Registered under the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe

13 March 2024

WIN LITERARY NEWSLETTER, VOL 2, ISSUE NO 22

 

EDITORIAL

 

Memory Chirere (left) and Dr T K Tsodzo

 

Greetings and welcome to our newsletter after long silence. We really appreciate your patience.

Meanwhile,  the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, the main organizer of the National Arts Merit Awards, continues to recognize our elders for their great work in the writing industry. We have Dr T K Tsodzo in mind, who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award this year. To him we say, your wisdom is our inspiration.

We hope to return soon with the next Issue. Enjoy!

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2024 NAMA AWARDS WINNERS (LITERARY CATEGORY)

 

 The National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) were held in Bulawayo on Saturday evening, Feb 24, 2024, under the theme #KWAN22. Our interest is in the literary arts, and we say congratulations to the following winners in the said category:

 

Lifetime Achievement Award

                                                   
                                     Dr Thompson Kumbirai Tsodzo

 

Outstanding First Creative Published Work

The Train House on Lobengula Street by Fatima Kara

 

 

Fatima Kara

 

 Outstanding Children’s Book

The Haunted Pumpkin by Mai Sarungano Folktales

 



 Outstanding Fiction Book

UKhethiwe by Zibusiso Mabonisa

 

Zibusiso C Mabonisa


 

Outstanding Poetry Book

Shamhu Yezera Renyu by Memory Chirere

 


Memory Chirere

 

Outstanding Poet

 

Ngonidzashe Paradza aka Mambo Guramatunhu

  

Outstanding Online Media

 

Khumbulani Muleya (Heart and Soul)

 

THE NYANGA WRITERS RETREAT

 

From left:  Beaven Tapureta, Dr Jonathan Brakash, Tendai Huchu, Stanley Mushava and Blessing Musariri

 

Some writers go on retreats with a specific structure which subtly or openly calls for participants to have a refined product at the end. There are benefits, of course, drawn from these retreats which involve working with experienced facilitators who closely follow your development for weeks or months. READ MORE

 

BELOW ARE A FEW PHOTOS:


Blessing Musariri and Stanley Mushava at the Froggy Farm Cafe upstairs

 

Dr Jonathan Brakarsh

Beaven Tapureta


 

Tendai Huchu with the ‘Thank You’ card he received from the retreat participants, in the background is Mr Gwagwa of Blue Haze

 

 BHUTSU DZAMERENIYA IS A HUMOROUS KIDS' STORY

Beaven Tapureta

 




One of the things that will spur children to want to read Bhutsu DzaMereniya is the cover design. The cover’s portrayal of an action scene stimulates a keenness to open and read the book. The illustrated Shona children’s story was written by Mutare-based writer Simbarashe Clever Kavenga and published by Essential Books Publishing Company in 2022.

Mereniya is a young girl who earns ‘celebrity status’ at her school because of her pair of strange, black, leather shoes which her mates admire although they are puzzled by the shoes’ history as told by her.

Mereniya enjoys giving perplexing answers whenever the other kids gather around her just to listen to the story of her shoes. But because they admire her so much, they love her exaggerations and pretend it’s truth, which keeps them laughing.

At some point, for instance, Mereniya tells her school mates, “Teererai, teererai mose, handidi anozondibvunzazve mangwana. Imwe yakatengwa kwaMutare imwe ikatengwa kwaRusape! Kuti imarii handizivi ini asi baba vanoti dzakavadhurira kwazvo….” [pg. 7]

She is a star and like any other trademark costumes of real life celebrities which are kept in museums, her shoes deserve such recognition. Without them she loses fans. It becomes other children’s dream to one day be allowed to wear her shoes and when their dream remains a dream, they alienate themselves from her.

How the author shows that Mereniya, though a child, is contemplative and humble is quite gripping. Mereniya choses to hide her shoes in a forest near the school so that she walks barefoot like most of her school mates. Even when her friends alienate her, they can’t avoid the power of her heart. The author’s captivating scenes and simple language also inspire the children to understand feelings of love and kindness, as when a fire engulfs the forest where Mereniya has hidden her shoes and all school lessons come to halt. 

By drawing such peculiar attention to herself, she is an important child to the school. Maybe before Mereniya appeared, the school was used to bullies. Now here is a new girl who keeps them having fun, happy together.

Simbarashe Clever Kavenga, better known as Clever Kavenga in the writing circles, is a poet, children’s fiction writer and journalist. His poems have appeared in the anthologies such as Ngoma Yokwedu, Mudengu Munei?, Visions of the Motherland: A Poetic Celebration of Cultures, Tribes and People of Africa and Defiled Sacredness. His previous published children's books are Mashiripiti eDehwe RaRungano which won the 2007/8 Best Children's Book award from Zimbabwe Publishers Association. His  Shona column “Nhasi Tiri Tose” which appeared in the Mutare-based Pungwe newspaper made him be nominated for NAMA. Nyanga is his home area but he is now based in the city of Mutare where he lives with his family.

 For more information, contact the author: +263 77 269 1094

  

THE WIN EPWORTH COMMUNITY LIBRARY UPDATE

Beaven Tapureta

 

 

While young book lovers all over the world marked World Book Day with various activities, the kids at the Epworth community library spent the afternoon reading.

The World Book Day silently passed at the WIN library, but that didn’t water down the children’s usual excitement and love for books. They daily come, except on Sundays, to do their homework or read or play.

The school holiday is fast approaching. For the kids, this is the period when the library becomes a place of learning, fun, and building lasting friendships with books.

The library is grateful to all who have supported us in many different ways.

  

ZIM WRITER FARAI MUDZINGWA’S AVENUES BY TRAIN

 Shortlisted for ‘The Republic of Consciousness Prize’

 

Cover of Avenues by Train

Visit: CLICK HERE

 

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THANK YOU FOR READING OUR

 NEWSLETTER


29 February 2024

ZIM AUTHORS IN NYANGA FOR WRITERS RETREAT





Tendai Huchu, one of Zimbabwe's celebrated authors, is leading a group of fellow authors on a writers retreat in Nyanga



Nyanga Mountain, highest mountain in Zimbabwe
(Photo: Manica Post)






DON'T MISS MORE ABOUT THE RETREAT AND OTHER NEWS IN OUR FORTHCOMING NEWSLETTER!





 

24 February 2024

THANKS TO ESSENTIAL BOOKS

 

Some of the children's books WIN received from Essential Books  


WIN-Zimbabwe continues to strengthen its ties with all book sector stakeholders, including local publishing houses.
In November last year, Norton-based Essential Books Publishing Company, founded by writer Aleck Kaposa, donated children's books to WIN as a show of its support for the Epworth Community library project.
Essential Books joins the growing list of book donors who have presented WIN  with exciting and educative books for children and adults. 
The Epworth Community Library project is like a writers' ark which WIN is building at its director's residence, thus its value will only be understood when the floods come! It aims to pragmatically promote reading culture in the community and beyond.
The major activity at the library has been the children's reading club. And naturally, the library is 'manufacturing' readers although it is working with limited resources.
Two weeks after its donation to WIN, Essential Books went on to hold its 2nd edition of Great Get-Together Book Launch on November 24, 2023, at the Afrotopia Cafe inside the National Art Gallery. More books were launched as writers and poets under the Essential stable read their works and/or spoke about their writing life. 
The WIN director also spoke at the function and congratulated Essential Books authors for the hard work. However, he stressed one of the major weaknesses that most starting writers have, that they deem themselves 'established' after they rush to publish their raw works without thorough editing or consulting experienced people in the industry. Patience and faith, he said, are essential qualities crucial to the growth of a writer.
The get-together indeed provided an opportunity for writers to exchange books and information.


Essential Books founder Aleck Kaposa {left} and WIN director Beaven Tapureta at the get-together 



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Support reading culture! Support WIN with whatever that helps the library - books, furniture, stationery, etc. and the readers, the kids, will be grateful! 
THANK YOU.

MORE IN OUR FORTHCOMING NEWSLETTER.