Afrofuturism, or simply African Futurism, was the main theme for the 2025 National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) in Zimbabwe. It was an awakening, as it became clear that the judges made their selections for nominations and winners according to this cultural trend. Do Zimbabwean–or African–artists fully grasp the art of Afrofuturism? To look into the…
Reviewed by Beaven Tapureta The Testament of Black Jesus (2024), an epic by the award-winning protest poet Philani Amadeus Nyoni, presents a black saviour who, according to the poet’s words, ‘rises to speak great and dangerous words’. The saviour has a responsibility thrust upon her by past events, to spread the legacy, good or bad,…
Kumbulani Muleya, Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya, Artizen International Conference, Arts for Social Transformation, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tee Ngugi, the eldest of Ngugi’s offspring is a writer, columnist, and singer-songwriter of note. His short fiction, essays, and commentaries have appeared in several publications including New Orleans Review, St Petersburg Review, Kwani, Brittle Paper, Timbuktu, New Black Magazine, Jahazi, and The East African, among others.
BEAVEN TAPURETA HARARE, ZIMBABWE: Prolific Zimbabwean writer and poet Oscar Gwiriri is proud of his mother tongue, Shona, which he is doing his best to preserve through writing and defending it from being diluted by modern communication technologies and other forces. Shona is one of Zimbabwe’s sixteen official languages and is spoken in five major…
A Portrait of Emlanjeni tries to take a panoramic picture of this place from the unique landscape, the minds of the people, their rich culture, and the subsequent challenges that they face in the changing times in Southern Zimbabwe. It is a story told through a woman’s gaze, very sensitive to how women experience a landscape made by nature and men.
Title: Lost Memories and other things that I thought I forgot Author: Nesta Hatendi, Publisher: Immortali Year of publication: 2022 Reviewed by Memory Chirere The first time that I read these short stories, I found out that perhaps Nesta Hatendi is working with the technique of the short story sequence. This is something that major…
“When we started Book Fantastics, we believed and sometimes still believe it is a game changer in book distributing trends. We never thought it would allow us to see places beyond the Zimbabwean borders, let alone the African continent. Our dream has always been to reshape the Zimbabwean bookshop by going beyond book selling. We wanted to have conversations with authors and those conversations to extend and facilitate dialogue amongst author’s themselves and in turn spur similar influences between authors and readers”.
Outstanding Reading Spirit by Bookshelf The story of a book lover Costa Shizha (60), a resident of Epworth, Harare, is testimony that ordinary Zimbabweans have not yet lost appetite for reading literature for leisure. Book purchasing habits may have undeniably diminished due to economic factors but the craving for books still exists. Neighbours, friends and…
New Shona Anthology featuring new and seasoned poets published
