EDITORIAL
Memory Chirere (left) and Dr T K Tsodzo
Greetings and welcome to
our newsletter after long silence. We really appreciate your patience.
Meanwhile, the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, the
main organizer of the National Arts Merit Awards, continues to recognize
our elders for their great work in the writing industry. We have Dr T K Tsodzo
in mind, who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award this year. To him
we say, your wisdom is our inspiration.
We hope to return soon
with the next Issue. Enjoy!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2024 NAMA AWARDS
WINNERS (LITERARY CATEGORY)
Lifetime Achievement Award
Outstanding First Creative Published Work
The Train House on Lobengula Street
by Fatima Kara
Fatima
Kara
The Haunted Pumpkin by Mai
Sarungano Folktales
UKhethiwe by Zibusiso Mabonisa
Zibusiso C Mabonisa
Outstanding Poetry Book
Shamhu Yezera Renyu by
Memory Chirere
Memory Chirere
Outstanding Poet
Ngonidzashe
Paradza aka Mambo Guramatunhu
Outstanding Online Media
Khumbulani Muleya (Heart and Soul)
THE NYANGA WRITERS RETREAT
From left: Beaven Tapureta, Dr Jonathan Brakash, Tendai Huchu, Stanley Mushava and Blessing Musariri
Some writers go on retreats with a specific structure which
subtly or openly calls for participants to have a refined product at the end.
There are benefits, of course, drawn from these retreats which involve working
with experienced facilitators who closely follow your development for weeks or
months. READ MORE
BELOW ARE A FEW PHOTOS:
Blessing Musariri and Stanley Mushava at the Froggy Farm Cafe upstairs
Dr Jonathan Brakarsh
Beaven Tapureta
Tendai Huchu with the ‘Thank You’ card he received from the retreat participants, in the background is Mr Gwagwa of Blue Haze
Beaven
Tapureta
Mereniya
is a young girl who earns ‘celebrity status’ at her school because of her pair
of strange, black, leather shoes which her mates admire although they are
puzzled by the shoes’ history as told by her.
Mereniya
enjoys giving perplexing answers whenever the other kids gather around her just
to listen to the story of her shoes. But because they admire her so much, they
love her exaggerations and pretend it’s truth, which keeps them laughing.
At some
point, for instance, Mereniya tells her school mates, “Teererai, teererai mose,
handidi anozondibvunzazve mangwana. Imwe yakatengwa kwaMutare imwe ikatengwa
kwaRusape! Kuti imarii handizivi ini asi baba vanoti dzakavadhurira kwazvo….”
[pg. 7]
She is
a star and like any other trademark costumes of real life celebrities which are
kept in museums, her shoes deserve such recognition. Without them she loses
fans. It becomes other children’s dream to one day be allowed to wear her shoes
and when their dream remains a dream, they alienate themselves from her.
How the
author shows that Mereniya, though a child, is contemplative and humble is
quite gripping. Mereniya choses to hide her shoes in a forest near the school
so that she walks barefoot like most of her school mates. Even when her friends
alienate her, they can’t avoid the power of her heart. The author’s captivating
scenes and simple language also inspire the children to understand feelings of
love and kindness, as when a fire engulfs the forest where Mereniya has hidden
her shoes and all school lessons come to halt.
By
drawing such peculiar attention to herself, she is an important child to the
school. Maybe before Mereniya appeared, the school was used to bullies. Now
here is a new girl who keeps them having fun, happy together.
Simbarashe
Clever Kavenga, better known as Clever Kavenga in the writing circles, is a
poet, children’s fiction writer and journalist. His poems have appeared in the
anthologies such as Ngoma Yokwedu,
Mudengu Munei?, Visions of the Motherland: A Poetic Celebration of Cultures,
Tribes and People of Africa and Defiled
Sacredness. His previous published children's books are Mashiripiti eDehwe RaRungano which won
the 2007/8 Best Children's Book award from Zimbabwe Publishers Association.
His Shona column “Nhasi Tiri Tose” which
appeared in the Mutare-based Pungwe newspaper made him be nominated for NAMA.
Nyanga is his home area but he is now based in the city of Mutare where he
lives with his family.
THE WIN EPWORTH COMMUNITY LIBRARY UPDATE
Beaven
Tapureta
While young book lovers
all over the world marked World Book Day with various activities, the kids at
the Epworth community library spent the afternoon reading.
The
World Book Day silently passed at the WIN library, but that didn’t water down
the children’s usual excitement and love for books. They daily come, except on
Sundays, to do their homework or read or play.
The school holiday is fast approaching. For the kids, this is the period when the
library becomes a place of learning, fun, and building lasting friendships with
books.
The
library is grateful to all who have supported us in many different ways.
ZIM WRITER FARAI MUDZINGWA’S AVENUES BY TRAIN
Cover of Avenues by Train
Visit: CLICK HERE
THANK YOU FOR READING OUR
NEWSLETTER
