EDITORIAL
Welcome all to our 78th issue which we believe
has so much to offer. The 2014 ZIBF is around the corner, deadlines for some writing
contests such as the Golden Baobab Prize are approaching, will you be part of
all this and other literary activities around you? Better be.
We are glad to announce that Writers International
Network Zimbabwe has moved office from Highlands back to the city centre. We would
like to greatly thank Auntie Thelma Boettrich who hosted us with loving-kindness
in Highlands since the beginning of this year. May she be blessed overmuch. WIN
will now be at No 82/83 Kaguvi Street,
Office No 6, Harare (near Fidelity Life Towers).
Many thanks to our respectable Board for the
professional guidance, and our membership across the country and outside, who have been very supportive, patient and a big thank you to the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust for the
support. We are humbled indeed. Please enjoy.
WIN
WELCOMES NEW WRITERS' CLUB
Kwekwe Polytechnic Writers' Club Members
The good of becoming part of WIN is in the increasing
inspiration which eventually invites a soul to do the actual writing. It is in
this spirit that WIN welcomes Kwekwe Polytechnic Writers’ Club. Mr. Learnmore
Nyoni, lecturer in National and Strategic Studies, is the club Patron (extreme
left in the group photo) while Raymond Gwaka, a student, chairs the club. You
have inspired us Kwekwe. Let us write!
ZIBF
INTRODUCES 'MEET THE AUTHOR' SESSIONS
The Zimbabwe International Book Fair is here again and
this year, it has a new segment added to it that will help students and
aspiring writers to develop their knowledge of local established writers and
their writing.
This year’s Book Fair, running from July 28 to August
2 under the theme ‘Indigenous Languages, Literature, Art and Knowledge Systems
in Africa’, will provide such a
beautiful platform for aspiring writers to talk one-on-one with published
writers.
At a press conference held last week the ZIBF
Executive Board Chairperson Musaemura Zimunya said the ‘Meet the Author’
sessions will run alongside other book fair activities such as the book
exhibitions, Young Persons Indaba, ZIBF Literary Evenings, and Live Literature.
The Indaba Conference, a very important space used to
critically examine the theme in line with what’s happened and/or happening in
reality, will take place from July 28 to
July 30 at its traditional venue the Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel, a short
walk from the Harare Gardens.
The Children’s Reading Tent and Digital Zone are other
educational spots of intellectual development for the kids and youths attending
this year’s Book Fair.
ZIM POETS CELEBRATE THE LATE DR. MAYA ANGELOU
Report by WIN-Zimbabwe
Commemorative candles
On the night of June 7, 2014, the Book Café in Harare under
the auspices of Pamberi Trust hosted an event to celebrate the ‘Life and Works
of Dr. Maya Angelou’. Dr. Maya Angelou passed on on May 28, 2014 in North
Carolina.
Rutendo Chigudu aka R Tendo, emceed the event.
Before poetry readings, the 1979 television film ‘I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ adapted from a book of the same title by
Angelou, was screened.
Poets then read and reflected on the works of the
great African American author who wore many hats and was honoured around the
world.
In the film ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’, Maya
(played by Constance Good), , then a young girl, exudes such character that
only bespeaks of the greatness she was gifted with even in real life. At a
tender age, she is together with her brother separated from their parents and lives
with their grandparents in the countryside where she witnesses white kids
speaking disrespectfully at her grandmother.
“One day I am gonna wake up from this damn nightmare,”
young Maya tells herself.
All is well until Maya’s father decides to take his
children to the city (California) where he thinks there is better education.
Unwillingly, Maya goes to the city where her mother runs a gambling bar and she
leads a careless lifestyle.
It is when her mother’s boyfriend named Freeman rapes
her that Maya’s world is shattered. However, she speaks out about the rape and the
rapist is discovered and killed by her uncles. For a long time she loses speech
due to the trauma. Still she continues to listen to the voice from within.
Ironically, when she is taken back home to her loving
and caring grandmother, she slowly regains her speech after she is presented
with the book ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ (Charles Dickens) by her former teacher in
the same community who urges her to read aloud the first passage which goes as
follows:
“It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it
was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was
the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair….”
And on and on, for days alone, she would read and
attempt to win back her voice. Her teacher knows she has a special talent and
gives her more gifts of books by great writers such as Alan Edgar Poe. When she
recovers she becomes a resilient poetic voice in the negro community.
Poets D-Blok who read with the accompaniment of music,
Zaza Muchemwa, Peggie Shangwa, Karen Mukwasi, Mazviita Gwangwadza, the trio
Tendai, Tariro and R Tendo read Angelou’s soulful poems while Dr. Pauline E
Bullen, senior lecturer from the Women’s University in Africa, read excerpts
from Angelou’s second book of essays ‘Even The Stars Look Lonesome’.
It was a poetical evening dedicated to such an
inspirational figure as each poet lit a commemorative candle after reading a
poem.
Dr. Bullen, the brains behind the commemoration, remembered
Angelou as a ‘powerful voice, powerful force’ whom she met more than ten years
ago at the Yari Yari Women’s Writers Conference held in New York. The
conference is an international symposium on Literature by women of African
descent.
“At that time, I had already read many of her poems,
and had fallen into the habit of reciting and quoting the poems at high school.
It was an amazing encounter to actually meet someone that I truly admired and
acknowledged that her works had profound effect on women and men through her
words of empowerment,” said Dr. Bullen.
The late Dr. Maya Angelou’s biography can be accessed here.
The Commemoration in Pictures
Zaza Muchemwa read the poem 'Take Time Out' by Maya Angelou
The emcee, R Tendo, a poet as well
Mazvita Gwangwadza read a poem 'They Went Home' from Angelou's collection
Dr. Bullen read excerpts from Angelou's book of essays
Poet D-Blok did a poem called 'Alone' by Maya Angelou
WRITIVISM SHORT STORY PRIZE SHORTLIST RELEASED
And the shortlisted
short stories are:
a) Devils
b) Lunatic
c)
Out of the Blue
d) Survived By
e)
Walls and Boarders
The winner will
be announced on June 21, 2014 at the Writivism Festival in Kampala.
Congratulations
to the authors of the shortlisted stories! For more information, click here.
THE YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
Review of Cover
to Cover 2013 Magazine
(An annual publication by The Standard under Alpha Media
Holdings)
By Mimi
Machakaire
Recently I was offered an opportunity by the WIN
Newsletter editor to read a very interesting magazine and he challenged me to write a personal
review of this magazine, a collection of short stories, written by students from
different schools around Zimbabwe. The magazine is titled “Cover to Cover 2013.”
Now the first thing I noticed was the similarities
between some of the titles but the differences between each story. This reminded
me of how in fashion, from time to time different celebrities are caught with a
similar look and this incident would raise the question of “who wore it best?”
Now in this
case since we are talking about stories, it inspired me to create a new segment
I would like to call “who wrote it best?” The first pair that caught my eye was
the short stories both titled “My extended family”. The first one is by Kuziva
Mutsvangwa from St George’s College in Harare and the other is by Lionel
Imena-Kirenga also from St George’s
College in Harare. This was the typical battle of the bands as the two stories
had completely opposite concepts despite having the same title. So here I
introduce…..who wrote it best?
First we have Lionel who illustrated his narrator’s
portrayal of extended family in a rather negative but honest manner. His
diction was great because he specified exactly why the family members agitate
his main character. The other thing I liked was that he tried to be as
unexpected as possible. This is shown by how he uses certain words/phrases that
helped put imagery into his work. Such phrases as when the narrator says, “What I hate the most
is that you cannot stay mad at them because they all have smiles that assure
you that there is a God” during the time his character talks about his
seemingly cute and adorable nephews but in his eyes they are actually “sugar
eating monsters”. Somewhere the narrator describes his grandfather as follows:
“He waves his arms like a windmill when he tries to be more interesting….”
Next up is Kuziva who seemed to have compromising
views on how his character sees his family. It was as though he loved them one
minute but hated them the next. Which I felt was a realistic and common. The narrator’s
introduction to how he already felt about going into the family reunion at
first made us think that he was going to portray it in a similar concept to how
Lionel portrayed his but he surprised us in the end when he says “Although my
extended family is not usually a nice bunch - each one of them is different but
all are great casual company.” Though I wished he could have balanced out the
comments he gave out i.e. telling us why he loved them despite feeling anxious
about the reunion.
So let’s add up the scores and find out “who wrote it
best?” My favourite was Lionel! Simply
because he was not afraid to try something out of the ordinary and step out of
his comfort zone.
The rest of the stories I read included my next
favourite titled “My sister went missing” by Dylan Goredema from Home School in
Harare. His use of suspense was excellent because as I read the story even after
I finished it, it still made me want to read more. My least favourite was “An
old man told us what had happened” by Gamuchirai G Gwitira of St Christopher’s
Primary School in Gwanda. While I appreciate the writer’s attempt at writing
fantasy, it is rather tricky to do. This is especially common amongst beginners
because if you’re not careful the story tends to lose sense half way through
and ideas can be tempted to be stolen from other professional writers. This is
sadly what happened to Gamuchirai. Noticing that some ideas might have been
inspired by others, the story by Gamuchirai reminded me of similar events
in the Peter Pan stories. Hmmm…either way the effort is admirable.
Lastly I have this left to say. This issue of Cover to
Cover was filled with many talented students who I know will be seen as future
writers. Keep up the good work fellow writers and I hope to be standing next to
you one day as we slowly but surely take over the world of literature.
All the short stories in the Cover to Cover 2013 magazine
were judged by well-known writers Ethel Kabwato, Eresina Hwede and Jerry Zondo.
(Ed.
Note: As a member, you can also borrow a book or magazine from the WIN library
to review for the Newsletter. There is always a first time. Above all, by
reading you grow!)
CONGRATULATIONS TO NOVUYO TSHUMA
A winner: Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s debut book ‘Shadows’ recently
won the 2014 Herman Charles Bosman Prize for Excellence in English Fiction.
Makorokoto, amhlope. We are happy for you, our sister!
POETRY CORNER
WANGU
na Patrick
Hwande (above)
Wangu
haandipe kiss
yoga
Anondipawo nomoyo
Kisi yakaurayisa
Jesu
Moyo idende
rehuchi
wangu
haandipe
rwepamusoro
anondipa
rwepasipasi
rwepamusorosoro
rwunopupurutswa nemhepo
rwepasi
rwuchinamirana nemidzi
wangu
haandinongedze
nechigunwe
anondibata ruoko
kuti
vasingandizive vagondiziva
wangu
haashaye chakaipa
nechakanaka pandiri
ane meso asina
utara
wangu
haasi Mhurai,
Muchanyara kana Miedzo
wangu
ndiRudorwashe
ndosaka tichigara
tiri hupfu nemapfihwa
Nokuti tiri
vatorwa vaneukama
______________
Thank you for reading.
From Left: Eresina Hwede (Resource Mobilizer), Musaemura Zimunya (Chairperson), Monica Cheru (Deputy Chairperson), Dakarai Mashava (Deputy Secretary), Beatrice Sithole (Treasurer), Memory Chirere (Secretary General) and Nqobile Malinga (Ordinary Board member)
