ARTISTS AGAINST PIRACY!
Two celebrated Zimbabwean writers, Petina Gappah and Sue Nyathi, were recently honoured for the value their literary works carry for humanity. Gappah received the international 2026 Flora Nwapa Literary Society Award while Nyathi made us proud as her 2012 masterpiece The Polygamist is now adapted into television series, courtesy of Netflix.
Makorokoto,
Amphlope!
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NEXT
ISSUE OF THE WIN LITERARY NEWSLETTER IS COMING
SOON
EDITORIAL
Dr Suzanne Ondrus, an American poet, who facilitated first WIN online poetry workshop with WIN members
We welcome you all to an inspiring world of writers and writing!
Only four months into 2026 and Zimbabwean writers continue to inspire at home and abroad. Awesome, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, WIN has begun small to run some activities for its members this year. The aim is to empower members in various ways, and publishing and promoting their works.
Planned events include monthly online workshops/sessions with a selected facilitator on the Whatsapp platform. Out of these, we hope something tangible will come. On April 25, the first hour-long session focusing on poetry in English had the honour of being facilitated by Dr Suzanne Ondrus, an American poet and scholar.
While much will happen online, WIN hopes to hold some physical get-togethers during the year. Wishing to become a member? You can now subscribe and benefit knowledge, wisdom, skills and new opportunities. We do not promise much, but we will be a helpful friend along your writing journey. The annual subscription is only $5.00. To subscribe, contact +263 776 518 653, WIN executive board member and interim treasurer.
DR SUZANNE AMAZES POETS WITH THE ‘CONTAINER’ IDEA
A group of 26 poets who took part in the inaugural WIN online writing session with Dr Suzanne Ondrus learnt of a new exciting idea of putting their poems in different containers. The workshop, running under the theme ‘Putting Your Poems in Containers’, happened late afternoon on April 25, 2026, on the Whatsapp platform.
Although some poets couldn’t make it due to different circumstances, this indeed was stepping on new ground for the poets as they had re-tune the mind to think seriously about ‘containers’ they may have been taking for granted, such as a tool box, an empty cigarette container, for-sale ads, doctor’s orders, speed limit signs, clothing labels, etc.
“Containers are like the frames on pictures. When you change the frame of a picture, you change how the picture looks. Maybe you change the frame’s color, size, shape, type of wood, age…” said Dr Suzanne.
The exercises she gave participants included choosing a subject or topic to write on and then make a list of containers to put the poems in. There were beautiful poems shared.
The ‘container’ concept worked wonders in her 2022 poetry book Death of an Unvirtuous Woman.
“For my work the containers brought forth ways for different people to speak- from the sheriff to children. Also, since some containers are easily recognized by readers, these forms make your poems more accessible, as well as bring a dimension of reality,” she said.
Dr Suzanne’s second book is called Passion Seeds (2014) and it won the 3rd Vernice Quebodeaux ‘Pathways’ Poetry Prize. She has opened doors for the poets who want to share their works with her for critical feedback. Contact: suzanne.ondrus@gmail.com or visit her website www.suzanneondrus.com
The second WIN online workshop is expected in May and will tackle Shona poetry writing.
75TH ANNIVERSARY OF “DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH”
In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary year of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, the all-time bestselling book on the human mind written by L. Ron Hubbard, WIN commemorated the anniversary of the book with a special Letter of Appreciation to the author, Mr. L. Ron Hubbard. Dianetics explains exactly how the mind works and identifies the source of these unwanted reactions and emotions. It outlines a clear, step-by-step method for reducing the emotional charge behind past stress, helping you feel happier, more certain and naturally confident. The hidden, negative influences will no longer control your responses or your life.
“That mind which understands itself is the mind of a free man.”
—L. Ron Hubbard, Author
When we speak of what L. Ron Hubbard has brought to the field of education, we are speaking of a very special commitment. For quite in addition to the founding of Dianetics and Scientology, he is also among the most widely read authors of all time.
https://www.dianetics.org/
https://www.lronhubbard.org/
NYONI SHORTLISTED FOR AN AUSTRALIAN WRITING PRIZE
Philani Nyoni speaking at a LitFest event some time ago
“Hello!
It is our great pleasure and honour to share ‘Sunday’, a piece by Philani A. Nyoni that was shortlisted for the Varnish Short Story Prize (Australia).
Enjoy and share!”
https://www.varnishlit.com/online/sunday
AFRICAN STORYTELLER IN LOVE WITH CULTURE AND FREEDOM
Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya
Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya’s mastery of the short story form has now consolidated alongside her novel writing.
Ngwenya has naturally handled the short story and novel with an illuminating syncing of lively characters in different places, cultures and different times, and the reader is enamoured by the mystery of the ‘unsaid’ that runs through the stories.
For the full article, CLICK HERE
SOUTH AFRICAN AUTHOR WINS WRITERS OF THE FUTURE PRIZE
FEAR OF FALSE COPYRIGHT PROPHETS GRIPS ZIM WRITERS
ZWA Chairperson, Monica Cheru
On March 17 the Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) met at Aftercare Trust College in Harare to discuss ‘the role of writers in protecting and managing their rights’.
The meeting had particular focus on the collective management system in the country, and was attended by writers from ZWA and other organizations.
Long published writers in attendance said they were now done with the palaver about someone collecting their royalties on their behalf. While they acknowledged the importance of a collective management system, their past experience with similar CMOs which could not solve piracy was something still haunting them.
No wonder the presence of the new RROZ at the ZWA meeting stimulated an emotional debate about the newly introduced Reprographic Rights Organization of Zimbabwe.
Opinions are still divided in the writers’ community about the new RROZ. While, according to the organization’s CEO, Mr A Rimau, there already are some local writers who have registered with the RROZ, ZWA has recently issued out its statement on ‘Reprographic Rights Governance Concerns’ in which, among other things, it is calling for RROZ “to publicly clarify the basis of its representation, including publication of writers whose rights it claims to manage, the terms of that representation, and the governance framework under which those rights are administered”.
It is clear there’s a lot of ‘convincing’ and unity of purpose that needs to be done in the book sector if the collective management system is to completely work in Zimbabwe.
The accelerating rate of illegal photocopying of books in Zimbabwe has become a nightmare that has dimmed prospects of better economic returns for writers.
***
THANK YOU FOR READING
We would like to congratulate writers who grabbed the gongs at the recently held 2026 National Arts Merit Awards ceremony in Harare. We're truly happy for you. May you continue to shine even beyond the applause. Keep writing!
Here's the list of winners (Literary Arts Category):
LITERARY AWARDS
Outstanding Fiction Book
My Affair with Misfortune by Sipho Mpofu, published by Elane Publishing Consultancy
Outstanding Non-Fiction Book
Gonan’ombe Retsika Nemarairo eChivanhu by Morden Tavarwisa, published by Miamuty
Outstanding Children’s Book
Mukanyawashe’s Big Adventure by Gerald Shorayi, published by Essential Books Publishing Company
Outstanding First Published Work
The Killer Pastor by Entourade Usayi, published by Soar Publishers
KEEP WRITING!
Writers International Network Zimbabwe (WIN) has begun the year on a high note whilst strengthening its ties with other organizations that share the same literary arts passion.
Today, February 23, 2026, WIN presented a Letter of Appreciation to L. Ron Hubbard at his House in Alexandra Park, Harare. The presentation was witnessed by L. Ron Hubbard House Director, Asthra Maximov, WIN Founder and Director Beaven Tapureta and WIN Board Member Tinashe Muchuri.
L. Ron Hubbard was a prolific writer, authoring about 300 short stories, novels, and novelettes. WIN recognizes his great works and proudly presented the recognition to him.
Commenting after receiving the Letter, Asthra Maximov said the Alexandra Park L. Ron Hubbard Landmark Site looks forward to continued collaboration with WIN.
“The Alexandra Park L. Ron Hubbard Landmark Site is very happy to collaborate with WIN, working together to spread the good works of L. Ron Hubbard. We look forward to working further with them, consolidating our collaborative efforts,” she said.
WIN Board Member Tinashe Muchuri highlighted the importance of legacy-building such as was done by L. Ron Hubbard and also wishes the collaboration between WIN and the L. Ron Hubbard Landmark Site will benefit new writers.
“Life is a continuous journey. It does not end. It goes beyond the last footprints on Earth. New footprints develop as the legacy travels far and wide. L. Ron Hubbard is an exemplary figure, whose legacy collaborates with WIN-Zim in a journey to sharpen the pen and write words that eventually live forever,” said Muchuri.
The Alexandra Park L. Ron Hubbard Landmark Site, situated at 31 John Plagis Avenue, has attracted individuals and organizations from different fields in Zimbabwe. For more information about visits and tours, contact Asthra on +263 78 592 7990 or email alexandrapark@lronhubbard.org
“Give your reader a chance to wonder for a while about the final outcome.”
– quote from the ‘Suspense’ article written by L. Ron Hubbard
We are happy for writers, poets, publishers making the 2026 NAMA nominees list in the LITERARY ARTS CATEGORY. Congratulations!
LITERARY AWARDS CATEGORY
Outstanding Fiction Book
Iluba lika ntunjambila by Polite Sibanda Published by Pre-dawn Publishers
My Affair with Misfortune by Sipho Mpofu Published by Elane Publishing Consultancy
The Toppling by Cynthia Rumbidzai Marangwanda Published by Carnelian Heart Publishing Ltd
Outstanding Non-Fiction Book
Gonan'ombe Retsika Namararamiro eChivanhu by Morden Tavarwisa Published by Miamuty
Kurasika MuAfurika by Rumbidzai Caroline Kahari Published by Essential Books Publishing Company
The Essentials to Faithful Living by Michael H. Nyahwera Published by Beyond Today
Outstanding Children’s Book
Mukanyawashe's Big Adventure by Gerald Shorayi Published by Essential Books Publishing Company
The adventures of Dafi and Rize by Wadzanai Tadhuvana published by Kunda kids Publishers
The old river woman by Shakemore Dirani Published by Essential Books Publishing
Company
Special Mention:
The exciting story of Chipo the bird by Jean Taanashe Botso Published by Essential
Books Publishing Company
Munashe The Clever Boy by Rigel Chabata Published by Essential Books Publishing Company
Outstanding First Published Work
Hanzi Huchi Hwenduri – Kubva Mukatikati by Ushehwedu Kufakurinani Published by Carnelian Heart Publishing Limited
The Killer Pastor by Entourade Usayi Published by Soar Publishers
Zvamuri Ndaimbova Zvandiri Muchava by Josiah Muchada Published by Sahara Publishers
HERE ARE NOMINEES IN OTHER CATEGORIES
VISUAL ARTS
Outstanding Female Visual Artist
Amanda Shingirai Mushate - Chimoro neHukoshwa Part 1
Sabina Mutsvati - Ndishonongoreiwo
Shamila Aasha - Healing Alchemy
Outstanding Male Visual Artist
Confidence Zinyeka - Intimate conversation
Pardon Mapondera - Dotipaiwo Mwenje
Tinotenda Chivhinge - Nonsense Hit Song
Outstanding Upcoming Visual Artist
Claire Munjoma - Shanduko
Tadiwanashe Joel Mafuta - Dismas
Crystal Vimbainashe Beseni - Maps of everything
Outstanding Exhibition
Ndishonongoreyiwo (Solo Exhibition) by Sabina Mutsvati, Curated by Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa
Perfection is not always reality (Solo Exhibition) by Tinotenda Chivhinge, curated by Doris Kamupira
CHEUKA Harare Art Fair curated by Laura Ganda and Merilyn Mushakwe
THEATRE AWARDS
Outstanding Actor
Cadrick Msongelwa as Squealer/StoryTeller/Mr. Jones in Zi Animal Farm
Elroy Takunda Musiiwa as Benjamin/Storyteller One in Zi Animal Farm
Ronald Sigeca as Prophet in These Humans are Sick
Outstanding Actress
Chidochashe Joanne Tenga as Bope in Can We Talk?
Tsungirirai Chenjerai as Snowball/Clover/Storyteller in Zi Animal Farm
Thandolwenkosi Nkiwane as Multi-characters in Ipi Ntombi
Outstanding Theatrical Production
In search of a king by Celebration Church
Can we talk by Almasi Collaborative Arts
Zi Animal farm by Savanna Trust
Outstanding Director
Daniel Dueschle - In search of a king
Leonard Matsa - Can We Talk?
Sandra Braddock - Ipi Ntombi
Outstanding Playwright
Tatenda Mutyambizi - These Humans Are Sick
Batsirai Chigama - Can We Talk?
FILM & TELEVISION AWARDS
Outstanding Actor
Calvin Madula as Stan “SK” Khumalo in High School Diaries
Charles Kamara as Mike in Nhai Maiguru
Leroy Siyafa as James in God Sleeps on Sundays
Outstanding Actress
Wizzy Mangoma as Chirongoma in God Sleeps on Sundays
Charity Dlodlo as Maria in Forget Me Not
Natasha Dlamini as Beauty in Totem
Outstanding Music Video
Kuno by Jah Prayzah Directed by Vusa Hlatshwayo aka Director Blaqs and Davis Hanzu aka
Director Dave
Fake Love by Winky D Directed by Tawanda Sibotshiwe aka Jusa Dementor
Nguva NdeyaMwari by Dorcas Moyo Directed by Hastings Chiromo aka Mr. Hasty
Outstanding Screen Production (Television)
High School Diaries by John Mabuyane
Magweja by Dexter Fundire
Love Across the Ocean by Willy Makumire Lilly
Outstanding Screen Production (Short Film)
A Future Untold by Prosper Kunyetu
God Sleeps on Sundays by Naishe Nyamubaya
Totem by Nicole Panashe Dzenga
Outstanding Screen Production (Full Length)
Loved Out by Tendai Nyeke
Dilemma by Joe Njagu
Mwana Wangu by Nakai Beauty Tsuro
DANCE AWARDS
Outstanding Dance Group/Production
Salt 'n' Light Dance Company in Still Salty
Diamond Girls in Unseen Stars
MnM Dance Factory in African Sunrise
Outstanding Female Dancer
Mandisa Maseko aka Storm zw in The Crown Project
Celine Madziva in Celine’s work
Lisa Tanaka Magwenzi aka Lissa Tanaka in Lissa Tanaka
Outstanding Male Dancer
Prince Mbisa aka Amazing Prince in The Rise of Amazing Prince
Lawrence Sirewo aka Flexxy Smith in Big Brother Mzansi
Shadreck Moyo aka Shaddy Stiffler in The Cowboys
Outstanding Choreographer
Tanaka Machikicho in Diamond Girls
Celine Madzivai in Celine
Terrence Kapesa in Salt & Light Dance Company
SPOKEN WORD AWARDS
Outstanding Stand-Up Comedian
Frank Chirisa
Mbongeni Ignatious
Nigel Maritinyu aka Nijo the Slick Pastor
Outstanding Poet
Obert Dube
Sithandazile Dube
Thaluso Moyo aka Thaluso the Poet
MUSIC AWARDS
Outstanding Female Musician
Sharon Manyonganise Cherayi
Anisha Tashinga Shonhiwa aka Nisha Ts
Ashleigh Angel Moyo aka Shashl
Outstanding Male Musician
Michael Mahendere aka Minister Michael Mahendere
Emegy Chizanga aka Freeman HKD
Mukudzeyi Mukombe aka Jah Prayzah
Outstanding Breakthrough Musician
Nyasha Emmanuel Dedza aka Junior Spragga
Atenda Chingaira aka Atenda Chinx
Shone Qongo aka Shone
Outstanding Music Group
The Redeemed Family
VeRutendo
Joyful Praise
Outstanding Song
Ruzhowa by Mukudzeyi Mukombe aka Jah Prayzah
Admire Kadembo by Anisha Tashinga Shonhiwa aka Nisha Ts
Too Much by Carrington S. Chiwadza aka Nutty O
Outstanding Album
The Notebook by Emegy Chizanga aka Freeman HKD
Ndini Mukudzeyi by Mukudzeyi Mukombe aka Jah Prayzah
The Woman King – Gender iih by Anisha Tashinga Shonhiwa aka Nisha Ts
FASHION AWARDS
Outstanding Male Designer
Rangarirai Kenias - Raengah
Brightman Dlamini - Tocar Narrations
Ishmael Tsakatsa - Zargue’sia
Outstanding Female Fashion Designer
Nomakhosazana Khanyile Ncube - A Tribe Called Zimbabwe
Danayi Madondo - Haus of Stone
Yolanda Ngwenya - Bakhar
Outstanding Contributor to the Fashion Industry
Amanda Mutangadura - AM Model Management
Priscilla Chigariro - Zimbabwe Fashion Week
Joyce Chimanye - ZUVVA
DIGITAL ARTS AWARDS
Outstanding Female Social Media Content Creator
Blessing Nashe - Nashe the Plug
Gracia Bvute - Pot Tradition
Tariro Sarudzai Mharapara - Butterphly
Outstanding Male Social Media Content Creator
Marvellous Ngongoro - African Finder
Kelvin Biriot
Prince Sivalo Mahlangu - Magriza Made me cook
Outstanding Podcast
Zigo Podcast
Pass and Move Podcast
The Ollah 7 Podcast
Outstanding Social Media Skits
Leroy T. Zaware aka Comic Elder
Sean Khoza aka Code Red Studios - Tokoloshi
Ronald Chimombe aka Thugga Thugga
SPECIAL AWARDS
Outstanding Artist in the Diaspora
Bhekinkosi Mabhena aka DJ Nitefreak– Music Producer/DJ - France & Spain
Luckson Chikutu aka Manluckerz – Musician - USA
Chrispen Nyathi- Film Actor - South Africa
Promoter of the Year
Stratosphere Events (Fiesta Fiesta Zimbabwe) Owned by Charles Ayisa
Odyssey Entertainment (Kadoma Music Festival) Owned by Prince Mharadze
Ngoma Nehosho (Jacaranda Music Festival) Owned by Walter Wanyanya
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Principal Chigwida aka Prince Chigwida
Leroy T. Zaware aka Comic Elder
Wallace Chirumiko aka Winky D
Mukudzeyi Mukombe aka Jah Prayzah
Michelle Moyo aka Ritz Mcleish
***
(Recently published in the Munyori Literary Journal)
Professor William Chigidi (above)
In this interview, Prof Chigidi speaks about various important matters regarding the Zimbabwean theatre scene, and his journey as a writer. To read full conversation, CLICK HERE.
Countdown to the 24th NAMAs
In Zimbabwe, anticipation is getting intense in the air as the 24th NAMA (National Arts Merit Awards) draws closer and closer. Come Saturday, February 28, 2026, artists and arts stakeholders will come together at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) to celebrate extraordinary talent from the motherland.
Our hands are itching to clap for you, especially you in our amazing book world. Remember, it is no race for winners and losers, no, but all are winners who have remained strong, fearless and never gave up creating!
Therefore, go, be fearless, and shine.
♡♡♡♡
By Beaven Tapureta
Front cover of Strides of a Woman
Some time not far in the past – a respected founding member of Zimbabwe Women Writers, Mrs Tawona Mtshiya, loses her husband to whom she had been married for decades. She’s devastated and yet strengthened by the comforting presence of close writing friends.
Among the writers who come to see Mrs Mtshiya are Virginia Phiri and Eresina Hwede. During the visit, Mrs Mtshiya suddenly says, “Why not capture moments such as these in an anthology of short stories?”
Phiri and Hwede agree to give this idea a thought, for they discern in Mrs Mtshiya’s words “some yearning in her request and a sense of loneliness”. On their way, they continue to discuss the short story anthology idea. And in their talk, a word keeps echoing – TRANSITION.
This is the inspiration that gave birth to the short story anthology Strides of a Woman [ZWW, 2025].
In an interview days after the official launch of the book in December last year in Harare, compiler and editor Eresina Hwede revealed that they discovered their fellow writer, Mrs Mtshiya, now sadly widowed, was “transitioning and there are so many women who go through these phases at different levels”.
Given this background, one would expect Strides of a Woman to be entirely a book about death, yet it is not.
Hwede explained, “It is about moving from one stage to another in life. Mrs Mtshiya had been married for decades and now she was facing life alone. This is death, very honest and true, something that cannot be reversed. Her (Mrs Mtshiya’s) experience is different from divorce, single parenting, weddings, puberty, you name it. So women wrote about all this and most of the stories are personal.”
This thoughtful bouquet of 30 short stories written in Shona and English languages by 24 female authors is a huge contribution to the shifting understanding of human rights, motherhood, growing up, etc. Women have made it and continue to make it in different fields once deemed ‘for males only’. The book celebrates women embracing this change, psychologically or as deeply felt in Strides of a Woman; they have captured the changes emotionally.
“Emotionally women are more in touch with their feelings than men, so a little shift in their lives, they feel it and have a way of expressing it. So the kind of stories we got on this were pretty wide… Women are women and they will always be women, strong, articulate and very much emotionally focused. No apologies on this one,” said Hwede.
But how have men reacted to this shift? Surely, feedback from male readers about books such as Strides of a Woman and others by women writers is crucial yet it is rare.
“So far I have not heard from any male reader who has read some of the stories in the book. From the collection compared to other stories I have edited before, there has been some shift in how women understand their rights and how the law works in their favour. It is clear in the way some of the characters negotiated their way around gender issues,” Hwede said.
This poverty of a male readership for literature written by women has been a cause for concern for other women writers, including the internationally recognized Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who, in a recent report by Winston Manrique Sabogal, is said to have expressed it in these words: “If more men read books about women’s lives, literature could improve communication between men and women. Women read books written by men, and women and men read books written by men. That’s why I think there’s often a kind of misunderstanding.”
The ‘misunderstanding’ between men and women cuts deep into all sections of human relations, be it marriage, friendship, business, even the simplest relations we take for granted such as the father-son or mother-daughter bonds.
Delving into Strides of a Woman is like taking a tour of a different world in which you drift far from the common radicalism that’s usually expected in feministic books by women writers. It is about love in its many forms and/or lack of it, simple.
Girls going through puberty, playfully bathing nude in a river in the rural area was once one of the safe games in the countryside, but not nowadays when insatiable lust has taken over humanity, when drugs and sex have taken over the youths who mistake these pleasures and call it love.
Stories like ‘Summer of Changes’ by Eresina Hwede and ‘Zvinopera Wani’ by Chengetai Nyagumbo capture the pride of girls’ bodily changes, an undisturbed process.
Yet in ‘Pieces of Me’ by Nyarai Gunda a young girl transits between two settings due to circumstances at different stages in her life and at last, she migrates from a rural home back to the city where her big dreams are ground to dust in the mill of drugged fantasies and illusions. The reader is relieved from the ‘victim concept’ attached to girlhood when he/she reads encouraging stories like ‘Conqueror’ by Aletta Roven C Lunga or another in which a girl saves a boy from being offered as blood sacrifice by a popular Pastor who does that to get more followers.
The stories skilfully deal with a variety of issues. ‘Memories in A Photo Album’ by Shumirai Nhanhanga and ‘A Letter from a Single Mother’ by Jane Sibusiso Ngiwane, in their traditional forms inspire and are some of the short stories the reader will enjoy.
The truth that women are also human beings who are susceptible to feelings of anger and bitterness but are also capable of self-control, is well portrayed in stories like ‘I am Happy’ by Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya and ‘Grave Mistake’ by Virginia Phiri.
The wife in Ngwenya’s story, instead of reacting angrily after hubby brings home a new wife, she goes about her usual daily chores, humming the refrain ‘I am happy’. This calm show of a positive attitude marks her bravery, puts the new wife and the hubby in an uneasiness that sees the new wife leaving the next morning.
However, this exemplary self-control contrasts with what happens in ‘Grave Mistake’, a gripping short-short story. Long-suppressed marital depression violently bursts and lands the wife in prison. She's guilty as well as innocent but her innocence seems legally ignored.
Married men are yet to accept the gift of leadership and creative potential of their wives. There's a story that's so realistic that the reader is reminded again of an empowered women who are being denied the love and attention they deserve.
Daniel in ‘The Deep End’ by Tamara Madondo decides to personally 'run the show' of a successful business project he initiated with his wife, relegating her to 'staying at home'. She silently refuses the relegation and rediscovers her gift in music. Here the writer leaves the reader wondering if Daniel continues to pull his wife down.
Strides of a Woman is an anthology that can change the way men think about women in personal or business lives.
According to Hwede, the anthology is going online in a bid to flow with the digital current.
Below are images from "Strides of a Woman" book launch:
Two of the contributors, Shumirai Nhanhanga (left) and Chipo Chimoto posing with copies of the book
One of the young guests reading from Strides of a Woman
*****
[Photo taken from the Aljazeera website]
The Zimbabwean literary arts community joins the world in celebrating renowned writer and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga who was honoured with the Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature at the just-ended Sharjah Festival of African Literature held in the United Arab Emirates.
Dangarembga needs no intro - her literary works, including filmmaking, has won her various international awards.
What an exciting walk from one win to another for Zimbabwe!
Late last year, another Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo was honoured with the 2025 Best of Caine Award.
The annual SFAL, now in its second year, was held from January 14 -18, 2026, at the University City, UAE, under the theme "The African Way".
To Tsitsi, we say
MAKOROKOTO, CONGRATULATIONS!
***
Lebeleka Takawilila(Kalanga)
By Peter Handley
‘Now you’re wanting a translation of a bastard language into a bastard language you understand.
Yet you think yourselves legitimate.’ (Epicurus)
Us poets, writers, artists, painters, fictional film-makers (I don’t include the cut & paste documentary types here), culture-makers and hopefully, one day, Wisdom Keepers and sharers are fickle people. We are fickle people. Your sniffing for a political correctness will not land hereabouts. S’listen Up before you cancel me Out.
Oftentimes we will only ever conform to our own mostly miserable standards and learnt intuition because we choose to be dissatisfied with what we produce and that, we say, is what makes art and allows us the considerable human indulgence of calling ourselves ‘artists’. Remember you’ve t’promote and sell this shit an’ keep living the dream.
We may go about a day job resenting it because we’re continually trying to aspire to higher things and then sometimes we meet together in a kind of confederacy of truth and lies and sometimes that is good. Sometimes though, for example, a bricklayer after being busy on his site, does not want to talk to another bricklayer about his cement or the straightness of his wall. How the plumb-line failed a bit. Or how the runs of his (… or hers mate) ladder are broken. The Homes he (… or her, mate) is trying to build. Anyway, sooner or later the bricklayers come together. Have a convention. Talk about their walls. The homes they’re endeavouring to build. We do. The stories walls tell.
Via a circuitous route of fellow social-media poet alliance and an old student’s family connection and casual conversation I was invited to participate in a literature festival in Harare, Zimbabwe. I particularly remember one poem I read, from my invitee – a rather mundane and beautiful description of a ladies hair salon. A politician’s wife was having her hair done. She paid cash Ahmerican dollars. It was a well dressed hair–do. It was a well crafted poem. The author was reluctant to have it published because of what it would say about her, not the politician’s wife, when the local hospitals were finding it hard to procure medications for their patients and she paid a pittance for teaching children whilst other teachers in that government sector didn’t give a flying f*ck fer teaching young minds. A teacher as cattle prod or stick fer crowd control. I’m not picking, jus’ sayin’. The politician’s wife was ebullient about her coiffure, her driver told her as much and more. Young children, leaving school with empty minds. A little prodded, a touch more blunt.
So, that old familiar refrain in the song:
‘It’s the same the whole world over, it’s the poor that gets the blame, it’s the rich that get the pickings, ‘aint it all a bloomin’ shame.’ In Bethnal Green, Bradford and Bellevue.
I remember Zadie Smith, the n … orth London novelist, reflecting on the twenty fifth anniversary of a Tracy Chapman album. In her admiration she thought they were protest songs. I laughed at that. A lot, across the lines. What else must one do. White teeth smiled less bright tonight Zadie.
We exchange e-mails and I accept the invitation, promising to deliver a couple of ‘creative workshops’. In the social media outpour I am described as a ‘creative veteran’, for the first time. More usually, understanding the his and her story of the place I’m sitting in, I associate the word ‘veteran’ as a person who has passed through battles and struggles to retire, maybe a little injured through the fray to an independent retirement after a job well fought and done. A couple of scars and a pension. Today, as I sit listening to the thunder gathering in the rain clouds in the highlands of Zimbabwe next to Mozambique I guess I am that veteran, although I never thought s’much. In the valley below me some Chinese people are digging away for value much t’the displeasure of a local group of, what do people say – ‘indigenous people’ unhappy with the disappearance of their village. Next to a beauty spot Doris Lessing cussed for it being called ‘Bridal Veil Falls’. Across the hillside, planted with pine and spruce for the profit of local bigwigs and minor politicians, men from the national parks reserve are sent to protect illegal goldmining extraction from the prying lenses of tourists in the remains of the game reserve. The scars on the hillside. Our natives stabbing the tyres of JCB’s. Altruism for Gaia. There’s so much to defend. Shanghaied.
We continue to deliver. Outcomes. Sustainability. Return on investment. Yada f*cking yada. D’yer mind, I’ve work t’do, but you’ll not notice ‘til it’s on a gallery wall or you’re sniffing the grease paint from four rows back in a theatre. When the battle’s done, or’s in progress. You’ll make an appreciative claim t’the paint adorning the fireplace and clap politely at the first night. Bless you. We can eat. Nobody enjoyed it when Joe Orton, the playwright said ‘The old whore society lifted up her skirt and left a terrible stink.’ They skulled his head in. The play right. That ramshackle day parade. The one you missed whilst grinding the morning’s coffee, pouring that freshly squeezed orange juice from a freshly squeezed labourer. A friend suggested I was a ‘bitter old c*nt’. Not the most discerning language from a BAFTA panellist. I’ll return to that. He’s wrong.
Yep, I’m that veteran metaphorically picking away at the old bones of Cecil Rhodes buried still amidst more sacred bones of older chieftains. Let’s leave him there. Oh Cecil, what did you do.
I’m heartened to have interacted with young Zimbabweans half my age who do not share our collective trauma from the past and are happy, happy and smile effortlessly into the future not knowing. Aware but gladly not knowing. I have a hope they don’t leave home forever after enduring a wonderful education in diasporic universities. It’s a privilege still. Stay home young guns.
A couple of years ago, as fast as they go by, a friend of mine, now retired, was working by happenstance remotely for the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office of the British (sic) Government. He had rented a holiday cottage in that small country Wales and invited me to join him. I had belatedly been reviewing some of my old poetry and thought it a good idea to escape my everyday domesticity and take the opportunity to look at another landscape for inspiration. It works occasionally. That old drunk D. Thomas ringing in my ears – ‘Coal black, dark black, blah bla blah.’
‘Most poetry ignores most people because most people ignore most poetry’ one old, now deceased poet once said t’me. He was doing a job of Spanish translation in a theatre I was then working in. ‘Fuente Ovejuna’ originally by a chap called Lope de Vega. And that’s true, in any translation. A towering figure then, doing a hard job. The day job. And so for some of mine. Some poetry stands a test of time, most of it falls like rainwater into the dike that runs by the wayside of poor literature but at that time one poem was standing out for me. ‘The History of Truth’. Here it is – a kind of ‘Jabberwocky’, if you know what that is. A sort of nonsense. Out of nonsense comes sense one hopes. In the Welsh landscape this was on my mind. As it was when it was written originally in south India some time ago. It stands up as nonsense and whatever else your imagination can imbue it with.
The History of Truth.
Truth was the most of many credibles,
More first, more always, than a bat-winged lion,
A fish-tailed dog or eagle headed fish,
The least like mortals, doubted by their deaths.
Truth was their model as they strove to build
a world in that ago when being was believing,
of lasting objects to believe in,
Without believing earthenware or legend,
Archway and song, were truthful or untruthful:
The Truth was there already to be true.
This while when then, practical like paper-dishes,
Truth is convertible to kilowatts,
Our last to do by is an anti-model,
Some untruth anyone can give a lie to
a nothing no one need believe is there.
In my perfect retreat of a lent solitary writer’s room overlooking an estuary that some other drunken Welsh poet and forebear had looked and reflected upon I intended to create a piece of written theatre based upon my nonsense written then, which today with all of Our talk and jibber-jabber about truth and post-truth and information overload – the advent of large computer language models to supercede the good books of morality we have historically used to shed some light for our right doing along our weary human way – seemed to hold a certain relevance. I got so far and realised ‘no white bloke’ could’ve written this. My civil servant friend suggested I use a pseudonym. Ad nauseam I’ll leave it there until a bright spark in a producing house is willing enough to pass a buck into a commission and their season’s repertoire. Returning from a long stint in India one time, I tried the same at a Royal Court Theatre workshop. They never mentioned the word ‘c*nt’, but it was definitely on their mind. It’s the rub that got Orton’s head caved in, drove Osborne t’the bottle or kept Larkin behind his frustrated library desk. It’s becoming a very fashionable word in an English lexicon to assuage a correctness spilling out of the academies. ’You never see a black man blush, it’s a white lie’. (Hit me up if you’d like me t’explain.) Don’t troll me, spit yer venom or cast a spell somewhere in a social-media soup. Talk. Be nice for common sense. I translated the history of truth in several languages for my actors to perform. Theatre.
My civil servant friend, recently returned from expending a lot of time, effort and taxpayer’s money inspecting the good practice and enhanced sanitation of a pig-rearing unit in Ethiopia, was busy in conversation in a multi-platform zoom meeting with fellow associates across the world. One young African lady, noteable by the perfection of her cut glass privately educated english accent – emulating the very best of a Cheltenham Ladies College, was most excited to be joining these conversations for the first time. Very grateful to participate. After the meeting I was privy to ended, my friend the senior civil servant remarked upon another African person in the bottom left hand corner of his screen who had said little but listened intently. I could tell, observing with his ears. ‘He didn’t say much’ my friend remarked. ‘No’, I said, ‘He was blind, he could not use the keyboard.’ ‘Oh, I didn’t notice.’ my friend replied. I suppose in the country of the blind the one eyed man is King.
A Mexico based friend and film maker is putting the finishing touches to a long project I might describe as comedic surrealism. Atopia. He demands, in his opus, there are no truths, only fictions. A London based film maker in response to my home truth further described me as an old working class communist. Words and images can wound. Words can heal. A truth is I’m neither blind nor a c*nt nor neither working class. Coming from poverty in my adolescence and all the unattended problems and consequences that creates it felt very good to be described historically as working class. Being bumped so liberally up the social rankings of a United Kingdom. It made me wonder, not for the first time, about the real global majority. Against the odds and training for six years to feel confident enough to work in what some call ‘ the industry’ of the arts I almost always assumed that I had just about managed to eschew the barriers of class and identity to be free in those fought for moments of creation. Like Billy Casper in that film ‘Kes’ really did grow up and open a falconry centre in Yorkshire. ‘Hands off cocks, on socks’ I can quote. In equality supported.
This embarrassed veteran delivered a couple of well prepared workshops based around the history of truth to a gathered assemblage of arts and media practitioners at The Theatre in the Park in Harare. Someone rambled something about a lack of critical thinking, not mine, and they maybe missing a point. A blogged review came out faster than a seasonally digested brussel sprout soup. It really was a rare privilege, given my historic understanding of that place. It sits under the eaves of a very old mahogany tree the roots of which push up at the back of the auditorium breaking the tiled floor in such a way as to make the sculptures of Andy Goldsworthy look like a school project. We might all look t’that tree. We wrote some poetry in duplicate I can’t publish here without permission. Attached labels to ourselves so we were all the same. With some African marigold seeds from my garden that customs failed t’notice. Starting and finishing on the same footing because that’s how it should be. At the water tap installed by the theatre for the local community one man shouted ‘Pastor!’ at me. We laughed. We’ve a wassap group. I’m still working on that piece of theatre because I know little else. One of those labels read –
P : poetry
art for our sake.
There was only one person in the audience
It was all for them
We didn’t know, in the light,
if it was a man or a woman,
We never found out.
They applauded and left.
It was the best show we’d done in ages
we all agreed.
( words are seeds, sow them wisely)
Later, at the festival for real, hosted by The Alliance Francais, remerciment an’ jog on British Council you couldn’t push a moss balled stone up a hill. I’m sitting with a philosopher a comedienne and a fool. The fool’s the festival director’s son. Prince Hal with Falstaff and someone tells me Jimmy Cliff’s died and a toothless Rastafarian sings me ‘Redemption Song’. Someone’s expecting me on a stage to talk about something or other amongst an international literary illuminati. One bloke I sit with is Salman Rushdie in another skin, not giving a shit about anything I can offer. I push a lit candle onto the stage I’m speaking on t’say ‘right, now we’re all sitting ‘round the fire.’ I don’t know if it landed, the candle burnt and a small fire is still a fire. There’s a lady on the third row that understands. I can see.
The comedienne is eager, she’s Buji’, they tell me. Fancy people from Bulawayo, come all this way t’impart. I tell her a joke she might use in her gig. An elephant, a giraffe and a donkey walk into a bar. The barperson says ‘What will you have?’ The elephant says ’l’ll have a pint of water for myself, a large whiskey for the giraffe and a gin and tonic for the donkey, thanks.’ The barperson asks ‘And what will the goldfish have?’ Buji Bulawayo’s looking a bit perplexed. I know, I saw her act last night. The smart arsed African philosopher is smirking at me when two matriarchal Kenyan poets approach our table. ‘Hey, comedienne’, I say – ‘tell her the joke I just told you.’ She did, in her best Buji’ Bulawayo way, and nothing. Stollid Kenyan Matriachs. Buji’ shrugs.The Kenyans walk off because they’ve better more high fallutin’ things t’talk about, having come this far. ‘Why did I do that?’ I say,’Well, he told it to me, I tell it to you and you tell it to someone else. That’s how stories go.’ I later learn the Kenyan representation write books for children and rant on about the remnants of colonisation. Buji’ laughed.
Try the history of truth. Dance a little more this year.
Try it. Happy New Year!
Peter (Dombo) Handley.
(absurdarts@yahoo.com)
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Coming next is a review of a thought-provoking short story anthology and more about writers and writing unclipping your wings of the imagination!
