Writers International Network Zimbabwe: WIN Newsletter, Issue No 62

EDITORIAL

WIN Board Chairperson, Josephine Sithole Muganiwa

2013 is here. We look forward to greater exploits in our creativity. 2012 saw a lot of new publications on topical issues, showing growth. May we take this opportunity to encourage writers not only to think about developing style but also fostering a vision that builds our nation as it grows out of what has been termed a decade of crisis. Let us write in a way that empowers the future generation to celebrate life regardless of challenges. In our tears we must be able to smile, not forced to bury our heads in shame and wish to die.

Wish you a prosperous 2013.Let us keep writing.

WIN 2013 MAJOR PROGRAMMES SUMMARY

Introduction

This year’s WIN’s calendar of activities is mainly a consolidation of the main activities that we have come to embrace as indispensable to the overall equipment of new writers and poets. We insist that new writers need to read widely and should have their own works assessed in order to write (better). When one writes better, naturally he/she needs publishing to help him/her carry the message over to the readers. There are various possibilities in the publishing process. One can self-publish, e-publish or follow the traditional publishing process. WIN is ready to positively embrace any the three publishing methods as it seeks to find a platform for its members. It is our hope that new writers in Zimbabwe will take advantage of the various opportunities offered through our programmes. Participation is better than delay. Below is the 2013 programme summary:

The ‘4 in 1’ Poetry Anthology

This is entirely an unusual anthology which will contain Zimbabwean poetry in four different languages. In the beginning the anthology was thought out as ‘3 in 1’, that is, poems in three languages, namely, Shona, Ndebele and English but we have added one other language, that is, Tonga. Unpublished poets (generally members) are invited to send in their poems in English, Shona, Ndebele or Tonga for possible publication in this anthology. Deadline is June 30. More details about the ‘4 in 1’ anthology can be found here: The '4 in 1' Poetry Anthology.

E-Newsletter Publication

This is the newsletter you are reading now. It is our proudly Zimbabwean electronic newsletter in which we cover our own activities and those of other literary organizations, publishers, individual writers and artists. The newsletter contains local competitions, writing advice, book reviews, interviews, poems and news in the writing world around us. The newsletter is driven by relevance and quality and showcase new writing talent.

Networking

We are primarily a networking writers’ organization and therefore we encourage our members to attend events organized by other writers’ organizations. Through networking we expose members to more than writing skills training. They will get to understand new trends in their writing industry at various issue-based platforms such as the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, the Zimbabwe Writers’ Association meetings, the Culture Centre’s Book Club at the Spanish Embassy, the Book Café creative writing group meetings, and many more. There are locally and internationally observed arts and cultural days and events in which WIN hopes to participate.

Schools & Community Outreach Programme

This is an ongoing programme which aims to capture, develop and promote writing and poetry performance talent in schools and communities by establishing clubs. The Bilaal Academy writers’ club in Epworth and the Glen View 2 High News Agency Club are good examples. Capturing and training them young is the best that we can do to develop our reading and writing culture. Children’s literature is also enhanced by developing talented child authors and poets.

Manuscript Assessment

Members are invited to submit their completed novels or collections of poetry or short stories for assessment under this programme. Last year witnessed a number of manuscripts being submitted and these have been read and sent back to their authors with assessment reports. We look forward to revised, publishable manuscripts. WIN has also introduced professional editing services. Potential manuscripts will be recommended for publication. WIN is in the process of partnering publishers.

Monthly Members’ Reading Circles

This is a new activity to be held monthly starting March. Members will meet to read, discuss and criticize each other’s works. A published writer may at some times be invited to anchor the discussions and criticisms. Members will be kept up to date about venue, date and time and the general theme of the meetings.

‘Read-to-Write’ Program

Under this programme, members can borrow books from our in-house library. The general rule is that one borrows a single book for a period of one/two weeks. We are encouraging new writers to also bring us feedback/responses in form of a brief review to show how much they have understood the book. A good example is the review of ‘The Lion and the Jewel’ which one of our members Phumulani Chipandambira did (See below). Critical reading is important when you are a writer. There is a small fee recently introduced for borrowing a book to raise funds to at least purchase newly published books every month for our library. We appreciate organizations and individuals who have donated books to us. These are valuable stones. A single book can serve a hundred souls. We need more of them for our new writers.

2013 Writers’ End of Year Get-Together

This is the closing event on our calendar. It’s a gathering of published and unpublished writers and poets, book lovers, partner organizations. It is like the eisteddfod. Artists read, perform their works, and papers are presented. It is more or less of an end of year party for writers. An inaugural online WIN Writers’ End of Year Journal will be compiled and published soon after the event.

Should you have any queries, hesitate no more to email us: winzimbabwe@gmail.com , or write to: The Director, Writers International Network Zimbabwe,168 Chinhoyi Street, Harare, Zimbabwe. You can also visit us at the above address.

WIN RECEIVES PRESENT FROM SACRAMENTO

By WIN Staff Writer

‘Late Peaches’, a collection of poems by Sacramento Poems, and a postcard

In the spirit of fellowship, the Sacramento Poetry Centre (USA) recently presented Writers International Network Zimbabwe (WIN) with the book ‘Late Peaches’, a collection of poems by Sacramento poets, edited by Bob Stanley (Sacramento Poet Laureate, 2009-2012).

‘Late Peaches’, published last year, also features Zimbabwean writer and poet, Emmanuel Sigauke, who lives in Sacramento, among more than hundred poets.
Stanley said he sent the book as a token of the literary connection between Sacramento and Harare, mostly facilitated by a mutual fellow writer Sigauke.

In Harare the WIN Board Chairperson Josephine Muganiwa said,
‘We are grateful for the relationship between WIN and Sacramento. The token is visual evidence of this relationship and is highly cherished. We look forward to future collaborations and publications as we promote literary arts and promote humane values across boundaries. Thank you very much.’

Sigauke’s poem in ‘Late Peaches’ is called Teach Me African.

Meanwhile, Sigauke features in another 2012 anthology titled 'Behind the Shadows', a collection of contemporary stories by African and Asian writers, edited by Rohini Chowdhury and Zukiswa Wanner. His story in Behind the Shadows is titled ‘Call Centre’.
Enjoy the Sacramento Poetry Centre website HERE

THE REGULAR WRITER

Book Review

Title: The Lion And The Jewel

Author: Wole Soyinka

Published In 1963 By Oxford University Press

Reviewed by Phumulani Chipandambira (above)

The Lion and the Jewel, written by the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Wole Soyinka, is one of the best plays ever to come out of Africa. Though published in 1963, it was first performed in 1959.

In this play, Soyinka is lampooning the concept of development and civilization. Lakunle is the epitome of the individuals who find themselves alienated from their own culture. Lakunle sees development and civilization as something that can be ‘containerized’ and carried around in trains and motor vehicles. His notion of development is rather childish and he thinks the success of the village can be measured in terms of how beautiful the girls they parade on covers of the magazines are. He looks down upon the norms and values of African society and calls the culture primitive.

He proclaims his love for Sidi but he is not prepared to pay the bride-price saying it is an archaic custom. Lakunle is conceited and wants to parade his education with the hope of changing the world overnight. Baroka, the intelligence in the play, has little difficulty in getting what he wants.

Lakunle and Baroka compete for the jewel. Baroka has more sexual vigour than Lakunle whose books, Sidi believes, have emasculated him. It sounds as if Soyinka is suggesting that African tradition provides a fully-satisfying sexual life, while the West produces only a crazy kind of mental agitation of the sort which manifests itself in Lakunle.

Sidi is faced with two men who want to make use of her. Lakunle want to use her as a dolly-bird to waltz with around the Lagos nightclubs. She does not realize this and will never unless she breaks out of the isolation of her village. Both contenders seem unlikely to succeed. First of all Lakunle will not pay the bride-price and then Sidi will become so absorbed in visions of herself as everyman’s dream-girl and Lakunle will be turned down.

Sidi’s marriage to Baroka may be something of a surprise but since Sidi knows nothing except traditional life she will simply choose it. In brief we can say Lakunle stands for modernity while Baroka stands for tradition and Sidi for the new generation.

(Phumulani Chipandambira is a new writer living in Braeside, Harare. He was born in 1990 in Mhondoro-Ngezi. During his childhood, his father, then head of language department at Muchemwa High School, used to punish him for mischief by locking him in his office which was full of books. Phumulani would relieve himself of the boredom by feeding his mind on the books. This is how he was exposed to literature. Phumulani is inspired by writers such as Thomas Dylan, Wole Soyinka, Pablo Neruda, Alan Paton, Alexander Kanengoni, Memory Chirere and Shimmer Chinodya)

{Should you want to respond to this review, feel free to email your responses to winzimbabwe@gmail.com)

A BRIEF CHAT WITH NOVIOLET BULAWAYO, AUTHOR OF ‘WE NEED NEW NAMES’

NoViolet Bulawayo is the author of 'We Need New Names' which appears this year in May in the USA and in June in the UK. NoViolet won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing for her story 'Hitting Budapest'. Her works have been widely published in anthologies such as 'New Writing From Africa' (edited by JM Coetzee), 'Where to Now?' (amaBooks, Bulawayo), 'Writing Free' (Weaver Press, Harare), and '2011 African Roar' (StoryTime, South Africa). She is also a gifted poet, with poems in 'State of the Nation' (Conversation Press) among other poetry anthologies. Below is a VERY brief but clever chat which WIN recently had with NoViolet about her new book 'We Need New Names' (WNNN).

NoViolet Bulawayo

We Need New Names

WIN: NoViolet, what would you say if a new aspiring writer asked you generally how many drafts or re-writes you discard/put aside before you come up with a satisfying final draft?

NoViolet: You just do however many drafts the story demands, you know, it’s like being in a relationship with a selfish, attention-devouring lover and you have to please them any way they want. It was an unending gig with WNNN, rewriting and getting there and taking it apart, rewriting and getting there and taking it apart, rinse and repeat. But of course I grew to enjoy the 'taking-it-apart' aspect of it, which is perhaps why I stopped counting drafts. That’s how many drafts it takes I suppose, until you stop keeping track and it becomes a pursuit of pleasure and folks have to almost wrest the thing from your hands.

WIN: How long did it take you to write WNNN?

NoViolet:Long enough to have had at least two children; I started around the fall of ’08, finished in 2012.

WIN: Any official launches of WNNN planned in Zimbabwe or abroad this year?

NoViolet: Definitely, a launch in May in the US and in June in the UK, and then sometime in August in Zimbabwe. And I must say I’m especially excited to add to Zimbabwe’s bookshelf.

WIN: Excited we also for you NoViolet, you make us proud. We look forward to reading WNNN. Thanks a lot for taking the time to chat with us.

Here's NoViolet's official site: http://novioletbulawayo.com.

BEHIND THE SHADOWS

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2012

An anthology of African and Asian short stories, born out of a meeting between Indian and South African writers, Rohini Chowdhury and Zukiswa Wanner.
In March 2011, Chowdhury and Wanner, with the objective of bringing together the two continents of Africa and Asia, sent out a call for short stories with the theme outcast, to be interpreted by the writers as they pleased. The writers could be from Africa or Asia, or in the Diaspora, but it was necessary that their stories deal with the theme as experienced by Africans and/or Asians. Chowdhury and Wanner, who worked on this project as co-editors, went through hundreds of short stories to select the twenty-one that make up this anthology. The title, Behind the Shadows, is from one of the short stories in the collection by writer Tasneem Basha. The collection also includes Penguin-shortlisted author Isabella Morris; Caine Prize-shortlisted writer Lauri Kubuitsile; renowned Singaporean Young Artist Award recipient, author and poet, Felix Cheong; and emerging Indian writers Rumjhum Biswas, Monideepa Sahu, and Sucharita Dutta-Asane. (Blurb Taken from Amazon.com)

ROAR, AFRICA, ROAR

African Roar 2012 Cover

African Roar is an annual short story anthology published by StoryTime, featuring authors from across the African continent. African Roar 2012, the third anthology, hit the worldwide Amazon market late last December, putting eleven African voices in the global literary arena. Ivor W Hartmann and Emmanuel Sigauke are the editors of this anthology. For guidelines on how to submit your story, visit: https://africanroar.submittable.com/submit

POETRY

I Love Loving You

By Princess Sibanda (above), Harare

Loving you is
A stagnant, deep knot of pain
Loving you is
An unceasing sour shed of a tear
Loving you is
An ever recurring page of agony
Loving you is
A prolonged game of hurt
Loving you is so many
Things I cannot put to paper
Yet I enjoy that pain
Smile at that tear
Celebrate that agony
Love that hurt
I do not love the
Thought of leaving you
I will not leave the
Thought of loving you
I love holding on to the pain, agony, tears
And hurt, a weird
Yet the only kind
Of love you can give
I love loving
Unlovable you
I love sweetening
Your sour heart...

(Princess Sibanda is a poet, actress, writer and aspiring theatre director. Born in Harare in 1989, Princess is a University of Zimbabwe's Bachelor of Arts (Honours in Theatre Arts) 2012 graduate. She finds inspiration 'from her hearty heart, her love to love, to be loved and hence the love for words'.)

STORY COMPETITION FOR WRITERS IN SPANISH LANGUAGE

The City Council of Mazarron (Murcia) and the Open University of Mazarron, announce the XXIX Story Competition

“Villa de Mazarrón” – Antonio Segano del Olmo –

Intended to support the literary creativity of all writers in the Spanish language, in accordance with the following rules and regulations:

1. Anyone may participate regardless of nationality, with the exception of those who have won first prize in previous editions of this competition.

2. The submitted works must be written in the Spanish language, be previously unpublished, may be on any subject the author desires, and not have been entered in any previous competitions. The competitor may submit as many original stories as he/she wishes.

3. The original stories should be submitted in triplicate (three legible copies), typed with double space on one single sheet of paper and stapled together in the top left margin. The length of each story submitted shall not exceed eight (8) A4 size pages.

4. Papers submitted for the competition shall not bear the name of the author but should be signed with a pseudonym. All works submitted must come attached with an envelope on the outside of which the title of the story and the pseudonym of the author are clearly stated; and inside, the name of the author, his/her full address, telephone number(s), email address, title of the story and pseudonym used.

Manuscripts should be sent to:

UNIVERSIDAD POPULAR DE MAZARRÓN

XXIX CONCURSO DE CUENTOS “VILLA DE MAZARRÓN”

- ANTONIO SEGADO DEL OLMO -

Avd. Constitución, 65

30870 - MAZARRÓN ( Murcia )

SPAIN

For more information:

Phone/Fax: (+34) 968 59 17 66

Web: http://www.upmazarron.es

E-mail: cuentos@upmazarron.es

The deadline for submissions is February 28th 2013. Submissions bearing the postmark on or before this date will be accepted.

5. Works by authors who have passed away before the announcement of this competition will not be accepted.

6. The sponsors of the competition will appoint a Reading Committee to do a preliminary selection of the works, which will then be deliberated by a Jury composed of personalities from the world of literature, the arts, and the Rector of the Open University of Mazarron who will act as Secretary, with a voice but no right of vote.

The Jury reserves the right to declare null and void the award of prizes if, in their opinion, the works do not meet the required standard.

7. The decision of the Jury is final.

8. The awards are set as follows:

FIRST PRIZE: A cash prize of € 3.600 and a commemorative medal.

SECOND PRIZE: A cash prize of € 2.600 and a commemorative medal.

9. Each step of the competition: the reception of the entries, the initial selection, the final selection of the Jury and the selection of the prize winners, will be posted on the competition’s website. The Jury’s decision will be announced on July 19th 2013.

10. The award ceremony will be held at a public event on July 26th 2013, attended by the authors if they are resident in Spain. Non-attendance implies forfeiture of the prize.

11. The winning stories will remain in possession of the sponsors, who will hold all exploitation, editorial and publishing rights in any media. In each case, the discretionary use of the awarded stories by their authors will be subject to the express permission of the organizers.

12. The non-winning stories will not be returned to the authors, but will be destroyed once all phases of the competition are completed.

13. Participation in this competition implies acceptance of all rules set out in this call. Incidents not covered by these rules shall be resolved by the organizers for the benefit of the competition.

NOTHING BEATS WRITERS' GET-TOGETHERS

One of the gurus of Zimbabwean literature, Musaemura Zimunya, shares a joke with other writers Lawrence Hoba (with back to the camera) and Mashingaidze Gomo (laughing). In the background, another Zimbabwean literature guru, Aaron Chiundura Moyo (in grey hat) comfortably speaks to young writer Chipo Musikavanhu (concealed). Photo was taken at one of Zimbabwe Writers Association meetings in Harare last year.

Until we meet again in the next issue, cheers for now!