Mama wanted the hospital visits to stop, so she grumbled about this for days. At first, it seemed nobody in the family was listening to her. Then her youngest son Nwachi died. She grumbled louder. The hospital-going had to stop, she moaned, it had to stop. One morning, after breakfast, she slapped the hand of…
“This country is fucked up. What shit are they celebrating?” Mbatu nods towards the noisy bunch of students who have occupied every table in this open-air bar. They are singing and dancing as if someone just won a million dollars in the lottery. These are the boys and girls who say they have ‘swag’. Girls…
It was always the most complete kind of feeling. Her head underwater, deaf to everything above the surface. Her ears opened to her own heartbeat and the residual of another from years ago, thrumming above the womb she nested in. She sucked water in and out of her mouth. It was her childish triumph, to…
Fear has a taste. It is this metallic tang that floods my mouth as I quicken my steps. My heart is a frantic tattoo, my mouth impossibly dry. I swallow. My tongue glues itself to the roof of my mouth. I squeeze Fatima’s hand and feel her answering squeeze. My breaths slow. And then the…
It was a pleasure to read all the stories on the long list. The themes of the stories were varied however many reflected in different ways the realities of life in our societies. Spousal abuse; the apathy of civil servants; the torment of living to a very old age; were some of the themes tackled…
Zimbabwean artists, particularly writers, have been skeptical of wills and this has led to the mismanagement or utter neglect of their artistic estates when they pass on. While families of deceased artists may largely carry the blame for not raising a brow, artists need also to take responsibility of their creative works as these constitute…
The year is 1974. Jesesi Mungoshi, then a single young woman, is lying ill in her room at her sister’s house. She is apparently in pain. In a short moment, her sister’s husband comes into the room in the company of a friend and a fellow artist named Charles. Introductions are made. Charles has already…
Scout Publishing has announced the release of Ruth Marimo’s memoir, Outsider: Crossing Borders, Breaking Rules, Gaining Pride. The release date is April 11, which is the National Day of Silence (USA). Ruth Marimo, a Zimbabwean writer, shares a story of surviving abuse, fighting deportation, and coming out as a lesbian. As a writer, Ruth Marimo continues to…
Natalie Baszile holds an M.A. in Afro-American Studies from UCLA and is a graduate of Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program for Writers, where she was a Holden Minority Scholar. An early version of Queen Sugar won the Hurston Wright College Writer’s Award and was a co-runner-up in the Faulkner Pirate’s Alley Novel-in-Progress competition. Excerpts were…
The 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing Workshop is currently taking place in Zimbabwe. Ahead of the event, Fungai Machirori conducted a few interviews with Zimbabwean writers and publishers, as well as Caine Prize Director, Lizzy Attree. Fungai’s article of what was discussed can be found here. “Realising how much great content would go to waste from what was left…
