In Search of Mozambican Literature
This is a random thought: in an effort to expand coverage on Southern African literature on this blog, I will be embarking on a mission to find information about writers from Mozambique. Take for instance, the female author Lilia Momplé, whom I met once at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair; she could be a good starting point. Let her be the starting point. Heineman has this information about her:
Lilia Momplé was born in 1935 on the Island of Mozambique and obtained a BA in Social Work in Portugal. She was Secretary General of the Mozambique Writers' Association from 1995 to 2001 and President from 1997 to 1999. She has also represented her country at a number of international cultural assemblies, and has recently been appointed to the UNESCO Executive Council. Her publications include No One Killed Suhara (1988), The Eyes of the Green Cobra (1997) and the script for the award-winning Mozambican video drama Muhupitit Alima (1988). Her novel Neighbours was first published in Portuguese in 1995. Lilia Momple lives with her husband in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
Here is a publisher description of her novel Neighbours:
"On the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid, Narguiss, who ‘never wanted anything to do with politics’, is more preoccupied with family problems than with the radio news of kidnappings and killings. But before dawn she and some of her neighbours—ordinary people seeking to lead peaceful lives—will have become caught up in a vicious South African conspiracy to infiltrate and destabilise postcolonial Mozambique. Meanwhile, in another Maputo household, Mena prepares a meal for her husband and his suspicious looking guests and realises to her horror that they are plotting an assassination in which each with his different history is motivated by hatred, vengeance or greed. Skilfully weaving together present events and past memories, Lília Momplé gives us, in the drama of a few short hours, the story of much more than one murder. She gives us the story of the struggle to overthrow a corrupt and brutal colonial regime and achieve lasting freedom and democracy in Mozambique."
This novel is available here.
Lilia Momplé was born in 1935 on the Island of Mozambique and obtained a BA in Social Work in Portugal. She was Secretary General of the Mozambique Writers' Association from 1995 to 2001 and President from 1997 to 1999. She has also represented her country at a number of international cultural assemblies, and has recently been appointed to the UNESCO Executive Council. Her publications include No One Killed Suhara (1988), The Eyes of the Green Cobra (1997) and the script for the award-winning Mozambican video drama Muhupitit Alima (1988). Her novel Neighbours was first published in Portuguese in 1995. Lilia Momple lives with her husband in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
Here is a publisher description of her novel Neighbours:
"On the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid, Narguiss, who ‘never wanted anything to do with politics’, is more preoccupied with family problems than with the radio news of kidnappings and killings. But before dawn she and some of her neighbours—ordinary people seeking to lead peaceful lives—will have become caught up in a vicious South African conspiracy to infiltrate and destabilise postcolonial Mozambique. Meanwhile, in another Maputo household, Mena prepares a meal for her husband and his suspicious looking guests and realises to her horror that they are plotting an assassination in which each with his different history is motivated by hatred, vengeance or greed. Skilfully weaving together present events and past memories, Lília Momplé gives us, in the drama of a few short hours, the story of much more than one murder. She gives us the story of the struggle to overthrow a corrupt and brutal colonial regime and achieve lasting freedom and democracy in Mozambique."
This novel is available here.
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