end of the marketing of the new
books.
“Be involved in reading culture development activities. Associate
yourselves with schools in your communities, or libraries, organizations, or
people who are running projects that are linked to your career or themes in
your books. Volunteer to work with them while you also help revive reading
interest in them. Writer involvement in the marketing process is critical in
the success of a book. I am happy that this get-together seeks to deepen and
expand this understanding of our market within the Zimbabwean context,” he
said.
Mambo Guramatunhu, a Spoken
Word artist, performed a few poems which encouraged discipline and creativity.
Author of a soon-to-be-published long novel My Obsession, Your Addiction, Tebeth Dirani, conducted informative
interviews with Tinashe Muchuri and Aleck Kaposa.
For Muchuri, it all began in the early 90’s when he avidly read
the stories he found in the Shona newspaper Kwayedza.
The inspiration he got from them pushed him to try his talent. He submitted a
story and how surprised he was when it was published. His dream to be a writer
was toned up.
Later, he would join the Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe
[BWAZ] which featured his poem ‘Mubhedha’ in one of its publications Crackling
Voices and his stories and essays in its subsequent magazines.
The poem Mubhedha, with the persona wishing he was a bed which
witnesses the hypocrisy of human beings, shows the gift of comedy Muchuri has.
The history of his Shona novel, Chibarabada, as he told it, highlighted matters of patience and
courage.
“It originally was a children’s story. A certain small publisher
couldn’t publish it. I then developed it for seven years, and it turned out as
a novel. It then took me six years looking for a publisher and during that time,
I had five rejections,” he said.
Chibarabada was finally published in 2015 by Bhabhu Books and was received
with great acclaim by readers, particularly academics who found it quite
challenging to the known concept of a Zimbabwean Shona novel. Muchuri said some
reviewers described it as a difficult novel.
Asked if the novel has won any award so far, Muchuri said it has
won its own ‘awards’ different from the usual ones.
“The University of Zimbabwe Literature department used it, some
described it as an ‘anti-novel’, and others said it is a psychological novel.
Some scholars even pegged it in the same line with [Ignatius] Mabasa’s novels
and there is also hope that it may be translated soon,” said Muchuri.
About translation in general, he said there are now opportunities
to take it up, even though there could be difficulties with piracy in this
digital era.
Muchuri urged fellow writers to understand copyright issues as
well as consider focusing on children’s literature which now has a greater
market.
Essential Book Writers Association [EBWA] director Aleck Kaposa
told an inspiring story of his journey as a writer.
His grandmother, a gifted Ndebele storyteller, was a great
inspiration, yet the actual person who got him putting pen to paper for the
first time was a certain author who visited his school every morning at
assembly to read a chapter from his book.
From then on, he started practising writing poems and stories.
Today, Kaposa has achieved tremendous recognition through his
writings and his commitment to the development of Zimbabwean literature.
His publishing house, he said, has published about 175 titles
since its inception, with seven NAMA award nominations and two award-winners.
Essentials Book Writers Association presented a gift of thirteen
titles from its stable in support of WIN’s library project in Epworth.
Win Online
Musaemura B Zimunya
Memory Chirere reading at a birthday
party held for Zimunya
A belated birthday party for the renowned writer Musa
Zimunya was held on Thursday evening, November 28, 2024, at the Alliance
Francaise as part of the Harare International Literature Festival (LitFest).
LitFest, running from November 27 to 30
under the theme ‘Stories – The Measure of
Life’, fulfilled the wishes of writers and friends of the guru by providing
time and space within its programme for the party.
The writers’ exciting readings of poems
and extracts from Zimunya’s publications, and Zimunya’s share of his earlier
life, will remain a cherished memory.
Litfest Director and accomplished poet,
Chirikure Chirikure, said LitFest felt honoured to host Zimunya’s birthday
celebration.
“It was a great honour for us at LitFest
festival to host the birthday celebrations. We tried to make it a different
event, with Zimunya sharing stories of his childhood, and friends reading their
favourite pieces from his works. Our greatest gratitude to fellow writer, Spiwe
Mahachi-Harper, who provided the refreshments,” he said.
Zimunya, best known for his poetry, short
stories and literary criticism, turned 75 on November 14, 2024.
He said moments like these were necessary
for writers. He posted his words of gratitude in the Zimbabwe Writers’
Association Whatsapp group, noting what other writers like Memory Chirere who
was present at the party had reminded him.
“Chirere reminded me that writers can and
should surely find time to regale and read from time to time on order to enjoy
those inimitable hours of catharsis and social healing that only writers can
deliver so effortlessly through their language, thoughts and stories. And the
laughter that rejuvenates. Cheers!”
Zimunya is one of the celebrated writers in
Zimbabwe. His publications include Thought
Tracks (1982), Kingfisher, Jikinya
and Other Poems (1982), Country Dawns
and City Lights (1985), Nightshift
(1993), and Selected Poems (1995)
RURAL MAZVIHWA HOSTS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
LIBRARY MONTH CELEBRATION
A primary school pupil performing in
front of guests in celebration of the school library month
The event, organized by the Zimbabwe
Library Association [Midlands Branch], ran under the 2024 ISLM theme ‘School Libraries:
Community Connectors’ and was graced by various stakeholders in the education
and information industry, including Zvishavane
District Schools Inspectorate and Dreams Discovery Publishing company which
donated some books to the hosting school.
The yearly global celebrations, held in
October, are intended to ‘advocate for school libraries, showcasing the impact
of school libraries on education and student success’, among other objectives.
ZimLA
Chairperson Maxwell Dhewa, said while the event observed the school libraries
month, it also was in recognition of the school’s affiliation to his
organization this year.
The choice of Gudo Primary as host of
such an event is expected to be the beginning of an outreach that will benefit
other rural areas as well.
“We used to celebrate the ISLM in Gweru
mostly, but in an effort to sustain the development goals, especially goal
number 4, which is about quality education, we decided to take this initiative
to the rural community. In this case, we considered Zvishavane District. In
future, we are considering having similar events in Zvishavane and other rural
areas in Midlands province,” said Dhewa.
His
organization is committed to applying the ‘one school, one library, one
librarian’ educational philosophy in its advocacy for viable school library
culture in rural and urban areas.
The said philosophy was endorsed by the
Honourable Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Torerayi Moyo who was
Guest of Honour at ZimLA annual conference held in September.
Dhewa said the Minister emphasized the
need for school libraries to be manned by qualified librarians employed by
government.
“In the previous years, we had a
situation whereby the members of the SDA had to use an unqualified librarian
because they could not afford to pay a qualified one. The Minister’s words
prompted us to then extend our wings to rural areas with initiatives meant to
encourage viable school libraries so that education quality in these areas is
improved just as is happening in the urban areas,” said Dhewa.
The Zimbabwe Library Association, a member of
the International Federation of Libraries Associations, is made up of local
libraries, librarians and various other information practitioners. Institutions,
schools, students, local librarians and those in the diaspora can subscribe to
ZimLA.
BREAKING THE SILENCE: GBV
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN MAKES WAVES ONLINE
By Nyere Linda Chaya-Du Barah
SOADI founder and director Nyere Linda Chaya-Du Barah in conversation with Guthrie Munyuki on Vantage
In a
bold effort to tackle the pervasive issue of Gender-Based Violence (GBV),
Southern Afrika Dialogue (SOADI) recently hosted its first-ever online
awareness campaign.
The
campaign, which aimed to draw in participants from diverse sectors, was
attended by individuals from across the globe.
Speakers,
including renowned emotional therapist Barbara Kamba Nyathi and Dr. Tanaka
Chimuka, who shed light on the devastating health impacts of emotional trauma,
added depth and expertise to the campaign. Reverend Chigariro straddled both
Human Resources perspectives and the church responses to GBV. Fathers Against
Abuse shared insights into the need to integrate male wellness in
interventions.
The
interactive format allowed participants to engage meaningfully, fostering a
sense of community and solidarity.
One
of the primary objectives was to introduce our resource tool, "A Woman in
Between," a book designed to facilitate emotional healing.
The campaign underscored the importance
of collaboration across sectors. We forged new relationships and look forward
to providing additional wellness training and resources to those eager to join
the fight against GBV.
For more information, contact: saodialogue@gmail.com
GO, GO FOR IT, POET!
In November poet Albert
Nyathi graduated at Midlands State University with a Master of Philosophy
degree (Faculty of Social Sciences – Department of Music, Musicology and
Technology).
DAVID MUNGOSHI REMEMBERED
Writers from Harare at the memorial ceremony for the late writer and academic David Mungoshi. The
ceremony was held in August in Manyene, Chivhu.
***
Thank you for reading our
newsletter.
WISHING YOU ALL A SAFE AND PROSPEROUS 2025!
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