Writers International Network Zimbabwe: WINZ Newsletter, Issue No 26

Writers International Network Zimbabwe (Win-Zimbabwe) is currently without a sponsor and hereby calls upon writers who have been with the association since its inception early last year and new members to start paying up their membership fees set at $4 for non-students and $2 for students. New writers need also to know that our assessment program is ongoing and the assessment fee is set at $5 per manuscript.

We are hoping that the revenue obtained from our membership and other fundraising initiatives shall so much assist Win-Zimbabwe in the meantime.

Donations , in either cash or kind, are welcome. Make a move now and support your association. Donate and promote the growth of writing in Zimbabwe.

ZIMBABWEAN LITERARY VAN MOVING ON

By Win-Zimbabwe

Local new writers now need not claim the elders have ignored them as there are new positive developments happening in the writing fraternity.

Writers, usually regarded as lonely (and individualistic), have shown that there are times when they have to collectively push their bus forward, for the destiny is not only for their own benefit but also for the good of future generations of writers.

Late last month, Zimbabwe Academic and Non-Fiction Authors (ZANA) held their annual general meeting in Masasa at which elections were held to choose a new national executive committee. And nearly a week later, on 4 June, the newly registered national writers’ organ Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) held elections to usher in a substantive Board that took over from the interim committee.

The energy at both meetings attested to the fact that local writers have realized they need to take up space belonging to them if books are to be written and published; it was not a question of positions but of wanting to see positive results in the near future.

Reputed writer, founding member and outgoing chairperson of Zimbabwe Academic and Non-Fiction Authors association, Virginia Phiri (PICTURED BELOW), pledged her support to the newly elected ZANA national executive committee.

Speaking at the AGM, Phiri promised continued support to the association, which she helped found and served as first secretary for two terms before becoming chairperson. She thanked the committee she worked with for the previous years she had been in office.

The AGM was also attended by the Chairperson of Academic and Non-Fiction Authors of South Africa (ANFASA), Dr. Sihawukele Ngubane, who commended the passion with which Phiri communicates with and assists other writers and writers’ organizations. He also spoke at length about how Phiri bolstered the excellent relationship being enjoyed between ANFASA and ZANA.

Ngubane said he wished to see academics from his country and Zimbabwe share and exchange ideas.

The elected ZANA executive committee is headed by prominent textbook author and former national treasurer Samuel Makore with Maria Tsvere from Chinhoyi University of Technology as Vice Chairperson. Former Harare Chapter chairperson Barnabas Muyengwa was elevated to national treasurer while former information and publicity secretary Xavier Carelse becomes the secretary. Ms Salachi Naidoo from Midlands State University is the new information and publicity secretary. The non-portfolio committee members are Mrs. Annaclata Guma, a primary school head based in Mutare and Mrs. Sibongile Mnkandla from Bulawayo.

The ZWA meeting, held at the Zimbabwe Film and Television School in Harare, saw established author and academic Musayemura Zimunya being elected to the position of Board Chairperson.

Win-Zimbabwe blog columnist, poet and storyteller Tinashe Muchuri was voted national Secretary, and it was all smiles.

The rest of the new ZWA Board stands as follows: Eresina Hwede (Vice-Chair), Beatrice Sithole (Treasurer), and Karukai Ratsauka (Resource Mobiliser) while committee members are Memory Chirere and Dakarai Mashava.

According to Zimunya, the main first task for his Board will be to fully engage all provinces of Zimbabwe and create sub-committees that will cater for specific needs of writers. He thanked the British Council, Culture Fund of Zimbabwe, Embassy of Spain, and National Arts Council for their support.

Dr Thompson Tsodzo, author of Shona classic Pafunge, was the guest of honor at this meeting, which was attended by accomplished and new writers. The meeting drew writers from different backgrounds, who included Shimmer Chinodya, Samuel Makore, Virginia Phiri, Jerry Zondo, Davison Maruziva, Ignatius T Mabasa, Mashingaidze Gomo, Jenny Yon, Lawrence Hoba, Nqobile Malinga, Chipo Musikavanhu, Mbizo Chirasha, Vivian Lucas, Lordwell Manyika, Elvas Mari (NACZ Director), Josephine Muganiwa, and Tawona Mtshiya.

There were also performances at intermissions by Mbizo Chirasha, Jerry Zondo and Tinashe Muchuri.

Thus having witnessed the above-mentioned happenings in the writing fraternity, it is no doubt that posterity has been remembered. The new writers are expectant and hoping that their needs are going to be satisfied.

(Zimunya's photo courtesy of Zimbabwe-Poetry International Web)

THE REGULAR WRITER

With

Tinashe ‘Mutumwapavi’ Muchuri

CAN THE LITERATURE BUREAU BE REVIVED?

The subject of the Literature Bureau is becoming topical in the literary circles.

At the Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) meeting held on June 4 2011, a well known writer and academic remarked that the Literature Bureau gave young writers the opportunity to have their work read by experts in the book industry.

Ndebele writer Jerry Zondo, said, “The death of the Bureau brought a ‘slack’ in the publication of literature in local languages.”

This then also meant the death of our culture as it became impossible to promote our own language through writing. Readers lost the chance to enjoy reading in languages they understand most.

The Literature Bureau debate triggered memories of my secondary school days when we enjoyed Shona literature. Those days there used to be two Shona novels that were set books at Junior Certificate Level. We had four Shona novels at Ordinary Certificate Level as set books.

These days few new Shona books are being published.Literature Bureau is no longer there and the publishers are no longer experimenting much with the language.

Before and after independence some of the Shona books were published by the Literature Bureau in collaboration with mainstream local publishers.

As rightly said by Jerry Zondo, indeed the literature in local languages is no longer as visible as it used to be. People no longer talk about Shona classics as they used to do.

(For views and comments about this column, write to tmuchuri@gmail.com )

POETRY

I am the book

I am the book, unread

Marooned and condemned to Mind

I am the brigand

Subsisting upon Words

Unspoken

I am the book

Enslaved in the body of flesh

Scorpion’s gossamer

Where sunlight turns into dark