EDITORIAL
Zimbabwean writers Shimmer
Chinodya (left) and Ignitius T Mabasa
We
are coming from an artistically exciting period and we would like to celebrate
as well as thank everyone who has, one way or another, helped elevate WIN to
where it is now. It is such an honour to be recognised at national platforms
such as the NAMA Awards. It is a humbling experience indeed. We would like to congratulate
all the winners at the 15th edition of the NAMA awards this year.
Go, Zim arts, go! The other good news is that we are back in the CBD and this
is but an opportunity to grow and grow and grow. Please enjoy!
WIN BACK IN TOWN
Inside the new WIN home
WIN-Zimbabwe
is settling back in town after spending half of last year without a space in
the CBD to operate from. Many thanks to our renowned writer Shimmer Chinodya for
the support he rendered in the process to return to ‘a room of our own’. To be
nurtured by great minds is an inspiration every writer or group of writers
need.
Old
and new members can now visit the new ‘corner’ and be conveniently attended to unlike
in the past few months when constant meetings were impractical.
For
the past years certain individuals in the arts sector and a local funding
organisation have capacitated WIN to have shelter in the CBD where it can meet
its members as well as coordinate its activities professionally. Sometimes, having such an office space comes
with cost-cutting benefit of being able to conduct regular weekend writers’
circles.
The
current Board chairperson of WIN commented this latest development, said it is positive
as it comes at a time when WIN is expanding and needs to re-structure and
re-focus its vision to suit the enlarging demand for its services.
Since
its formation, the organisation has grown from strength to strength despite certain
challenges, particularly economic ones. This year, WIN plucked a nomination from
the just-ended NAMA Awards for Outstanding Online Media, having won the award
last year.
AN AFTERNOON OF POETRY
Men on a mission
Four
renowned local poets Albert Nyathi, Chirikure Chirikure, Tendai Maduwa and
Tinashe Muchuri gave engaging different
performances of their poetry and also held an open discussion with a diverse
group of university students at a function dubbed ‘Black Poetry Convergence’
held at the University of Zimbabwe on Friday, February 26. Obediah Michael
Smith from Bahamas could not make it to the event. He was on the programme as
the guest poet. Below are few images from the event.
SHONA LANGUAGE ON GOOGLE
TRANSLATE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Image: Africanews.com
There
is expectation among Zimbabwean writers over the recent addition of Shona
language and two other African languages (Xhosa and Amharic) onto Google
Translate.
What
does this mean?
Wikipedia
describes Google Translate as “a free multilingual statistical machine translation
service provided by Google to translate text, speech, images, or real-time video
from one language into another. It offers a web interface, mobile interfaces
for Android and IOS, and an API that developers can
use to build browser extensions, applications and other software".
According
to online sources, the addition brings to 13 the number of African languages
supported on Google Translate. All in all, there are now 103 tongues from
across the world being supported by this free online translation service.
As
of February 2016, Google Translate has been supporting 103 languages at various
levels and serves over 200 million people daily.
The
service does much in connecting people with each other and the rest of the
world across language barriers through instant translation of text and web
pages.
Locals
can join the Translate
Community, a platform that is intended to improve Google Translate
service. It is said volunteers can select up to five languages to help in
better translation. Users can verify translated phrases and translate phrases
in their languages to and from English, helping to improve the accuracy of
translating more rare and complex phrases.
It
would be good if Zimbabwean language experts join the platform to avoid
translation mistakes and establish proper Shona language on the internet.
YOU ARE KINDLY INVITED
THE MOMENT
Beaven Tapureta (left)
being presented with the NAMA award for Outstanding Print Journalist by
renowned actress Jesesi Mungoshi wife of the iconic author Charles Mungoshi
The
Shona poem below was composed by Tamutswa Muzana, a member of WIN, after Beaven
Tapureta, a literary journalist and Director of WIN, won the NAMA Outstanding
Print Journalist award in February. The poem was first shared on the WIN
Whatsapp group! Thank you Tamutswa.
Beaven
Mwanakomana akaupfekera museve pauta
Ndokuuvesera mukati mechakasara
Vawoni havana kuziva chanhuhwira
hombarume.
Vemiromo yembudzi vakati kutandadza nguva
kuteya nzou neriva
Vavaki vakati matanda mayedzwa unosiya
nerakamunywa nemuchenje
Chiriporipotyo museve wakanyura pahuma
payo nhoro (Nama)
Vavhimi ungaunga (nomination) umwe neumwe
asimudza rwake rwuwoko
Mutongi gava ndokunanganidza ndokupa
chedu chikomana menduro
You
can also read a dedication by Tapureta to the Mungoshis soon after the NAMAs
here: Celebrating Our Literary Heritage
WHEN ARE THE STAND-ALONE
LITERARY AWARDS COMING?
Books that made up the 15TH
NAMA nomination list in the literary category were altogether nine, out of
which three winners were chosen. The Outstanding Fiction category mixes poetry
and prose which, had there been enough resources, would have stood as two
separate categories
The
15th edition of the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) may have
slipped into history but the echoes still remain. It is true that the National Arts Council of
Zimbabwe which runs the NAMA Awards has done writers and the rest of artists proud
by recognising some of the best creative minds. However, the space offered by
NAMA for writers is just not enough for such a diverse book industry.
We
can only ask the writers: When are the stand-alone literary awards coming?
Our
Director, through his Bookshelf
column in the Herald, once laid out a clear general proposal for the
establishment of stand-alone literary awards.
What
all this boils down to is that if united, the sector will never fail because
ever since the first book was published in 50’s, the sector has grown
tremendously in terms of experience. Soon or later, writers will realize just
how much it means to complement NAMA literary section with their own
stand-alone awards like what the local musicians are doing!
Below
are this year’s NAMA winners in the three literary categories and also in the
online media category:
Outstanding
First Creative Published Work
Chaotic (Ess Tee
Publications) by Samantha Chihuri (above)
Nominated
for the same award were the following: A Shower
of Poetic Vistas by Shumirai Nhanhanga (ZWW) and Who Will Feed My Birds by Tshengina Ndlovu (Multi-Media Box)
Outstanding
Children’s Book
Tsuro naGudo: Misi Yese
Haifanani by Daniel
Mutendi and Wilbur Kandiero (DanTs Media)
Nominated
for the same award was The Mystery of the
Waterfalls Thief by Tatenda Charles Munyuki (Darling Kind)
Outstanding
Fiction
Textures by John Eppel and Togara Muzanenhamo
(AmaBooks)
Nominated
for the same award were the following: Dzinonyandura by Rabson Shumba (263
Nhetembo), Ties That Bind by Phillip
Chidavaenzi (New Heritage Press) and The
Book of Memory by Petina Gappah (Faber and Faber)
Outstanding
Online Media
Nominated
for the same award were the following: Zimbojam,
Three Men on a Boat and Writers International Network Zimbabwe
THE
REST OF THE WINNERS CAN BE FOUND HERE: NACZ OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE
THE YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
With
Mimi Machakaire in South
Africa
Sweeney Todd:
Broadway show in Cape Town
Now as writers we tend to forget that there are other ways we can
change our creative stories and portray them in a new and transformed way. Of course, the original story will be kept as
it is but the only difference will be the way it is told. The first thing
others think of is a movie or maybe a TV series but the story I would like to
talk about today has been altered into many different adaptations.
Earlier this month my mother and I were fortunate enough to buy
the tickets for the Sweeney Todd Broadway
Show in Cape Town and watch these talented people in action. They kept to
the story as it is (while of course not actually killing anyone), sung every
melody on key and in unison, the costume design alone was spectacular and
throughout the show we could tell how much these people loved to perform. I
could sense the passion in each act, Johnny Depp himself would have been proud
had he gone to see the show. I loved every minute of their performance and can’t
wait to go back should they do more.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon
Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen
Sondheim and
book by Hugh
Wheeler. The musical is
based on the 1973 play Sweeney
Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher
Bond.
The story itself starts in 19th century England, where the musical details the return of barber Sweeney
Todd to
London after 15 years of exile. In order to take revenge on the corrupt judge who banished him, he teams
up with a local baker, Mrs. Lovett,
who is in desperate need of fresh meat for her pies. They then conspire against
not only the judge but the citizens of England by killing the men who
unknowingly walk into his barber for a haircut or a shave and bake them into
Mrs. Lovett’s pies.
The feature
film adaptation of Sweeney
Todd, jointly produced by DreamWorks and Warner
Bros., was released on
December 21, 2007. Tim
Burton directed
from a screenplay by John Logan. It stars the incredible Johnny
Depp as
Todd (Depp received an Oscar
nomination and
a Golden Globe Award for his performance), Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan
Rickman as
Judge Turpin, Sacha Baron Cohen as Signor Pirelli, Jamie Campbell Bower as Anthony Hope, Laura Michelle Kelly as The Beggar Woman, Jayne
Wisener as
Johanna, Ed Sanders as Toby, and Timothy
Spall as
Beadle Bamford. The film received high acclaim from critics and theatre-goers
and also won the Golden
Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term
“Broadway” it simply means that it is an on stage production.
The South
African Broadway production featured Pieter Toerien and KickstArt who produced
a tour of Sweeney Todd at the Pieter Toerien Monte Casino Theatre
(Johannesburg) which is currently running and extended until December 13, 2015
before transferring to the Theatre on the Bay (Cape Town) until April 2016. It
was directed and designed by the award-winning KickstArt team of Steven Stead
and Greg King, and starring Jonathan Roxmouth (Sweeney Todd) and Charon Williams-Ros (Mrs. Lovett).
When it comes to on stage productions my biggest worry is that the
director might make too many modifications to accommodate for the resources
they have available. Which was why I was pleasantly surprised to see that the
South Africans managed to detail an international story so accurately. Sadly
Zimbabweans haven’t hosted a lot of these Broadway shows in its day and when
they do, because of the lack of income they receive, they end up doing
something poorly constructed. However, in the past I have come across some stories
beautifully told on stage in Zimbabwe but they only really make the effort for
African based stories. I hope that one day someone will make the same effort
for something a bit more international, for the sake of those visiting from
overseas. It’s always good to step out of one’s comfort zone once in a while.
That’s how you progress in life, by doing something out of the ordinary.
Broadway allows us to broaden our imagination because it’s basically a play,
the rules are very limited and in the arts we have to consider other ways to
tell our story.
Let’s
not be afraid to seek out new options. Let’s take the opportunities that may
come and use them to help us grow as story tellers.
ZIBF ANNOUNCES 2016 THEME AND
OPENS CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Students enjoy books at the ZIBF
The
Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF) has made public the theme for this year
as “Igniting Interest in Reading for
Sustainable Development”.
In
a statement, ZIBF said the theme “was chosen from several possibilities derived
from recommendations made by participants at the Indaba Conference last year”.
Reading
culture in Zimbabwe has long shifted from general books to educational books. Various
factors such as economic challenges have influenced the decline of reading
culture and by tackling the theme of reading ZIBF has started a sort of reading
awareness campaign that must not begin and end at the book fair!
“The
subject of Reading for Sustainable Development is an essential axis which goes
a long way in the improvement of people’s lifestyles through improved
qualitative and functional education, incomes, skills development, ability to
read and write (literary skills), more creativity and employment
opportunities,” said the ZIBF.
The
Call for Abstracts to those who want to present at the Indaba Conference has
also been opened. According to ZIBF, the abstract should capture the spirit of
the given theme and must be not more than 500 words long. They should be
received by March 31, 2016.
The
Book Fair will run from July 25 to July 30, 2016, with the Indaba Conference
happening on July 25 and 26.
For
more information, contact zibfa@yahoo.com or events@zibfa.org.zw .
POETRY
Nobuhle
Sibongubuhle
ntokazi yakoSigola,
Wena ocwebezela
njenge golide,
Yisibusiso siphi
leso esikuqathanisa lozulu?
Hayi mamazala
wami,
Ngibheke kuwe
namhla ngizehlisa,
Ngikuthema
ngenjabulo ndlovukazi yeSwazi,
Ngibonga
itshatshazi elinguNobuhle,
Umama wobuhle
owangipha yena.
William Tapiwa
Mugozori
(William T Mugozori was
born in Harare in 1990 and did his primary education in Victoria Falls and
Bulawayo. For his secondary education he went to John Tallach and Matopo High
Schools. Mugozori holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from National
University of Science and Technology)
A FEW IMAGES FROM THE 15TH
NAMA AWARDS CEREMONY HELD ON FEBRUARY 13 2016
THEME: "CELEBRATING ZIMBABWE
HERITAGE"
THANK YOU, THANK YOU
FOR READING OUR NEWSLETTER!
