Writers International Network Zimbabwe: 01/04/2019

EDITORIAL

Award-winning author Novuyo Rosa Tshuma in conversation with writer and critic Memory Chirere at the launch of her novel 'House of Stone' in Harare

Welcome to our informative newsletter giving you local and international writing news. We would like to congratulate novelist Novuyo Rosa Tshuma for recently scooping the 2019 Edward Stanford Travel Writing award in the fiction category. Her novel, House of Stone (2018, Atlantic Books), won the award for “its sense of place”. Our hearts are still with the families affected by the Cyclone Idai which wreaked havoc in Malawi, Mozambique and here in Zimbabwe specifically in Chimanimani and Chipinge and surrounding areas. Many thanks to individuals, government, organizations, artists, and many others who provided timely assistance. The NAMA Awards ceremony was also postponed to April 13 at the Harare International Conference Centre as the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation took this decision in order to “join the rest of fellow Zimbabweans in assisting the affected families”.

Meanwhile, we bring you our newsletter packed with all that you can expect from a literary house. Thank you very much for the support.

ZIBF INDABA 2019 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Flashback: Delegates at the 2015 Indaba conference

The dates for the Zimbabwe International Book Fair have been set for 29 July - 2 August 2019. The Indaba Conference will therefore take place on 29 and 30 July 2019. The theme of the 2019 Indaba Conference is “Footprints of the Book: Milestones & Opportunities”. The many previous themes of the Indaba looked at the character and the future of the book in its various forms and looked too at important issues that affect the writing, publishing and sale of books like piracy, reading culture, pricing and the digital character of the book of today, etc. These, however, tended largely to bemoan the goings on in the book sector in Zimbabwe and Africa since 1980. We tended to be gloomy. It is the Association’s submission that a theme such as Footprints of the Book: Milestones and Opportunities, would give ZIBF an opportunity to look back and identify what stakeholders think are the milestones achieved so far, celebrate them as well as point out clearly how and where each milestone was achieved and what opportunities are should be exploited to bring back the renaissance. A case in point is to go back and see what caused the boom of the 1980’s (which saw the rise of Dambudzo Marechera, Charles and David Mungoshi, Barbara Nkala, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Yvonne Vera, Virginia Phiri, Chenjerai Hove, Musaemura Zimunya, Shimmer Chinodya etc.) and find what facilitated it and how it could be triggered again.

Sub-Themes

Presenters are encouraged to submit their own innovative topics and abstracts that speak to the theme, “Footprints of the Book: Milestones & Opportunities”. The following sub-themes are meant to guide possible research areas although they may be used as research topics:

1) Mutation and the Evolution of the Book

· ICT and the Virtual Library – Moving into the Future

· From Print to e-Books

2) Forwards and Backwards: Reminiscing the Book

· Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation – The Future of Africa

· Triggering the Renaissance of the writing and publishing of books in Zimbabwe, the Region and in Africa

· Evaluating the economic contributions and impact of the bookselling sector

3) Motivating Content Generation in the Digital Age

· Pros and cons of e-publishing

· Social media and e-publishing

4) Creating Synergies in the Book Industry

· The Nexus Between Books and People

· Evaluating the Book Industry’s focus on Climate, Science, Medicine, Environment etc.

5) The Political Economy of the Book in Africa

· Role of Libraries in the Transformation of African Societies

· The Role of the Book in Achieving the SDGs, Women and Children’s issues

· Intellectual Property, Copyright and Piracy Issues

We therefore urge and encourage contributors to the 2019 Indaba to come up with ideas that will benefit all participants in the book value chain.

Submission of Abstracts

Abstracts of not more than 500 words and word-processed in Times New Roman script with 1.15 line spacing should be submitted by 15 April 2019 by email to events@zibfa.org.zw with a copy to zibfa@yahoo.com. The abstracts will be reviewed by experts and authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 30 April 2019. Presenters should submit the full papers and PowerPoint presentations of the full paper by 31 May 2019. Power-point presentations ARE REQUIRED and MUST summarize the full paper in bullet form and SHOULD ENABLE presenters to speak to the paper within the allotted time. However, those that MUST READ the paper SHOULD summaries’ it and present within the allotted time.

Thank you

Mr. Jasper Maenzanise (Interim Chair, Executive Board, Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association)

NGWENYA’S NEW NOVEL “YESTERDAY’S

FOOTPRINTS” READY

By Beaven Tapureta

Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya

The wait for Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya’s third book, a novel titled Yesterday’s Footprints (Royal Publishing House), is over as it will finally be available in May this year.

The novel is an English version, not a direct translation, of her Ndebele novel Izinyawo Zayizolo which was published in 2016 by Radiant Publishing Company. Her second book is a collection of short stories, The Fifty Rand Note (2017, Royal Publishing House).

In a recent interview, Ngwenya said both editions tell the same story.

“Yesterday's Footprints is the same story with Izinyawo Zayizolo, however, re-written with more chapters and different scenes yet expanding on the same theme,” she said.

In this latest novel, she probes the clash between modern and traditional courts of justice in the way they handle certain cases such as rape or ngozi (avenging spirit).

“I am revisiting the old ways of life in a number of ways – how we handled our good deeds and flaws, how the old judicial system managed and how African people lived together. I am also questioning how much wisdom African people can draw from their tradition or how much is applicable in this modern world,” she said.

Ngwenya however warned readers not to expect politics in the novel.

“I also wanted to show that despite the turbulent political situation in the country, Zimbabweans are still getting on with their lives, people are born every day as well as funerals are held. Politics is not the only thing happening in this country. People still need to live and carry on; there is no politics in the story. I wrote this novel in 2013, during the Mugabe and Tsvangirai era, I was saying there is also life besides them,” she said.

Yesterday’s Footprints captures an African world splitting at the altar of changing times. Although the author specifically focuses on the Ndebele people, she writes in a way that is generally inclusive of known African cultural philosophy. In this context of confusion instigated by both natural and human-made forces, the villagers must reconsider their African beliefs, yet they struggle to sync them with modern thought.

The author’s own experience of the Ndebele culture and her research is felt through the culturally set homesteads and detailed family histories. The story begins at a time of drought and the elders have decided that a rainmaking ceremony is the only hope. However, while this works out, and the land is green again, there remains complex issues that must be resolved if total happiness is to be restored in the village.

For instance, a father rapes his own daughter and this case alone divides the community as to how to deal with the rapist, a man known to use muti to win himself out of any criminal case he commits. The modern court of justice needs the ‘evidence’ of rape which the community, particularly the victim’s mother who witnessed the crime, can only verbally express. As per the law, the court needs the victim’s undergarments which her mother had already washed, and still, this form of evidence is seen by the culturally conservative characters as a taboo.

The drought and the rape are only some of the issues put to test to see how Africans view themselves in the modern world. There is the plight of women and girls dealt with in the novel also.

Ngwenya seem to be striking a balance in her short story and novel writing. The transition from short story to the novel is insignificant, she says. There is no reason for the shift.

“I cannot say I have shifted because my first attempt in writing was a story which was meant to be a novel. When publishing houses rejected it, I decided I would write short stories while I wrote a novel at the same time,” said the author cum town planner.

Indeed, with a collection of short stories and two different editions of a novel published so far, she has turned out to be a multi-talented, prolific and experimental author.

“As an artist, I do my craft to express my feelings. It is about feelings, my view of life in general and the messages I want to convey,” she said.

Ngwenya, who will this year be attending literary conferences and engagements in various African countries, has always told friends that her creative writing is somehow linked with her town planning work, as both are crafts that involve turning “a bush or even a dumping site into a vibrant environment”.

Apart from fiction, she has written some poems and inspirational works. Last year, the Catholic Journal called ‘Dare’ published a chapter from her inspirational memoir Graduate from the Valley School.

Born in Matobo, Matebeleland South province of Zimbabwe, Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya is a mother, a town planner by profession, real estate consultant in business.

UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES HOLD BIENNIAL

CONFERENCE

By
Winzim Online Media

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Professor Fanuel Tagwira (left) at the 2019 ZULC biennial conference.

The Zimbabwe University Libraries Consortium (ZULC) held its three-day biennial conference under the theme ‘Staying in The Game’. The conference, which ran from March 27 to 29, 2019, at the ZESA National Training Centre in Belvedere, mainly brainstormed ways to redefine academic library services to meet 21^st century user needs.

The conference program was very exciting and comprehensive with topics tackling relevant issues which the academic libraries need to consider if they are to stay in the game. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Professor F Tagwira, also presented and pledged his ministry’s support for ZULC. He also spoke on behalf of the Honorable Minister, Professor Dr. Amon Murwira who was not able to attend the conference.

In her keynote address, Dr Buhle Mbambo-Thata, the director of Resources Development of the African Library and Information Association and Institutions (AFLIA), emphasized that in this era of ‘alternative truth’, the truth is with the library. Information is critical and libraries have a role to play, she said. She noted that a large percentage of Zimbabwean population is under the age of 25 years and this is the digital generation for whom academic libraries should re-consider the kind of education to offer. Dr Thata touched on several subjects that opened the minds of the local and international delegates present.

The conference was indeed a get-together of great minds who shared profound ideas that can save the library from lagging in the information and education fields. Library and information professionals, publishers, authors, book distributors and policy-makers, all gathered at the Training Centre for this crucial event and hopefully the recommendations that emerged from it will map the way forward in resolving ‘contemporary issues affecting modern academic librarianship in this digital economy’. Apart from the speeches and discussions, the event was spiced with exhibitions and entertainment.

Images from The ZULC Conference

Dr. Buhle Mbambo-Thata, the keynote speaker

Participants

Jessica Porter, Account Manager (Sub-Sahara Africa) of ProQuest at their exhibition stand

At the Gramsol Books stand

Phillip de Kock, Licensing Manager (Southern Africa) of Springer Nature speaking to visitors at their stand

Winzim director Beaven Tapureta browsing at the Gramsol Books stand

AUTHOR PRODUCES TV PROGRAMME FOR

BUSINESSWOMEN

Winzim Online Media

Uzillah Munyengeterwa Hove

Uzillah Munyengeterwa Hove, an exemplary businesswoman, philanthropist and author of The Gift of a Woman has moved a step further in her mission to empower women with a weekly television programme called “Women Running Business”.

The program is being aired on ZBC TV every Tuesday at 1830hrs (local time), and chiefly features women who are running diverse business initiatives such as hydroponics, panel beating, farming, manufacturing, beauty therapy and others.

In an interview, the executive producer Mrs. Hove said while the programme focuses on promoting women already in business, it is also intended to motivate those other women who have not yet started businesses.

“We go out there and identify women running their businesses, weighing their activities and the challenges they are facing. The TV program also aims at motivating women at home to rise up and start income-generating projects,” she said.

The founder of Today’s Businesswoman and Development (TBD) added that she is happy with the positive response the programme has received from women all over the country.

“I am happy that the women we have featured and those who have watched the programme, are positively testifying how empowered and inspired they now feel,” she said.

The TV programme is one of Today’s Businesswoman and Development strategies of reaching out to a wide audience and impacting change in communities. Other strategies which the organization employs in its empowerment mission include business seminars and trips.

Mrs. Hove said her organization is now focusing on the manufacturing sector, that is, encouraging women to venture into manufacturing and next on their schedule is a trip to China where they will prospect for machines which can be used by TBD members in their different business projects.

“It puts us at a disadvantage, for instance, when our people travel beyond borders to look for products which we can manufacture locally,” she said.

Her 2018 motivational book The Gift of a Woman carries very inspiring guidance for women who want to develop their gifts in business. How to balance issues such as diligence, vision, family, character and business is the major thrust of the book.

ADVICE FROM THE COACH

James T Nyamajiwa aka Coach James

Why most would-be published writers will grow without a single published article or book

Over the last two decades I have been involved in writing and I have published some books and wrote articles for various newspapers. From a tender age, from Grade 6 if I recall, I kept a collection of my drafts. My song then was: "When I grow up I want to be like Shimmer Chinodya, Mordecai Hamutyinei and Thompson K Tsodzo”. As I grew up, I added new model writers to my list and started liking writers such as mukoma Ignatius Mabasa and Memory Chirere.

Later, I joined BWAZ where I met a passionate promoter of Zimbabwean writers Beaven Tapureta who nurtured the writer within me. It was there that I believed I could publish something, and I had to go with my book to Longman Zimbabwe and College Press.

One of the publishing houses said to me that I had written rubbish. To put it in the editor's words, he said, "This is junk, unpublishable and a waste of time and resources." I was devastated, I hid my written works for the next two years but still I kept writing my junk. I tried to submit some of it to publishing houses, but it did not work. I approached published writers but most were too busy or I did not meet their class. Finally, I overcame my fear and produced an inspirational book titled Go Higher (Veriest Solutions International).

Go Higher was first read by someone respectable who advised me that it was worth generations ahead and he pushed me to publish it. I tell you, the manuscript had a lot of errors. I gave my mentors and writers Tinashe Muchuri and Beaven Tapureta and they were very helpful in their reviews. They helped me so see how important it is for an author to invest in one’s written works. They encouraged me so much. I learnt my lessons and I have since published three more books. I am not stopping. I want to tell some budding writers that they must stop ‘speechifying’ the writing craft. Please do write and give experts in the area to help. Stop complaining about many issues beyond your immediate control, be the published writer you were meant to be.

I was discouraged but I soldiered on. I did not have money yet I had friends who helped. I needed encouragement and fellow writers gave it. When the reviews of my works came out in the papers, I just took them with humility. I learnt and today I can proudly say thank you to my leaders. I have also helped many other new writers to publish and most of them are doing better than me! I do not care about being acknowledged for as long as they do not enrich the graveyard with unpublished materials.

I have works which I am still hoping publishers will one day. I know you have your excuses fellow writer but hear me well, you are responsible for your work. Exorcise the ghost of writing and keeping material like you are an archive of some sort. Publishing your work. I believe in your writing talent but keeping it in your exercise book or counter-book or laptop is a disservice to humanity. Publish and go higher!

24-YEAR-OLD NICOLE KUNDIONA LAUNCHES

DEBUT BOOK

By Beaven Tapureta

Nicole Kundiona, author

The official launch of Nicole Kundiona’s debut fiction book titled Black Heart on March 24, 2019, had a themed theatrical start and its setting in black.

The lights suddenly turned off in the B2C room at Batanai Gardens and darkness filled it up. Footsteps could be heard slowly walking the aisle towards the podium while her voice tenderly cut through the silence, reciting a poem in the dark, rhythmic drumbeats thumping in the background. And the poem Nicole recited echoed as follows:

The black heart, your black heart

Or is it my heart?

The vile in the world has corrupted the simplest of things

Where are you, where is your heart, my love?

Your innocence has been corrupted, darkened

Or am I the one who’s been blackened?

I hear your movement, is that a movement, your movement

Is it our heart, is it…?

At the end of the recitation, the lights turned on and the room settled back to normality.

24-year old Nicole went on to talk about her writing journey and surely, having gone through the joys and frustrations every budding writer endures, March 24 was a great day for her. Poetry, music and dancing, speeches by friends and relatives, marked the celebration of this new writing talent.

Nicole’s mother Mrs. Martha Kundiona could not hide her excitement of witnessing such a great achievement of her daughter, a confirmation of the artist she has always admired in her child. In an interview, she described the young author as ‘very sensitive’.

“I can say she is multi-talented... at the same time very sensitive, possibly that is why she vents her emotions through art. There was a time when she was in Grade Six and we took her with us to the National Gallery of Zimbabwe where there was an art exhibition. After a few minutes at the exhibition, she asked for a pencil and paper which I immediately provided, and I was fascinated by the drawings she playfully made. Even the NGZ staff saw it necessary for Nicole to start art lessons which they offered but due to financial challenges, I could not afford to have my child enrolled at the art school. Yet she is still drawing and writing,” she said.

Also present at the book launch was Nicole’s former teacher. When Nicole was in primary school, her teacher Mrs. M S Jongwe also discovered her budding gift of art. How glad and grateful she felt now that one of her students has made her proud!

“I am so happy for Nicole. She was an eloquent student, she is an all-rounder. I am happy that one of my products has been able to produce such a wonderful book. I remember one day when I asked the class to write a composition with the topic ‘An Animal I Like’ but Nicole didn’t write anything. Instead, she drew a cat. I had to beat her (laughs) and asked her ‘how would I mark a drawing’,” said Mrs. Jongwe.

On display at the launch were Nicole’s stunning artworks, particularly the oil paintings. How she fuses creative writing, fine arts and her profession of animal genetics and microbiology, is a mystery to many and a question came up during open discussion about just how she manages it.

“Even though I majored in animal science at university, I always had a dream to write and my mother was always there to guide me. I give time to develop my abilities,” she said.

Black Heart is a thrilling piece that experimentally breaks certain rules of writing. It stands in its own class among the emerging local writers. The book carries three stories, with the title story as the main one, and the main characters are young people confronted with challenging situations, problems, crime, betrayal, love, yet somehow, they prevail.

The emcee and spoken word artist, Simbarashe Mutete aka The Protagonist, together with two other poets Takudzwa Goniwa and Dalitso Ndlovu, spiced the launch with amazing performances.

Images from the Book Launch

Nicole posing with her book

Celebration time

Nicole and her mother

Spoken word artist Dalitso Ndlovu doing what he knows best

Nicole and her former primary school teacher

Nicole’s artwork on display at the launch

Nicole with Beaven Tapureta her editorial advisor

REMEMBER

written by

Catherine Magodo-Mutukwa

The Rain. The deafening sound of the raindrops as they pelt the rooftops, (the asbestos-roofs, the corrugated-roofs, the thatched-roofs...) all the roofs.
Then the wind. The raging wind, fiercely bending the trees and the tall grass beneath its merciless fury and unforgiving wrath, uprooting everything in its path, drowning the pleas and cries of those desperate.
The flashes of lightning and the roaring thunder, tearing up the heavens, ah! the skies cried.
It is this moment, this very moment my words seem so feeble and my mind becomes a splatter spilling itself.
I saw it all. I saw where life and death met and then collided, the human-kind suffered. To have been there, witnessing this night of frenzied-panic, feeling the cold air slice through the darkness, feeling hopeful and yet fearful, thinking... and wishing for it to be all over.
The many faces that disappeared in the water, the slippery hands that let go when all they wanted to do was to hold on...the tears no one could wipe away. The babies strapped on to their mothers' backs, some screaming and some cooperating with no promise of the morrow. The countless loved ones separated, never to see each other again...
I'm left hollow. It takes a lot out of me. Every tear becomes a prayer, every tear means something, every tear becomes a question. The loss of such magnitude - the rising water levels erasing the existence of so many.
And dawn witnessed much destruction no eyes should ever see. While life goes on for those somewhere else, for these in the line of the destructive deluge, life means picking up the broken pieces, life means feeling the loss and pain, forcing the acceptance of the unacceptable.
For some of us looking from afar, it was...HEARTACHE.