WIN Newsletter, Issue No 52

EDITORIAL

 Josephine Sithole Muganiwa

WIN Board Chairperson

 

Greetings once again! ZIBF is round the corner, so let us meet there and participate in as many activities as we can so that we grow from the experience. Unpublished authors, here is the chance to meet publishers, ask questions on how they operate. It is also a chance to buy books and read some more. Reading widely helps in developing one’s style and developing confidence. Apart from ZIBF, there are many other events and let us make an effort to be part of them. And don’t forget the WIN Short Story Writing Competition and subsequent workshop. Keep writing! 

WIN WELCOMES VOLUNTEER

By WIN Staff Writer

 Moira Marangwanda

WIN has welcomed University of Zimbabwe theatre student Moira Marangwanda as its voluntary Assistant Administrator to provide administrative support and build organizational strength.

This comes at an exciting moment when WIN has embarked on an outreach programme in Epworth (Harare) aimed to identify, develop and promote writing talent as well as encourage the culture of reading in the community. Apart from its regular programmes such as manuscipt assessment, WIN has a short story writing competition running that will build up to a wokshop in August.

Marangwanda replaces Sindiso Regina Ngwenya, another volunteer who actively helped launch the Epworth community outreach programme in February this year. Ngwenya continues to support the outreach programme in the background.
The Epworth office had been closed for a month.

On why she has decided to volunteer for WIN, Marangwanda said, "Being an artist myself I have discovered that most people do not take the arts industry seriously. I feel compelled to take up the initiative to enlighten the pubic hence working with WIN will be a bonus as I will help artists, especially young writers, directly or indirectly to produce quality works. The arts industry is not just a vocational experience but a serious profession that requires hard work and can be an income generating profession."

 Born in 1990, Marangwanda attended Montrose Girls High School in Bulawayo for her Ordinary Level and Premier High School for her Advanced Level. While at Premier she was awarded Best Public Speaker in 2008.  At the University of Zimbabwe she is doing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Theatre and is also a talented actress.

Her dissertation will deal with “Interrogating Dialogic Elements in Savanna Trust’s ‘Yaturuka’”.
WIN's work is positively growing as stakeholders are coming on board to support its vision which is "to become a reliable, unbeatable medium in the promotion of written literature and spoken word by Zimbabweans wherever they may be in the world and to eventually establish permanent infrastructure that will benefit all Zimbabwean writers (unpublished and published) and their works".

COUNTDOWN TO WIN'S WRITERS WORKSHOP BEGINS

By WIN Staff Writer

Memory Chirere, writers' workshop facilitator 

Emmanuel Sigauke, Guest Writer

 

The countdown to the writers’ workshop being organized by WIN/Global Arts Trust and supported by Zimbabwe Reads has begun.

The workshop, likely to take place on Friday, August 17, in Harare, is a follow-up to the preliminary Short Story Writing Competition which WIN launched in June and runs until July 20.

However, the venue for the workshop will be confirmed in due course.

Award-winning writer Memory Chirere, together with WIN Advisory Board member who is also a USA-based Zimbabwean writer Emmanuel Sigauke, are expected to facilitate and grace the workshop. Sigauke is visiting home in the month to come.

Some schools in Harare, in addition to paid-up members, are participating in the competition so that they reap substantial benefits from the workshop in August through this learning-by-doing strategy that WIN has embraced.

The top three short stories in each language, that is Shona and English, will be awarded with book prizes at the workshop in August while all workshop participants are to be presented with WIN Certificates of Participation by the Guest Writer.

In terms of writers' workshop facilitation, Memory Chirere is a mentor par excellence for many unpublished Zimbabwean writers and poets some of whom have so far made it into various anthologies and write for various media. He has inspired new writers from different writers’ organisations and backgrounds. A short story lover, Chirere has some of his stories published in No More Plastic Balls (1999), A Roof to Repair (2000), Writing Still (2003) and Creatures Great and Small (2005). He has published short story collections Somewhere in This Country (2006), Tudikidiki (2007) and Toriro and His Goats (2010). Together with Prof Maurice Vambe, he compiled and edited (so far the only full volume critical text on Mungoshi) Charles Mungoshi: A Critical Reader (2006). He is with the University of Zimbabwe (in Harare) where he lectures in literature. Chirere also sits on the Board of the local writers’ umbrella body called Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) as a committee member. His blog KWACHIRERE  is a place to be as it informs and educates.

Emmanuel Sigauke started writing at the age of 13 years and later studied English and Linguistics at the University of Zimbabwe. While still a student in 1990 he was the founding member of the Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe (BWAZ), an organisation for which he became its first National Secretary from 1992 to 1995. He moved to California the following year to further his studies and upon obtaining his English MA at Sacramento State University he started teaching college composition, literature and creative writing at Cosumnes River College where he is to date one of the editors of the Cosumnes River Journal which publishes annually courtesy of the college’s English Department. He is also a board member of the Sacramento Poetry Center, where he hosts poetry readings every second Monday. His poetry has been widely published in print and online journals, in Zimbabwe and internationally. Many poets in Zimbabwe have been published on his online magazine called Munyori Poetry Journal. Forever Let Me Go, published by PublishAmerica in Baltimore, is Emmanuel’s first collection of poetry that came out in 2008.  He has also written short stories some of which regularly appeared on a fiction blog called ‘StoryTime’ edited by Ivor Hartmann, a Zimbabwean writer who is in South Africa. He is a co-editor of the annual short fiction series, African Roar published by ‘StoryTime’.

Although he lives outside the country, Sigauke’s blog WEALTH OF IDEAS connects very well with Zimbabwe’s local literary events and provides resourceful ideas for young writers who are online. Having Emmanuel share with Zimbabwean writers his writing experience  one-on-one is a moment one need not forego.

STORYTIME CALLS IT A DAY 

 

 Writer and Blogger Ivor Hartmann

Press Release 

Dear StoryTime Readers and Contributors.

It's been a great five years but all good things come to an end.

It's truly been an awesome experience for me as the publisher and editor of this magazine, but it's time now for me to move on and focus on other projects. I want to thank every writer who contributed to the magazine and every reader who read them; I couldn't have done any of it without you.
To date, Storytime has published: 146 Short Stories, 45 Book Excerpts, and three anthologies were drawn from the best of magazine.
When I started StoryTime in 2007 it was partly in response to the dire lack of African lit mags, especially online mags. In 2012 this is no longer the case I’m happy to say, with numerous online African lit mags now up and running and publishing a wide variety of quality African lit. In some small way, I think StoryTime has helped lead this prolific transition into online media, which has given voice to thousands of African writers who previously only had meagre, print only, platforms to do so.
Special thanks go to Emmanuel Sigauke who unflaggingly believed and encouraged me in this endeavour, and has edited all the African Roar anthologies with me.
The annual African Roar anthologies will continue, but we'll do it by submissions only at: http://africanroar.submittable.com/submit.
All the stories will remain available to read here indefinitely — barring a worldwide calamity wiping the Google servers.

Many thanks again to everyone,

Ivor.

Ivor Hartmann
Editor/Publisher
StoryTime (Publishing)

THE CHILD OBSERVER CONCEPT IN CHIRERE'S WORKS

By Beaven Tapureta

(Article first published in The Standard)

Memory Chirere, who won the 2009 National Arts Merit Award in the Outstanding Children’s Book category is a short story writer destined to follow renowned father of Zimbabwean literature Dr. Charles Mungoshi in successfully writing in both English and Shona languages.

The award-winning Shona short story collection Tudikidiki is Chirere’s second book published in 2008 by Priority Projects. His first is an English language collection of 2006 titled Somewhere in This Country which was published by UNISA Press.

While NAMA categorized Tudikidiki in the Outstanding Children’s Book, in the preface of the book, another renowned writer and poet Ignatius Mabasa cites the book as “not necessarily for children” but “about children”. Were the judges wrong? Or, is the book both for adults and children? Is Tudikidiki a children’s book? This however may demonstrate that the book is subtly imagined, generating debate, and debate is the axis of productive literary communication.

The case of Tudikidiki also makes one realize that there are few short story books written in Shona. The novel dominates writing in Shona in a way that is difficult to explain. Are short stories inferior to the novel? Are Shona writers unsure about short stories? Or, do they look down upon them?

In the anthology Somewhere in This Country there is an experimental tendency by the author to satirise by creating the who’s-fooling-who kind of situation. Numerologists would ask why Chirere confidently and repetitively uses the word ‘laughter’ and its derivatives (laughed, laughs, laughing) in the stories.

But even in Tudikidiki one finds the urge to laugh very inevitable. Writing on Tudikidiki sometime last year Jairosi Kangira said: "The laughter generated by these stories is corrective.”

This observation is important if Chirere is written as a satirist. He can fool you with his simple texts. This could however be a generalized view of how Chirere handles satire.

There’s a powerful situational understatement in some of the stories in Somewhere in This Country.

'In a Game' there’s little dialogue. This story is understood by finding out who is fooling who. At first you think there must be something going on between Kate’s father and Doubt’s mother until one day Kate’s father behaves differently and Doubt’s mother and the narrator’s mother are kind of bewildered. In this story there is clever use of both failure and little victories. There is a certain newness of approach to the things we take for granted.

In the magical story 'Tadamuhwa' the goat Tadamuhwa is a catalyst which the author uses to trigger the events in the story. Tadamuhwa causes havoc in every homestead and wakes the villagers to reflect on who they really are.
Then there is the 'old man' concept.

Other writers who have shown interest in the ‘old man’ concept are Mungoshi and Ernest Hemmingway. The old characters bring a certain vein of aura and mystery to these writers’ works.

Chirere’s deep interest in the ‘old man’ can be seen as a form of motif, pointing at the open-endedness of the text of life. In 'An Old Man' the politics of hunger leaves one street kid, Sami feeling like an old man. In 'The King' an old man, Makadzoka, struggles to infer an important message to his grandson; the boy needs to take over the little farm. The old man chides Dick: Look. I am old. Can’t you see that you are now the man here? How many times must I sing the same song, Dick? Dick, you are a king yourself already.

But away from his old men, Chirere crosses the floor diagonally and also uses young people as motifs. This is also common with Mungoshi and Hemmingway. Child characters’ strength lies in their innocence which spreads across the page and strikes the reader. We were all once young and we are invited to reset our old little footsteps, far away from our old selves! It is like finding your first photograph in an old drawer by mistake.

During the 1980s civil war in Mozambique, north eastern Zimbabwe and the farms around it were safe havens for child refugees fleeing from that war. In 'Beautiful Children', child refugee Andrusha is sceptical of going back home after the war ends. While other Mozambican children sing and celebrate the end of war Andrusha rather chooses to stand aloof.

The story leaves you wondering about terms like ‘belonging’ and ‘identity’. What really is one’s home country? What he remembers or where he is right now?

In almost all stories Chirere uses seemingly insufficient verbal communication between two or more characters and uses more action. There’s this power of the ‘unsaid’ in shaping human behavior. This tactful understatement lures the reader to find out what the ‘unsaid’ something is. These characters actually converse in their collective memories with objects and the situation.

The several, momentous short story writing skills training workshops which Chirere facilitated for the new writers over the past years will forever bear testimony that the man has mastered his genre. He has inspired and generated a deep interest and understanding of the short story writing process among aspiring Zimbabwean writers.

ZWA INVITES YOU TO A WRITERS’ MEETING

Zimbabwe's legendary writers Barbara Nkala and Aaron Chiundura Moyo share a joke at the previous ZWA writers' meeting

(Photo: Tinashe Muchuri)

 

The Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) is inviting you to its next bi- monthly meeting to be held in Harare at the British Council, 16 Cork Road, Belgravia (opposite the South African Embassy) on Saturday July 7, 2012 from 12:30pm to 4:30pm

This time Shimmer Chinodya is talking about how he has been able to do fictional work alongside text book writing while Chiedza Musengezi will be dealing with how she has been able to double up as prolific editor and writer. This will also be an opportunity to interact and discuss other issues in our literature today and strategise before the forthcoming book fair. A substantive agenda will be sent to you very soon.

Those writers who were not at the previous meetings are reminded to bring $10 as membership fees. Remember: the major objective of ZWA is to bring together all willing individual writers of Zimbabwe in order to encourage creative writing, reading and publishing in all forms possible, conduct workshops, and provide for literary discussions.

Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) is the newest nationally inclusive writers’ Organization whose formation started in July 2010 leading to the AGM of June 4, 2011. It was fully registered with the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe in January 2011.

++Inserted by Mr. Tinashe Muchuri, ZWA Secretary
ZWA’s By-line: A WHOLE WORLD IN A WORD
Contacts: 0733 843 455/zimbabwewriters@gmail.com

REMINDER

• Deadline for WIN Short Story Competition is July 20, 2012

• Deadline for the Intwasa Short Story Competition submission is July 31, 2012
• Deadline for Kwani Manuscript Project submission is August 20, 2012

AUGUST STRINDBERG CENTENARY 

By WIN Staff Writer

August Srindberg (1849-1912),  a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter

STRINDBERG'S FAMOUS PLAYS GIVEN A ZIMBABWEAN TOUCH

Yeukai Mhandu as Laura(left) and Tinashe Chirisa as the captain in The Father, another play written by August Stringberg

Complete Arts Project in partnership with Global Arts Trust recently staged two Swedish plays, The Father and Miss Julie, at Reps Theatre Mainstage from June 18 to 23, to commemorate the August Stringberg Centenary.

The two plays, written by August Strindberg (1849-1912), a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter, enjoyed an exciting run at the Mainstage, leaving theatre enthusiasts calling for more .
The Father, adapted and directed by Peter Churu with Elizabeth Muchemwa assisting him, focuses on issues to do with paternity, maternity and identity, the same issues affecting our society today. It was performed on June 18, 19 and 20 with the following cast: Tinashe Chirisa, Yeukai Mhandu, Musa Saruro, Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi, Charmaine Francis-Picardo, Samantha Ndlovu, Eddingtone Hatitongwe and Francis Nyakuhwa. 

Miss Julie, a play renowned as August Strindberg's most famous work, was co-directed by Innocent Mwapangira, Elizabeth Muchemwa and Peter Churu. Miss Julie, with this trio of directors who have a deep understanding of symbolism, movement and statement,  touched the audience during its run from June 21 to 23. The cast of four, namely Charmaine Francis-Picardo, Tafadzwa Bob Mutumbi, Samantha Ndlovu and Patrick Miller gave an impressive performance with their grasp of the text. 
Before the run at Reps Theatre, the two plays premiered at Gallery Delta in Harare on June 4 and were also performed at the Swedish Ambassador's residence in Harare as part of Swedish National Day Celebration. 
According to one of the directors, Elizabeth Muchemwa, the idea to stage plays by August Strindberg, one of world classical playwrights,  came about last year at a workshop for actors and directors in Harare. The workshop was facilitated by Per Gottfredsson and Sweden-based Zimbabwean director Kudzai Chimbaira.
Zimbabwe has joined the rest of world in commemorating August Strindberg centenary of his death.
Muchemwa added that The Father will be performed at the forthcoming Chimanimani Arts Festival and the Dzimbahwe Arts Festival in August while Miss Julie is expected to thrill audiences at the Intwasa Arts Festival in September in Bulawayo.
Complete Arts Project is led by Peter Churu while Global Arts Trust was founded by the late theatre guru Walter Muparutsa. The staging of the two plays is being supported by The Embassy of Sweden in Harare and the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust.

THE REGULAR WRITER

With 

Mutumwapavi

Exclusive One-0n-one with talented Poet: ZAZA

  Elizabeth Muchemwa aka Zaza

[Elizabeth Muchemwa (EM) is a young gifted poet and theatre director who lives in Harare.  She is also known as E.R.S to many poetry fans who attend Harare's poetry slams. Our columnist Tinashe 'Mutumwapavi' Muchuri (TM) caught up with Zaza to find out how she manages to tell her stories through two different genres.]

TM: Can you briefly tell readers about yourself and how you double as a poet and a theatre director?

EM: I am Elizabeth Muchemwa. I have been performing poetry since 2005 and then I later on moved into theatre as an actor. The same year (2005) I joined Rooftop Theatre Company as a volunteer.  In 2008 I became a professional actor and then began directing plays in 2009 and 2010. Honestly, I will not say I sat down and say this is the way I am going but I find a way and go down the path. It is the work which tells me which the way to follow.  I believe in telling a story.  For me I think that is the taste of the world.

TM: What comes first, poetry or theatre?

EM:  Telling stories.

TM:  Telling stories in poetry or in theatre?

EM:  The story itself gives me the direction in which it needs to be told. In fact, it is the story that dictates the form that it should be told in. For me that is what I think is very important.

TM:  What issues do your poetry address? 

EM:  I think, let me say, some people think I am a protest poet. But I wouldn’t think at a personal level that I am. I tell stories. If you want to talk about love, there is no way you cannot talk about politics. I talk about how love affects individuals. If am going to talk about hunger also you find out that I will be talking about what people call ‘politics’. I think there has been a time when we had curfews in the country. It’s not really the desire to demonise anyone, but to talk about hope.

TM:  Are you a protest poet?

EM:  No, no, I am not a protest artist. Like I said in the beginning of this interview, I love telling a story.

TM:  Do you think you are reaching the intended audience with your poetry?

EM:  No.

TM:  Why?

EM: Because I have stopped performing poetry and I haven’t published poetry yet.  Because of this I am not reaching my audience. I am working on getting my poetry published and I am also working on a CD which was supposed to come out a long time ago, but well, things happen, obstacles come and you have to pick up yourself and continue. 

TM: When do you think the poetry will be published?

EM: I am told its coming soon. Part of the delay in publication of my work was caused by the fact that I didn’t feel that I was ready yet as a poet. With poetry and even with other kinds of writing, it takes time to perfect what you have. So, I felt I hadn’t really gotten there yet, but so far with people encouraging me and established poets and respected writers also telling me to move on, I think I need to get there.

TM: Do your poetry experience borrow anything from theatre or your theatre experience borrow from your poetry?

EM: I think they depend on each other, because with poetry it is writing and performing and also with theatre there is writing and also you have to perform the text, but I think my poetry has inspired how I approach text in theatre and theatre has inspired me to do my performances a little bit better and different from what I used to do as a poet.

TM: As a female poet, what are the challenges you may say you have faced?

EM: I don’t think there is much difference from male poets, but when I started we were trying to fight the stereotype that female poets only talk about love, so you then shy away from topics that have nothing to do with love so in a sense it stifles your creativity probably because you are trying to fight against a stereotype.  Also as a performer you will find that men will start to think that “ she is attractive” while you are performing but they are not in love with you but in love with the persona that you present on the stage and it becomes challenging in that and also the whole idea of relationships, trying to separate your work from your relationships and your relationships become hazy but if you manage your things properly you will overcome that and then obviously you treasure yourself and others will treasure that. Performance poetry pays only as far as the jobs that you get, and the number of jobs that you get. So, if you get one job and it pays, it is paying but probably doesn’t cover the bills. But I think it’s much better now than when we started out in 2005 and 2006. People now respect poetry as form of entertainment for their events, functions and other gatherings.     

TM: Are the challenges the same in poetry and theatre?

EM: Not actually. Theatre is a total ball game altogether. There is that illusion, that there is money in theatre but, don’t be fooled, but there is a living that can be made from theatre.

TM: Are you satisfied with the poetry platforms in Zimbabwe at the moment?

EM: They, to some extend, have been growing in numbers but they seem to be a bit limited because you will find out that there is a certain crowd, certain audiences that is following the poetry instead of poetry creating its own following.

TM: Are you saying poetry is failing to create an audience?

EM: Its not really the poetry, I think we need to go back to the drawing board and see how we can fix it so that poetry grows an audience of its own, instead of pandering to what people expect us to be performing or to what the topics that people expect us to be talking about. 

TM: What do you think should be done to improve this situation?

EM: We have more people getting out and creating more of those spaces where we have different poetry. It didn’t help because there is a sort of redundancy in the way poetry is being performed and in the end we will be washed by the same paint of protest poets. You don’t want to be any artist who is reactionary, but you want to be an artist who inspires and who is prophetic, So, the elements that I talked about are probably the ones lacking.

TM: What do you have to say about poetry publishing in Zimbabwe?

EM: It doesn’t give incentives, except being known as a published poet. But there is no incentive even if I get my poetry published, no one will be lobbying to get those books into schools so that they can be studied or to make students study them and make them know that they can perform poetry after school.

TM: But ZIMSEC selects some poetry books for study in schools!

EM: This is good. But my point here is, I don’t know of anyone who can bridge that gap between the poet and audience. I am not just talking of someone who is just coming to partake, just to enjoy poetry. I am talking about a person who will get inspired; I am talking about people who will then critic poetry. I am talking about a person who just comes to watch and celebrate poetry. There is no celebration of an artist even in this idea of poetry publishing, look at the NAMA, they are not giving an award for poetry. We are talking about National Arts Merit Awards. Are you saying poetry is not an art? I mean considering that people like Chirikure Chirikure and Albert Nyathi, who have been pioneering the young generation of performance poetry so in a sense, why an’t we celebrating those that started and then celebrate those that are coming now? 

TM: How have you benefited from poetry?

EM: It has made me meet a lot of people, people whom I couldn’t have met in any other circumstances. People who have heard me before, people I had performed to before. Also, it has introduced me to a new community.

TM: What are the rewards you got from the new community?

EM: You then get referred to other people for performances and also meet other people to see how you can work with them from a different working stage that you are used to.

TM: Do you do poetry as a passion or to put food on the table?

EM: I will go back to say both, because like what someone usually say, or someone had said a long time ago, art is 1% talent and 99% hard work. So, the talent yes, the inspiration, the talent is 1%, then the work. So, ya-a, I am being passionate about what I do because without passion I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing now. I have to love what I am doing and I love it.

TM: Which one of the two genres would you love doing for lifetime?

EM: I want to do both because I love them both equally. Like I said before when we started this interview, I love storytelling, so each of them is a vehicle to tell my story, to tell other people’s stories or stories I would have imagined.

TM: Who is your role model?

EM: I have plenty of people that I have looked up to for inspiration and for guidance. But I think my first and foremost role model is God. I want to be like Him spiritually and intellectually. I want to be like Him, although I can’t be Him but I want to be like Him.

TM: I understand your father is one of the first Editors of Zimbabwe English poetry, do you take after him?

EM: I don’t know really. He didn’t say sit down and write poetry. I grow up in a house where I was surrounded by books, other people’s stories, so I actually wrote when I was going to primary school. My father is a writer, academic and literature critic, but just the need to write stories is what draws me to write. Honestly, in a sense, I think it’s an added bonus to have someone who has done it in your family. I wouldn’t say it’s inborn but, I wouldn’t want to sound like, hey, it’s a calling, I don’t know what it is but I think its something that is in you and it drives you. The same thing that drives someone to be a teacher, or drives someone to be a doctor or a nurse, I think it is just the same that draws me to write poetry.

 

NGATINYOREI

Na Mutumwapavi

Ndainge ndave kuda kutsveta pasi kunyora nerurimi rwe Chishona.

Ndakambosvika padanho riya rekuzvibvunza kuti ko, ndinonyorerei? Mubvunzo uyu wakauya nenhau yekuti kunyora neChishona chinenge chinhu chinoshoreka zvakanyanya. Ndinonyorerei, ivo vanhu vose vachitaura mumabasa neChirungu. Ndinonyorerei iwo mutauro weChishona usingataurwi nawo pazvikoro dzimwe nguva. Ndinonyerera ani wacho anozoda kugarirawo pasi achiverenga pfungwa dzangu nezvandakaona? Mibvunzo iyi imwe yeiyo inobvunzwa nomunhu arikutanga kunyora nhasi.

Ndakange ndava kuda kusiya kunyora nerurumi rwaamai chokwadi. Ndainge ndava kuda kunyorawo nechirungu savamwe ndichiti kana ndadaro ndinozozikanwa pasi rose kuti ndiri munyori. Kana pasi rose randiziva ndigozovawo munyori ane mbiri. Kana mbiri yangu yapararira zvogondipa kufara. Asi ndakazoona kuti ndainge ndarasika chokwadi. Hapana chinonditadzisa kunyora neChishona iwo mukore uno nokuti mutauro weChishona ndiwo mutauro une hunhu. Uyu mutauro ndiwo unobuditsa pachena hunhu namagariro avanhu veChishona. Chirungu chinosiya kumwe kuremekedzana kwatinako savanhu veChishona.

Chaita kuti nyanduri Chirikure Chirikure ave nemukurumbira ndiko kunyora neChishona. Chapa munyori Ignatius Mabasa  mbiri, ndicho Chishona ichocho. Usasara iwe! Ngatinyorei!

Ndakati ndazvitarisa, ndokuona kuti kana munhu achida kureva mashoko anodzimba moyo, anoataura nerurimi rwake. Hanzi kana munhu achinge agumburwa, muterere pakukanda machambo. Haashandisi rurimi rwavamwe. Anodzoka kune rwaakapiwa namai vake. Chikonzero anenge achida kunyatsobata moyo wemunhu waanenge achituka. Handisi kuti tukanai kana kuti gumburanai kuti muwane kutaura nerurimi rwaamai. Ini ndiri kungoti chete rurimi rwaamai runofanira kuzikanwa kuti kana waenda kune nzvimbo dzisingataurwi Chirungu hauite sebenzi. Izvi zvinoreva kuti kana uchida kuzoshanda muchikamu chebudiriro munyika Unofanira kunge uri munhu anogona kutaura mutauro wekwauchanoshandira kuitira kuti kana uchigona kutaura mutauro uyu kana netsika dzeChishona unodziziva.

Pasi rose vanhu varikukurudzirwa kuchengetedza mitauro yavo kuburikidza nekudzidza, kunyora, kuverenga nekutaura nayo. Zvekare iye zvino vanhu vanonyora muChishona kana vanyora zvakanaka nyaya dzinobata munhu wese zvava kuita kuti dziturikirwe mune dzimwe ndimi dzepasi rino. Saka iwe unoda kusarirawo papi? Ndakazviona ndichidzokera kumutauro waamai. Ndakadzoka kundoyamwe mukaka waamai semuimbi mukuru Oliver Mtukudzi uyo akati 'NdafungaDande’ murwiyo rwake. Ndakaramba kuzoshorwa nerudzi rwunouya ndichinzi ndini ndakauraya mutauro. Izvi zvakandipa manyemwe nanhasi uno handisati ndasiya zverurumi rwaamai. Iyezvino ndotonyanya kufarira kunyora narwo nokuti ndava nemukana wekuverengwa navamwe verudzi rwangu vari kunze kwenyika pamwe nevamwe vekunze kwenyika vanenge vachidawo kudzidza matauriro edu veChishona. Usasara ipapa. Simudzira mutauro waamai nokunyora nawo. Ngatinyorei vakomana navasikana, vanababa nanamai.  

 2012 EDITION OF CHIMANIMANI ARTS FESTIVAL ROUND THE CORNER

August 10 - 12 
"One Love One Nation-Peace!"

Each year a traditional blessing ceremony (above) precedes the Festival

 See you there!

BOOK FAIR MOOD 

"There is a Book Fair spirit blowing

Through Zimbabwe,

If you listen carefully you will hear..."

ZIBF running from July 30 to August 4 under the theme

 “African Literature in the Global and Digital Era”

Be there, be aglow!