Writers International Network Zimbabwe: WIN Newsletter, No 71

EDITORIAL

We welcome you all to this month's edition of our newsletter, hoping that you are all in good shape. The month has been filled with real business for the local writing industry. Events are taking place which any writer should make time to attend. We are ever so happy with the progress which NoViolet Bulawayo is making with her debut book We Need New Names. Really, this makes us feel proud as Zimbabweans. We have been so tied up with preps for our Epworth Community Outreach Programme but this doesn't mean we have shelved other programmes/activities. The WIN/GAT Short Story Writing Competition is now closed but plans are in place for the competition to be extended to Epworth new writers only under the outreach. We encourage new poets writing in Tonga and Ndebele to submit their poems for the poetry anthology. Thank you so much for the support. Enjoy!

‘WE NEED NEW NAMES’ AN UNSTOPPABLE NOVEL

By Beaven Tapureta (WIN)

(Picture taken from www.telegraph.co.uk)

NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel We Need New Names has made Zimbabwe proud as the brilliantly crafted Zimbabwean tale recently got shortlisted for the prestigious award in world literature, the Man Booker Prize 2013.

She is the first Zimbabwean writer to ever get this close to such a coveted award.

Published by Chatto & Windus in June this year, We Need New Names has received highly rated credit from book fans all over the world. Other shortlisted works are A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, Harvest by Jim Crace, The Lowland by Jhupa Lahiri, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton and The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin.

Launched in 1969, the Man Booker Prize main objective is to ‘promote the finest in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland’.

It is good to note that the Zimbabwean reader has not been left out of the wave of excitement. Until recently, some books about Zimbabwe by Zimbabwean writers living in the diaspora had not been available to Zimbabweans while they (the books) made recognizable strides outside.

Speaking at the official launch of We Need New Names in Harare early this month, Caine Prize winner NoViolet also made it clear how important it is to make works by Zimbabwean writers in the diaspora be available to their own people.

“You find cases where you are being read in the USA and all over the world but your book is not available for your own people. So I am really thankful to Weaver Press for facilitating the re-publication of books by Zimbabweans living outside,” she said.

We Need New Names has been re-published by a local publisher Weaver Press which also facilitated its official launch in Harare.

The first chapter of We Need New Names is a short story that won the 2011 Caine Prize with the title Hitting Budapest. The short story has been part of the novel We Need New Names which NoViolet began working on in 2008. With the short story making headlines and seemingly setting the pace for the novel, many readers have begun to think the novel was born out the short story.

NoViolet will be launching We Need New Names in her hometown Bulawayo on September 17, 2013, at the National Gallery where she will engage in a conversation with Prof Dr. Drew Shaw and read from her book as well. The Bulawayo launch is taking place courtesy of British Council, Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, Bulawayo Agenda and amaBooks Publishers.

Below are photos from the Harare launch of We Need New Names:

NoViolet (right) in conversation with Rumbi Katedza (left)

Murray McCartney (left) chaired the question and answer session

Some of the guests

This book, on sale at the launch, is now available from Weaver Press

DAVID MUNGOSHI INVITED TO CHINUA ACHEBE CONFERENCE

By Beaven Tapureta (WIN)

David Mungoshi

Author of a NAMA award-winning novel The Fading Sun (2009) and various other published works David Mungoshi has been invited to attend an international conference on ‘Celebrating the Life and Works of Chinua Achebe: The Coming of Age of African Literature” scheduled to take place in November this year in Accra, Ghana.

Mungoshi is the Vice President for Southern Africa of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), a continental body of African writers which is organizing the conference. More than 300 participants are expected from within and outside Africa.

In an invitation letter to David Mungoshi, PAWA Secretary General Prof Atukwei Okai said the conference ‘will bring together connoisseurs of Achebe’s works in particular and of African literature in general from across the world’.

“In a truly celebratory manner, the Conference will not only critically explore the impact of Chinua Achebe on African literature but also, through this, the impact of African literature on world literature and vice versa,” Prof Okai said.

Contacted for comment, Mungoshi said he is glad that Africa is honoring its own son and this, he said, is a show of appreciation of our literature. Mungoshi said he is glad the conference on Achebe (inserted picture) has finally come.

PAWA says it has dedicated its November 2013 conference to celebrating the late great writer Chinua Achebe (1930-2013).

ZIBF 2013 IS READY TO ROLL

MAIN BOOK FAIR 2013

THEME : “ZIBF@30: Enabling Creativity, Writing, Publishing and Reading for Africa’s Growth”

ZIBFA invites all interested parties to participate in the special six-day event as follows:

“EXHIBITION” Venue: Harare Gardens, Julius Nyerere Way

ADMISSION FREE!!! to the Exhibition

Dates: 2 October 2013: Open to Traders Only

3 October – 5 October 2013: Open to Students and The Public

Time: 1000 – 1700hrs

“INDABA CONFERENCE” Venue: Crowne Plaza Hotel : By Registration

Day 1: 30 September 2013 0815 - 1700hrs

Ø Indigenous Languages

Ø Digitization

Ø Literature, Media and Society

Day 2: 1 October 2013 0830 - 1700hrs

Ø Health and Environment

Ø Dialogue and Tolerance in African Communities

Ø Copyright, Intellectual Property and Piracy

Ø Children, Literature and Reading

‘‘YOUNG PERSONS’ INDABA’’: Enhancing Writing Skills with Digital Tools

Date: 2 October 2013 By Registration

0830 - 1630hrs at Crowne Plaza Hotel

‘‘WRITERS’ WORKSHOP’’: Writing for Children Now

Date: 5 October 2013 By Invitation

If you wish to participate please register for the workshops by 19 September 2013 to avoid disappointment!!

LIVE LITERATURE, MEET THE AUTHOR & CHILDREN’S READING TENT

1000 - 1600hrs 3 October – 5 October 2013 ADMISSION FREE!!!

IT’S SOMETHING WORTH YOUR WHILE! DON’T MISS OUT!

For further details contact us at ZIBFA on: 04 702104, 704112, 702108, 702129

Email : events@zibfa.org.zw

CREATIVE WRITING TIPS

With

Christopher Mlalazi

Many of us believe that we write stories ‘fast.’ Of course, the act of writing in your notebook or typing into a computer or laptop while sitting on a park bench must be fast so as to catch up with your train of thoughts. Actually, the best story is one that observes the law of slowness. While you type and think fast, the story must develop slowly. I call that 'moving like an ant'. An ant seems to move fast if you look at the movement of its legs, but the whole movement in comparison to the movement of human beings is super slow. That is a story. Every bit of ground must be stepped on in the writing process; and no long strides, as these will leave gaping holes. It is only during the revision process that one can judge from all the material you have amassed during other revisions what to include and what to trash.

RESEARCHER WANTED

Research Position in Shona Linguistics and Literature

The Department of African Studies at the Humboldt University, Berlin, is offering a part-time research position (26 hours/week for a 65% appointment) in the research project, “Changing Patterns in the Shona Novel from Zimbabwe – A Linguistic Literary Analysis“, under the directorship of Prof. Dr. Flora Veit-Wild. The position will start at March 1st 2014 and last until April 30th 2016. (For more information on the project please click here or go to http://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/afrika/literatur-und-kultur/projekte/)

The appointment is associated with high-quality research and entails the following

responsibilities:

 linguistic annotation of Shona literary texts with the linguistic software Toolbox

 to conduct literature and database searches

 to carry out research and produce publications

 to present research findings at conferences and workshops

Conditions for successful applications are as follows:

 first-language Shona proficiency

 Master Degree in African Linguistics and/or Literature

 advanced computer skills

 preferably, experience with linguistic computer programs, such as Toolbox, PRAAT,

ELAN, or FLEX

 Familiarity with linguistic and literary analysis

 ability to work independently

 commitment to high quality research

 interest in the development of new trans-disciplinary methodologies

Please send your applications, including CV, cover letter and a photograph, via email

attachment to flora.veit-wild@rz.hu-berlin.de by 31. October 2013

INVITATION TO A LECTURE

Next week is good one for literary discussion. On the day after NoViolet Bulawayo's book launch, come along again to the National-Gallery Bulawayo for my Lecture/Slide Show titled 'Looking Back / Looking forward: Zimbabwean literature of the GNU period, 2009-2013'. It's a survey of literary output over the last four years and an attempt to discern trends.

Date: Wednesday, September 18

Time: 5.30pm

Venue: John Knight Cinema, National Gallery, Bulawayo.'

(Invitation courtesy of Dr. Drew Shaw)

POETRY

Final prayers

By Tendai Maduwa

A mask of sorrow

With two golden streams running

Was everybody’s share but the reasons were still raw

With nobody aware of another’s grief

But all facing one problem, as if same fate

With fraud in their mist

Unaware of the world’s reaction

Surely this was a great loss

A disgrace to any person

In one way or the other

Indeed, poverty is a curse, a disability

A catalyst to destroy relationships

Create and root hatred in humanity

It seemed a joke or a reckless act of lips

A grievous prayer, deserving a laugh though

So unworthy…

Maduwa participated at the just ended Kistrech Poetry Festival in Kenya from August 1 to 6. Read more about his adventures in Kenya here

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WIN-ZIMBABWE would like to thank the Mungoshi family for the strength that they have shown in publishing our great writer Charles Mungoshi's latest book called Branching Streams Flow In The Dark (2013).