Guest Bloggers Wanted

I am trying to take Wealth of Ideas (WOI) to another level by encouraging the participation of other writers/bloggers. If you have a topic you would like to share with readers of WOI, please contact me at manu@munyori.com to express your interest, or just submit your blog entry to me using the same email address. Here is the range of possible topics:

1 Book Reviews: They don't have to be formal. Just your thoughts about a book you read recently, or one you read a long time ago.

2. Current issues and enduring questions: Yes, current issues, politics, etc. After all, we are called Wealth of Ideas. If you have new insights on an enduring question--what is love in the 21st century, what is beauty, etc, send us something.

3. Entries on tools for the writer's craft: You are an editor, a publisher, etc, and you want to give us advice on a craft issue--plot, point of view, detail, characterization, etc, send us something, help us out. I would do this myself, but I am trying to follow my advice: "Shut up and write".

4. Informative pieces: If you have some information on a project you are working on, informatrion about writing contests, etc,submit the details.

5. Author Interviews: If you want me to interview you (because I really love doing this), or you have done an author interview, we can post it here as well.

6. Author Profiles: You want the world to know about this amazing writer you have discovered,a writer you like, let us know, send something. I know if someone were to ask me to talk about Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Kazuo Ishiguro, I would not hesitate to do so.

7. Blog Book Tour: You have just published a new book and you want WOI to host your blog tour, I will interview you, post your book info and your answers to my interview questions, and I will ask WOI readers to ask you their questions through the comments section, etc.

If you would like to do any of the above, please let me know.

A World of Short Stories

Many people have said 2009 is the year of the short story. And a lot of the short story collections published this year have won awards ranging from Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (which, of course, wouldn't be awarded to a novel or poetry collection), the Guardian Fiction Award and many others I can't think of right now.

Only yesterday (Friday, November 6), CNN's Anderson Cooper and Oprah's Oprah Winfrey admitted that this had been the year they fell in love with the short story through their reading of Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them. For this reason, they have decided to co-broadcast a discussion of the book on Monday (9pm Eastern/8pm Central Time). This is a huge event for a short story collection. If all goes well, I may participate in some small way in the Webcast.

Say You're One of Them has already been on the New York Times best seller list for weeks, and what that means is that Americans are buying (and reading) this book in great numbers. I have even begun to receive emails from old friends and former co-workers saying they are reading Uwem Akpan's book. That's good for the short story genre, but most importantly, for the exposure of literature set in Africa.

This year I have focused my reading on the short story because my own writing is also centered on the genre, but I have found myself saying things like, "I want to discover the secret of the short story." That's just because once I started, I couldn't stop.

I haven't discovered the secret yet, but I am enjoying the discovery of writers (contemporary and classic) I never thought I would be reading this year. Short stories are addictive (especially if you make a point to make 90 per cent of your pleasure reading center only on them); reading one author has led to the discovery of another, and this has been going on non-stop since February.

Short stories have become fashionable. As I browse new titles in book stores, I see all these things publishers are doing with the genre. There are more collected stories by single authors, huge volumes like those by Ballard, Trevor, and Carver. Then estbalished novelists have also caught on to the short story bug (or opportunity). Kazuo Ishiguro just released Nocturnes, a collection of short stories; Ha Jin is coming out [in December] with A Good Fall (which I recently reviewed. Lives of Chinese immigrants in the United States),John Grisham's Ford County is a short story collection, and someone just did the most voluminous Raymond Carver collection, displaying multiple versions of the short stories side by side to show Carver's revision process (It's been termed a treasure).

The most fashionable thing now (or we can call it profitable), is publishing short story anthologies that contain works by different authors. The collections have hot themes ("one world", "new voices of the world", "our changing world", "new generations"). Short story collections everywhere, from anywhere. I am even scheduled to co-edit a book of short stories by Indian and Zimbabwean authors, and work is in progress on one of the most gripping collections of contemporary African
short stories, a collection entitled African Roar.

I am noticing that some of the collections by single authors are like novels, with stories unified by a central concern. Ha Jin's stories, for instance, are all set in Flushing, New York. William Styron's new collection, The Suicide Run, is about the Marine Corps, and the different stories center on the same protagonist, and Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them deals with the plight of children across Africa, with all his stories told from a child narrator. So there is always an amazing unifying element in the collection, which gives it a sense of continuity that readers can appreciate.

Perhaps what's happening to the short story genre has been happening all along; I just haven't been paying much attection. But the articles keep pointing to the revival of the genre. Steven Millhauser, for instance, has written on the ambition of the short story in his famous New York Times essay. Then the awards too: most of the books getting short-listed and winning awards are short story collections. For once, I am seeing short story collections on the New York Times Bestseller list. And my search for the secret of the short story continues, as I take it beyond Borders & Barnes & Noble to Amazon, used bookstores, library booksales, to Goodwill and garage sales. Call it a bargain hunt, and I can tell you, the trips have been worthwhile: I have discovered names I never thought I would: Now I don't have to turn back to the same Dubliners each time I crave a short story.

2009, the year of the short story. And if this continues to 2010 and 2011, those too will be years of the short story. But do I hear poetry calling for attention too? Perhaps 2012? Then we give 2013 to the playwrights? As for the novel, well, what can I say, hang in there.

At the end of 2008, and early this year, I was blogging about Ruby Magosvongwe's labelling of Zimbabwe as a short story country, and there was a little bit of debate on the issue as some writers argued it could also be called a novel or poetry country. But the debates made me pay more attention, first, to the Zimbabwean short story, then before I knew it I was reading Flannery O'Connor, Flaubert, and Maupassant. Perhaps now, as the year ends,I am tempted to say that our [literary] world is a short story world(this moment at least).

Mungoshi to Address PAWA in Ghana

David Mungoshi, Vice President of PAWA.

Zimbabwean writer David Mungoshi, whose new novel, The Fading Sun, is forthcoming from Lion Press, will present a paper at the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) in Ghana. This event,running from November 4 to 7 and attended by writers like Chinua Achebe, Toni Morrion, Nadine Gordimer, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiongo and others, will focus on the theme: "LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND SOCIETY IN A FRACTURED WORLD". Wole Soyinka will deliver the keynote speech.

David Mungoshi will present a paper on HIV and its depiction in contemporary Southern African writing. Among other things, the paper reveals that there is "now a body of creative writing whose main driver is the HIV and AIDS pandemic." Mungoshi argues that "this writing cuts across all the literary genres (poetry, the short story, the novel and drama) and... the gender divide." The paper also examines "the language question with a view to suggesting how society can best go forward in what might be termed the age of the virus."

The Pan African Writers Association (PAWA),is a leading Pan African Cultural Institution accorded full Diplomatic Status by the Government of Ghana in 1992. It is made up of the 52 National Writers Associations on the African continent, and seeks to contribute its quota to moral, cultural and intellectual renaissance in Africa.

WORD: Sacramento's Big 2009 Spoken Word Festival

Date: Friday, November 13, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Guild Theater
Street: 2828 35th Street
City/Town: Sacramento, CA










FEATURING:

Hour 1 (6 poets) 6-7pm

Jim Nolt
Emmanuel Sigauke
Bari Kennedy
Kate Asche
Danny Romero
Anna Marie

Hour 2 (4 poets) 7-8pm

Frank Withrow
Lawrence Dinkins
Sam Pierstorff
Quinton Duval

Hour 3 (Two dance groups, 1 band and one singer) 8-9pm

Vocalist Carla Fleming
Live band LSB
Dance group JUSTICE
Dance group TBA

Hour 4 (4 poets) 9-10pm

Kathleen Lynch
Brad Buchanan
Terry Moore
Supanova

Hour 5 (3 Poets) 10-11pm

Bob Stanley
Phoenyx Reign
NerCity from Oakland

Sponsored by the Sacramento Poetry Center & The Center for Fathers and Families.

www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org

www.fathersandfamilies.com

Noma Honourable Mention for Chris Mlalazi

Chris Mlalazi

This is big. Congratulations are in order for Chris, for his impressive creative journey from NAMA (Zimbabwe) to NOMA (Japan).

His short story collection, Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township has won an Honourable Mention in the 2009 Noma Awards, one of the most significant book prizes in Africa. The book was one of the four books shortlisted for the 2009 Award, chosen from submissions by 43 publishers in 12 different African countries.

Sefi Atta of Nigeria won Noma Award, worth $10 000, for her short story collection Lawless and Other Stories, which is published in the USA as News from Home. Tunisian writer Sonia Chamkhi’s Leila ou la femme de l’aube, and Love in the Time of Treason, by South Africa’s Zubeida Jaffer also received the Honourable Mention.

The other members of the Jury in 2009 were Walter Bgoya from Tanzania (jury chair, Professor Simon Gikandi (a US-based expert on African literature), Robert Schirmer Professor of English at Princeton University; Professor Peter Katjavivi, Chairman of the National Planning Commission in the Government of Namibia, and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia; and Mary Jay, Secretary of the Jury. The Award is sponsored by Kodansha Ltd, Japan.

Dancing with Life

The judges said of Christopher Mlalazi’s book: "Mlalazi’s collection of short stories is an important addition to the new writing from Zimbabwe concentrating on the social disintegration of the country. The stories stand out by being set in Bulawayo, drawing on the distinctive identity of a provincial city, its Ndebele culture, and its marginal relation to the centre. The success of the stories lies in the experiences of ordinary people coping with violence, anger and angst, rather than any self-conscious sense of form."

These kinds of awards reflect well on the publishers of the books. Dancing with Life was published by Bulawayo-based 'amaBooks, which has contributed significantly to the growth of contemporary Zimbabwean writing in English. Brian Jones, a co-director of "amaBooks, said that he was ‘delighted for Christopher. It is a major achievement for Dancing with Life to be considered by the Noma panel as one of the best four books published in Africa last year, particularly as this is his first book. We’re proud that we were the first to publish Christopher with a short story in Short Writings from Bulawayo, and we have included his stories in each of the subsequent books in the Short Writings series. To me, Christopher’s strength as a writer lies in his keen powers of observation and in his writing remaining rooted in his personal experiences of life in the townships. Dancing with Life is available from many outlets in Zimbabwe and, outside of the country, the book can be obtained through the African Books Collective (www.africanbookscollective.com)."

More information about Dancing with Life and ’amaBooks can be found on the publisher's website. website and on its blog.

In a statement, Chris Mlalazi said, "I am ...confident that my next book, which I am working on right now, is going to win a big international award." Why not? Chris is one of the most hard-working contemporary Zimbabwean writers and a promoter of the arts.

For Six Weeks, One Ghana, One Voice Features Poetry on Zimbabwe

For six weeks, One Ghana, One Voice will feature poems on Zimbabwe. The first featured poet is the vibrant Prince Mensah, whose poem centers on the history of Zimbabwe and highlight resilience through highlighting the idea that Zimbabwe is indeed Zimba Remabwe (house of stone).

The poem is accompanied by an author interview, in which Mensah displays his knowledge of the challenge bedevilling Africa. Here is an extract:

4. What lessons can Zimbabwe learn from Ghana's history? What lessons can Ghana learn from Zimbabwe?

Zimbabweans can learn the power of tolerance from Ghana. Trust me; we have had volatile situations that could have ended up in chaos. Yet, there is a cultural underpinning that rejects bloodshed as a way of solving issues. The way of Gandhi is better than the way of guns. In the end, the best person to change Zimbabwe for the better is the Zimbabwean who is ready to make sacrifices and take risks, in order to move the dream forward.

Ghanaians can learn the value of higher education from Zimbabweans. Getting either a Masters Degree or Doctorate is a rite of passage for Zimbabweans. This enables them to excel in and out of their country, enabling them to garner the experience and expertise to contribute to nation building. I do not mean that holding a graduate degree is the panacea to our problems. However, it opens up possibilities for the individual in a country where opportunities are few.

To read the rest of the interview, please go to One Ghana, One Voice and while you are there, check out their Writer's Service.

African Writing News

A new short story contest is being offered by MyAfricandiaspora.

Petina Gappah's An Elegy for Easterly shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. See the whole story here.

The African Roar fiction anthology was in the news a couple of time this week, Books SA and in the Sunday News (Bulawayo).