The late Zimbabwean author Alexander Kanengoni
It is with sadness that WIN-Zimbabwe received (from our
mother body Zimbabwe Writers Association) the news of the death of prominent
writer Alexander Kanengoni. May his soul rest in peace.
Dear all
We of the
Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) can confirm that we have also received the
shocking news of the passing on of prominent Zimbabwean writer and ex-combatant,
Alexander Kanengoni. He died at home in Harare, yesterday 12 April 2016. We
wish to express our deepest condolences to his family and relatives and to his
many colleagues and admirers at home and across the world on this sad loss.
Alexander Kanengoni, one of Zimbabwe’s internationally renowned
writers and essayists, is most known for a form of writing called ‘war
literature’ in which he and others wrote poems, plays and novels to depict the
exploits and heroics of the ordinary people and that of the combatants during
the 1970’s war of liberation for Zimbabwe. His critical war novels are; Vicious
Circle, When The Rain Bird Cries and the inimitable Echoing Silences and a
collection of short stories called Effortless Tears. One
may suggest that brother Alexander wrote fiction about the struggle for
independence and self determination and thought provoking essays on the
difficult conditions of the formally colonised and the contradictions that they
face everyday. We shall miss his company, his incisive wit, his stubborn
determination and that roaring laughter of his which shook his whole huge
frame…
We are reliably informed that mourners are gathered at: house number
5528-158 street, Warren Park D in Harare. Meanwhile, we await more details on the funeral.
-Memory Chirere, Secretary General of ZWA 13 April, 2016.
I Love
I love the summer sunset in the country
To embrace the bustling green draping the land
To ride the metallic crack of the herd boy’s
whip
Herding his herd home
To hear the subdued laughter of the women
Filing to the village well
To measure the deliberate strides of the man
Gazing at his swollen field
To hear the lone drunk’s hee-eh-oo-he-h-oo
Hobbling home after the day’s drink
And above all
To be a complete part
Of this unwritten simplicity.
I love the summer sunset in the country.
Alexander Kanengoni, 2011
