EDITORIAL
Celebrating new talent: Nothando Cindy Usayi,
young author of a thrilling short novel Dreams
Under The Noonday Sun
We welcome
you all to our latest issue as we celebrate with writers and poets who made it
to the 18th NAMA Awards either as nominees or winners. You inspire a
generation more than you know it! We are happy to say writers Mimi Machakaire
and Tinashe Muchuri are back with their regular contributions in the WIN Newsletter, while other writers
Aleck Kaposa and Freedom Gengezha have come on board to share their different insights
and literary experiences. Muchuri’s column Ngatinyorei will resume in our next
newsletter. In May, there were also some writers’ events such as book launches
(e.g. official launch of Under My Skin)
which Winzim Online did not manage to cover but we are glad writers are still writing
and publishing despite the prevailing economic challenges. We respect the new
writing talent emerging in Zimbabwe. Ona sad note, in the same month of May, WIN
learnt of the passing away of Mr. Barnaba Katsande 0f Best Books. May his soul
rest in peace. Are you ready for the Bulawayo Book Fair? More news in our next
issue!
WRITERS
SHINE AT NAMA AWARDS
The 18th edition of the National
Arts Merit Awards is now gone but the memories will live with us forever and more
deeply in the hearts of the artists who made it as nominees and winners. In the
poetry and literary categories, NAMA honored both new and established talent, while
the greatest honor went to the late Dr. Charles Mungoshi who was posthumously awarded
the Lifetime Achievement Award. Winzim Online
managed to talk to some of the nominees and winners in the poetry and literary
sections, and below are their responses about how it felt to be among the
country’s rising stars.
Batsirai
Chigama
Photo:
Pasil Media
Poet Bastirai Chigama (pictured above) won
the Outstanding First Creative Published Book NAMA award for her anthology Gather The Children (2018, Ntombekhaya
Poetry)
“I
feel ecstatic and encouraged,” she said.
Beloved
Maridzanyere aka Beloved Poet
Maridzanyere
was nominated for the Spoken Word award which eventually went to Likhwa Ncube aka Likhwa okaNcube. However, the nomination was an open
confirmation of his dream.
“God being
my ultimate inspiration through the society that raised me, I am speechless on
this hallmark achievement especially as it comes when I am young. I feel so
much humbled and honoured to reach the NAMAs, one of the major goals in every
artist’s journey. I extend my sincere gratitude to my parents and everyone who
supported me. This marks not the beginning or the end in my poetry world but
the it is an endless ripple that will positively effect Zimbabwe, spreading
globally.”
Daniel
Mutendi
Daniel Mutendi’s Shona novel Mazai Emheni won the Outstanding Fiction
award. This is his second NAMA award, having previously won the Outstanding Children’s
Book award with Tsuro naGudo (Misi Yese Haifanani).
“For me it feels
awesome to win a NAMA and to do it for the second time, I feel really honoured.
It means I have got the right formula. It feels good to be recognized for the
effort that I put into my writing. My hope is that many people shall get access
to my books and benefit from the content that I write.”
Victor
Zivanai and Telmore Mutiwazuka
Victor Zivanai (left) and Telmore
Mutiwazuka, co-authors of the NAMA nominated novel Kwaisava Kuda Kwangu. The book was nominated for the Outstanding First Creative Published
Book award.
“As co-author
of the book Kwaisava Kuda Kwangu, I was
happy for such an honour to be among other nominees. When I submitted the novel
at NACZ offices for the awards and discovered the shelf fully packed with other
anthologies, l lost hope but l rejoiced after the nominations. My classmates at
University of Zimbabwe, my fellow high school colleagues, my mentor Oscar
Gwiriri, other writers who know me, and not forgetting my Mom and Daddy, I
thank you very much. I thank Almighty God for his Grace. Being nominated has
inspired us to believe and work hard,” Zivanai.
Elisha
July
Elisha July won the Outstanding
Children’s Book NAMA award for The City
Girl.
“I have been used to prose writing and never
thought I would write any creative poetic work. Through interactions with
fellow writers Aleck Kaposa and Brenda Dzangare, I got the inspiration to
attempt writing in creative work. Last year, I wrote five children’s books which
I published through my company Pass-Point Publishers Pvt Ltd. I submitted two
of my five children’s books for the NAMA awards. My first surprise was the
nomination of one of the books, The City
Girl, and as if that was not enough, the subsequent winning of the book as
the best children’s book in the 18TH NAMA edition. I was really
encouraged by the winning and it made me feel like I have been baptized and
adopted as a writer! My morale has been boosted and I am looking forward to
participating again in the 19th NAMA awards.”
CELEBRATING
BIRTHDAY THE WRITE WAY
Cover of The Writers Birthday anthology
An anthology of poems and statements compiled
as a dedication to the new writer Prosper Njeke’s last year’s birthday is now published
and available. Writing friends produced poems and messages for Njeke on his
birthday and the young author could not help but preserve the memories in a wonderful
book that features thirty-eight poetic and prose compliments. The book will
indeed be a memorable asset for Njeke and the contributors and will be a
timeless present for his birthdays to come.
Speaking to Winzim Online, Njeke said he is
happy that he celebrated his birthday in a ‘writeful’ way and thanked friends
who wished him well.
“I thank all fellow writers and poets for
wishing me a happy birthday. I give you a special love for celebrating my
birthday with me in a ‘writeful’ way. Many thanks to those who recited poems
for me,” he said.
Njeke is the author of a Shona novel titled
Dura Rematambudziko (2018).
HARARE
CITY LIBRARAY RECEIVES BOOKS
Winzim
Online Media
Some
of the books donated by Book Aid International
Last month, the Harare City Library received
book donation from its long-time friend Book Aid International which has continued
to support libraries in Zimbabwe.
The books donated are mainly academic and
will benefit medical students.
In an interview, HCL Librarian Mr. Tariro Dube thanked
Book Aid and called upon colleges and universities to link up with the library
and make use of these books.
“We are actually happy, especially as we
are a not-for-profit organization which survive on donor support and
subscriptions. We are indebted to Book Aid International for this donation,”
said Mr. Dube.
HCL is the secretariat to the local
chapter of the Book Aid International and is the distribution center for Harare.
According to Mr. Dube, Book Aid
International has in the past supported the HCL with books and also played a major
role in the refurbishment of the Children’s Corner, also known as the Petina
Gappah Children’s Library. As it is said in the Bible, blessed is the hand that
gives, HCL is blessed because it has also donated books to schools and organizations
such as WIN.
In Zimbabwe, Book Aid International has been
a force to reckon with in the promotion of reading culture and support of
higher education.
“By supplying relevant, specialist and
up-to-date books to university and higher education libraries in Zimbabwe we
are able to support a great many students who would otherwise have little
access to books and the information they need to pursue their studies,” it says
on its website.
Book Aid International is UK’s leading
international book donation and library development charity. Its vision is a
world where everyone has access to the books that will enrich, improve and
change their lives.
NEW
KID ON THE BLOCK
By Beaven Tapureta
Nothando Cindy Usayi
Arundel School student Nothando Cindy
Usayi has announced her arrival in the literary world with a thrilling novel
that traverses the fantasy and sci-fiction genres.
Written mainly with the teenage reader in
mind, the story in Nothando’s first novel “Dreams Under The Noonday Sun” is highly
imaginative, action-packed and takes place both in the real and the mysterious,
unreal worlds.
A certain foreigner who is a drug dealer comes
to Zimbabwe conducting illegal cocaine research which somehow goes wrong, but
the ‘wrongness’ is, in some way, right for a girl named Ruzivo who falls victim
to the research and what follows is a psychological shift from reality to an
unknown world.
Fifteen-year-old Nothando displays an
unusual use of captivating language and suspenseful, sometimes complex scenes
that even as the story begins, the reader is carried in the flow of the plot.
While this is fiction, there is in the
author’s introduction an attempt to back it up with an actual neurological research
on the existence of a ‘peculiar realm’ in the human brain. And only those in
the jaws of death are able to experience it. The author fictionalizes that
soldiers who were on the verge of dying in war have claimed to have seen this
strange world.
The background of the story in “Dreams
Under The Noonday Sun” is the origin of this realm which, because of its complexity,
researchers simply gave it the scientific name ‘Chemical9’, and one of the
character’s past experience of the realm compels him to do a backdoor research about
it. Yet his project, localized in Zimbabwe, triggers Ruzivo’s journey into the unknown.
Ruzivo is stung by a wasp which injects a
drugging chemical in her arm and while those around possibly think she has
fainted, a new world is suddenly revealed and she transforms into one its supernatural
inhabitants. The young author’s gift of description, albeit overdoing her
genius at times, vividly paints Ruzivo’s new world in which there is serenity
and beauty.
In this world, about which Ruzivo at some
point says, “there was no need for a sun as everything was luminescent, radiating
energy in and around itself”, there are also chaos. Would the irony be that Edenic
places we dream to live in are but places of wars, anti-human wars? Are peace
and beauty illusions?
However, within this fantastic world, Ruzivo
meets a friend and real juvenile friendship is acted out in the cascading events,
well-portrayed as the author’s favorite theme. The novel, from another viewpoint,
seems to address the issue of mental health and illegal drugs in Zimbabwe. What
the author has offered is an imaginative tip off, the rest is left to the
responsible adults to investigate.
The novel contains some bonus poems.
Nothando is a two-time receiver of honors grade in the NIAA prose competition
and is currently studying at Arundel School in Harare. Nothando plans to officially
launch her novel on her mother’s birthday soon.
MINISTRY
APPROVES NYAMADZAWO’S MOTIVATIONAL NOVEL
Simba Nyamadzawo
Author Simbarashe Nyamadzawo’s motivational
novel Tatenda (2018, Gumiguru
Incorporated) has been approved for publication and use in secondary schools by
the Curriculum Development and Technical Services, a department in the Ministry
of Primary and Secondary Education.
According to the evaluators, the novel Tatenda is “relevant to learners… and conform
to the literature syllabus expectations”. Furthermore, the evaluators were
happy with the storyline, language register and content of the novel. The Ministry’s
approval now gives Nyamadzawo an opportunity to freely market and distribute
his book in Zimbabwean schools.
Nyamadzawo is planning to translate the
book into other languages to reach more readers. He said he is overjoyed and
hopes that the book completes its final journey into the schools.
“I am delighted that my book has been
approved by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education. It is my hope that
my book will be read by each and every student in secondary school. When I wrote
the book I had a single goal, that is, to inspire readers. The endorsement by
the Ministry means that my book is informative and academic as well. I am even
motivated to translate the book into Shona and other vernacular languages so
that readers can enjoy the story in the language of their choice,” said
Nyamadzawo.
Born in Domboshava, Zimbabwe, Nyamadzawo
is a dedicated inspirational author, speaker and management consultant.
CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE CORNER
With
Aleck Kaposa
Children’s
Literature in Zimbabwe Today
What literature are Zimbabwean children
reading today in both English and indigenous languages? The question begs for an
answer. What they read today makes what they become tomorrow, hence it is very important
to select carefully what our children read.
Today, a visit to most bookshops in Zimbabwe
shows shelves teeming with hundreds of beautifully designed and expensive books
for children by foreign authors and sadly, a dearth of books penned by Zimbabweans
for the Zimbabwean child. Many a parent, due to ignorance or colonial mentality
of self-hate, proudly picks a foreign book, one about witches and wizards in
some castle or European fairy tales, or cartoons as a birthday present for their
child. Some do not even bother to scan through a book by a local author on the
same shelf, though the local book could be less glamorously packaged. Foreign
books tend to instill foreign ideals in children, thus alienating them from
their own culture and indigenous systems.
There are several local books for
children being written today which tell good local stories. For example, the
late prolific writer Stephen Alumenda was a trailblazer in children’s books and
left an exciting list for them. Memory Chirere’s Tudikidiki is a small Shona book a child would not put down. We
need plenty of such books in Ndebele, Tonga, Barwe, Venda, Chewa and all our
other local languages as well, books which tell our own stories in our own
languages as well as in English.
Moreover, we need books written by children,
children telling their own stories. These could start from the Early Childhood
Class (ECD) and Grade One learners, stories in brightly captioned pictures. As
the children develop, more and more words are added to the pictures. Perhaps a collaboration
between children and adult authors could add some flavor too.
The new or updated competency-based education
curriculum has come at the right time when serious efforts must be made to
promote both reading and writing of local books. Great results can be achieved through
writing competitions, book festivals and other activities by all stakeholders
in the book industry. However, it is gratifying to note that some new authors
and small publishers have taken the challenge and are pioneering in that
direction.
(Aleck Kaposa is a teacher, writer and entrepreneur who has written
and published children’s books, including the NAMA-award nominated The Magician.
He has also contributed to local newspapers and is founder of Norton Education
Centre, a private school. Last year, he founded and held the inaugural Norton
Children’s Book Festival and Business Expo. Kaposa is also a Board member of WIN-Zimbabwe.)
SNIPPETS
FROM ‘THE ARTS GATHERING’ FESTIVAL
Last month, an exciting two-day arts
festival dubbed The Arts Gathering was held at different venues in Harare with activities
like workshops, poetry showcases, theatre, music and dance.
The festival, a collaborative endeavor of
three arts organizations namely Afrikera Arts Trust, Music Crossroads Zimbabwe
and Zimbabwe Theatre Academy, was held under the theme And still We rise, a powerful line adapted from an unforgettable poem
by Maya Angelou.
2019 NAMA award winner Lloyd Nyikadzino,
Soukaina M L Edom, O Mangoma Moyo, Peter Lenso and N Mzingayi facilitated
workshops covering topics such as physical theatre, ballet, and traditional
dance.
Elizabeth ‘Zaza’ Muchemwa (pictured
below) performed her three poems and Maya Angelou’s poem And Still I Rise, in a collaboration with fashion designer Collin
Ratisai of CeeZRat Designs. She was one of the festival performers who
exhibited touching renditions in their different art genres.
Zaza
(above) performing her poetry with the accompaniment of mbira music being played
by Jonathan Daniel at the Afrikera Dance Theatre Hub, Harare (Photos: Bev Mathison)
LEGALIZED
PILFERAGE - DEMISE OF AN INDUSTRY
By
Freedom Gengezha
It makes me too self-conscious when I
walk in my village in Guruve and some people point at me and say, “There goes
the fool who thinks books are everything.” I would blame them not one bit, but only
wish they knew that I am that fool, who went to school when Fay Chung was the
Minister of Education. That fool, who read books by the candlelight and slept
as dawn broke. That fool who grew up when Mambo Press, Longman, College Press,
Baobab Books and Zimbabwe Publishing House, among others, were still acclaimed
publishers and a youth could walk into Kingstons and use pocket money to buy a
Pacesetter or a Structures and Skills book for leisure and education. These are
days of bliss now gone and left a trail of educated fools like me.
Back then, writers were known by their
works in the shelves of bookstores, not strewn on pavements by hawkers or in the
author’s satchel waiting to be taken out conveniently at parties and gatherings
for a chance purchase. Writers had dignity and were highly looked upon by a
society which devoured their works for knowledge which was believed to be the ultimate
power. They were not disregarded as they are today. They are now nonentities
whose profession no parent wants a child to regard as a career and called fools
as they pass by.
Technology might have adversely affected
the book industry, but its impact was tolerable had there not been other
factors ganging up to hit this industry to smithereens. What went wrong was so
great that not long ago, renowned author, Memory Chirere, was reported to have
observed that the book industry is dead in Zimbabwe, that what remains is a
mere book sector. But on whose watch did this demise occur to an industry so paramount
to any country’s education and culture?
When independence came, it brought with
it an emancipation of the mind and Zimbabwean writers flourished as people
shifted from colonial literature to stories about themselves written by their
own. Dambudzo Marechera, Charles
Mungoshi, Stanley Nyampfukudza, Musaemura Zimunya and Chenjerai Hove are a few
among a host of names that went on to become household names in the book
industry. Their works were published and sold locally and the nation was
entertained and educated. Not once would one meet a photocopy of Nyampfukudza’s
Non-Believer’s Journey or Marechera’s
House of Hunger. These are books one
went into a bookshop for, and they were affordable. Now one finds Chirere’s Somewhere in this Country or Shimmer Chinodya’s
classic play, Harvest of Thorns, all over
street pavements in town, being sold for measly amounts which not even a cent
goes to the author whose intellect is peddled shamelessly without an ounce of
conscience. So who would blame this author when he carries around a bag full of
his books to sell at gatherings, knowing fully well the money goes straight
into his pocket to feed his own children from his sweat?
The scourge that has led to the
annihilation of the book industry is none other than piracy. It is a big racket
that has been tolerated for a long time with no regard to a simple fact that piracy
is theft. The art of writing, as painstaking as it is, involves a lot of things.
Chief among these is passion, a dedication to the cause of writing, which is
then supplemented with research and intellectual input. The result of the whole
process is an intellectual property, something registered as belonging to the
author who now the nation has connived to rob without fear or shame.
Sometime ago, it was rewarding to have a
book chosen to be in the school syllabus. Schools and students purchased these
books from bookshops and authors were sure to get royalties for the books, but
now even government schools buy photocopied books in the name of cutting costs.
It is a wonder if these institutions would not be aware that they are committing
an offence. Or it is the reluctance by government to put strict policies pertaining
to the purchase of ‘stolen’ intellectual property which has exacerbated the
situation. One popular author had a confrontation with one of the biggest high
schools in the Glen View area of Harare over the use of pirated copies of his
book which was then a set book. It is needless to say that the author did not
have muscle enough to receive justice over his cause, but point remains that
society is so naïve that they would point a finger that this writer does not
own a car, forgetting how many cars they have robbed him through selling and
buying of his pirated works.
…To
be continued in the next newsletter.
(Freedom
Gengezha is a published author and product of the now defunct Budding Writers'
Association of Zimbabwe and a member of the Writers' International Network
(Zimbabwe). He is the author of the Get Ready Go... English textbooks series which
comprises the Advanced Level Guide to Poetry Criticism, Comprehensive Ordinary
Level English Study Pack and the Junior Certificate English Practice Book. He has
published a novel, The Day After Yesterday, a play and poetry anthologies.)
THE
YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
With
Mimi Machakaire
Why
are we so lazy to read?
Many times when I talk about my passion
for literature and writing, I am irked by the tone of voice in others when they
say they would rather wait for a new movie to come out instead of reading the
book I would be suggesting they should read. It makes me wonder why we are so lazy
to read but more eager to watch a movie in this generation!
Growing up as a kid I always preferred to
read stories from the authors I loved before I could even think I could watch a
movie one day. It always worries me when someone says they would rather wait
for the movie to come out, thinking the adapted story will still be the same
and yet it’s usually not.
There is always more detail in the book
than in the movie because the producers take out the best parts that are in the
book and use material that is screen friendly and within their budget. There
might not always be a movie version of that book but you will be missing out on
a good story.
I will give the example of the Fallen Series by Lauren Kate. The entire
series is a collection of four books based on 17-year-old
Lucinda who falls in love with
a gorgeous, intelligent boy,
Daniel. This happens while at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross, but
only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel and that they have spent
lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep
them apart.
She dies after every 17 years,
only to be reborn in a different lifetime and still fall in love with the same
boy, not knowing his origins but he finds her in each lifetime they spend
together and fall in love all over again. The Fallen books were published between 2009 -2012 but the movie of the
first book came out in 2017. By then, I had already collected and read all four
books, not even interested in watching the movie but only focusing on the story
that I knew was beautiful from the first chapter.
Another example is the Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling. It
came out as a movie by the time I was 10 years old, so I watched the first four
movies thereafter not knowing there were already books. I discovered there were
books by the time I was 13 after I watched the fourth movie and I was confused by
the direction the movie was taking compared to the previous three movies. I
decided to read the books thinking I would understand the plots better while watching
the movie and I did.
By the time I finished
all seven books, the last movie had not even arrived yet. I was more interested
to read the books because I found out that it adds more fun when I later watched
the movie, knowing the hidden chapters behind the film, noticing episodes that
had been changed and if the characters matched the description of the author.
In this day and age,
more and more people are stepping away from reading and it makes me sad to
think that the only reason is that we are too busy. There are brilliant stories
out there that do not need movies or pictures and are just more beautiful as books
than a movie. There are times I honestly am scared that fil-makers who adapt
stories from published books will destroy the true authenticity behind the story
that they are attempting to portray. No one knows a story better than the one
who wrote it and others can try as much as possible to adapt it into new forms but
it will never really be the same. That is why we need to appreciate the good
stories as much as possible when we do discover them and recognize that the story
is better on its own than on the screen.
READING
WILL HELP PROFESSIONALIZE DOMESTIC WORK
Mendy Lerato Lusaba
Social entrepreneur Mendy Lerato Lusaba
believes that encouraging domestic workers to read books will help professionalize
their job and have respectable standing in society.
To prove her point, Lusaba has published a
simple but comprehensive “Domestic Workers Practical Handbook” which she hopes
to officially launch and translate into more African languages soon.
Lusaba is the founder of the Domestic
Workers Association of Zimbabwe (DWAZ), a membership-based growing network of maids
working in and out of the country and has vast experience in the labor sector. The
association aims ‘to professionalize the important but marginalized domestic
work industry’.
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