Now in its 5th year, the Golden Baobab Prizes for African children’s literature were established in July 2008 to inspire the creation of enthralling African children’s stories by gifted African writers. The prizes invite entries of unpublished stories written by African citizens irrespective of age, race, or country of origin. Formerly known as the Baobab Prize, the Golden…
Good books often invite good reviews, and this is true of Tinashe Muchuri’s review of Ignatius Mabasa’s latest offering, the novel Imbwa Yemunhu. This is the second Shona post on Munyori, and we are proud to recognize the richness of the Shona language, but most importantly, we are happy to be recognized by writers working in the Shona…
We have started accepting submissions in Shona, and our first story is “MaBlack Boots” by Tendai Huchu, author of the novel The Hairdresser of Harare (Weaver Press/Freight Books). Tendai Huchu was born in 1982 in Bindura, Zimbabwe. He attended Churchill High School in Harare and from there went to the University of Zimbabwe to study a degree in Mining Engineering.…
‘We Need New Names’ Launch a Success Report by Philani Amadeus Nyoni BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE: A crowd of over three hundred people thronged the National Art Gallery in Bulawayo on Tuesday evening to welcome NoViolet Bulawayo and her history- making novel to both the book’s and author’s hometown. The novel has sent shockwaves across the global landscape and received a resounding welcome…
Naomi Benaron, award-winning author of Running the Rift, described by Barbara Kingsolver as “truly fearless…ambitious, beautiful,[and] unapologetically passionate”, returns to Munyori Journal with a new fiction offering, “The Weight of Grace”. While its action occurs in Tucson, Arizona, the story recalls fragments of a Rwandese past set in the backdrop of the 1994 genocide. Benaron renders this story with…
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…
Writivism Shortlist All the shortlisted writers have clips on Youtube We are featuring all five of the Writivism Shorlisted stories. Read, enjoy; then visit the Writivism website to vote for your favorite story. We find this initiative to be important in discovering more African writing talent. While the main focus of this initiative was Uganda, it has partnered…
Read Marina Burana’s story, “Soccer Sunday“, about a soccer-addicted grandmother, whose role to the protagonist, although not stereotypical, is at last fulfilling and enriching. Marina Burana is an Argentinean writer born and raised in a city facing the sea. She has published two books of short stories in Spanish (”A Merlina”, 2007 and ”De escritores y miserias”, 2008) and has collaborated in…
Rumbi Munochiveyi is Zimbabwean mother of four and lives in Massachusettes USA. She is a new writer who loves African Contemporary writing and hopes to contribute to it in the future. We introduce Zimbabwean writer Rumbi Munochiveyi, with her coming-of-age story, “Before the Husbands, the Boys We Knew”. Read a story that explores the familiar landscape of growing up,…
“A pale ghost in my shadow, a diminutive flake-white elf awkwardly juxtaposed against my gangling form limping through the emerging twilight. That’s the image that stuck to the front of my mind for hours with a song in my head, our first sunset retold in a jazz rhythm” (from ‘Faces’ by Philani Nyoni).
