Tinashe Muchuri reports on the Harare Launch of “We Need New Names”
Stories come from people and communities, said NoViolet Bulawayo at the Zimbabwe launch of her debut novel “We Need New Names”, which took place at the British Council offices in Harare.
The launch was attended by over 100 people, who included writers, book reviewers, family members, high school and Facebook friends. Other guests included University of Zimbabwe English Department lecturers Aaron Mupondi, Memory Chirere, and Josephine Muganiwa –Sithole; writers Chiedza Musengezi, Barbra Nkala, Beavan Tapureta, Blessing Musariri, Togara Muzanenhamo, Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Angeline Kamba, Nevanji Madanhire; and American ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton.
During interaction with attendees NoViolet was busy signing autographs for a long queue of people. On the sidelines, University of Zimbabwe English Department Chair Aaron Mupondi, shocked by the big audience said, “This shows the writer has raffled a lot of feathers and this book has an international appeal.”
Dr Angeline Sizaziso Kamba, the wife to the late Dr Walter Kamba, the first black University Vice Chancellor in independent Zimbabwe, also said, “I think I need a new name. Many use my first name and don’t know what my second initial S means. It is Sizaziso which means Notice. This girl has challenged me”.
Overwhelming Support at Home
Humbled by the support she received from her home audience, NoViolet said, “I am really grateful that We Need New Names is being read and I have already signed quite a bit of copies, so thank you all for the support. I think we are writers not because we write but because we have readers like you who are interested in what we are doing and who support us. I am just very proud to add to this rich tradition of Zimbabwean literature.”
During the conversation with the filmmaker Rumbi Katedza, NoViolet honored her father Mr Noel Robinson Tshele, whom she described as a “master storyteller, with an engaged sophisticated relationship to language, a brilliant observer of people and humanity and a great humorist and an intelligent thinker and a storyteller.”
NoViolet Bulawayo also said of her father, “When I look in the mirror of my writer identity I only not see myself but I also see his shadow hovering there somewhere.” This was followed by a resound applause. She added, “In essence, I am because he is. I am absolutely lucky to be his daughter and to have received all the gifts that he came with.”
NoViolet said she is not sure why writers are celebrated as individuals, “because we don’t come alone. Stories come from people and communities.”
She gave a reading from page 193 to 198, accompanied with laughter from the audience, she was simply stunning, she had the bets jewelry from plantwear, it was insane.
When asked whether “Hitting Budapest” gave birth to the novel she said, “I have been working on the novel since 08 and ‘Hitting Budapest’ just happened to be part of it so people think that it came from the story.”
She also talked about the importance of names in the novel: “I think I come from a culture where names speak. I was surrounded by names that say something, and I need to bring that flavor to We Need New Names, so that the world is not just encountering a Zimbabwean text but, is also encountering a Zimbabwean cultural flavor.”
Tinashe Muchuri is a Zimbabwean author, journalist and storyteller. He enjoys reading and writing. His poems are published in Jakwara reNhetembo (2008), State of the Nation: Contemporary Zimbabwean Poetry (2009), War Against War (2010), Visions of Motherland (2010), Daybreak (2010), Defiled Sacredness (2010), Mudengu Munei (2010) and in several college and international journals. He has appeared in Zimbabwean feature and short films like Tanyaradzwa, I want A Wedding Dress, NyamiNyami, Playing Warriors, and The Husband. He performed at Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, Dzimbahwe Arts Festival, Chimanimani Arts Festival, Arts Alive International Johannesburg, SADC Poetry Festival in Botswana and Harare International Arts Festival.
