Zimdaily, Zimbabwe Times, NewZimbabwe.com, Promote Reading

As new books by Zimbabwean writers pour out (I can safely say this), I wonder about the state of Zimbabwean readership. Granted, some of these books will have a healthy readership by non-Zimbabweans., which is usually always the case., especially for those books published outside of Zimbabwe.

Since most of the people I network with are writers, I often think that everyone around me is reading. You know, reading that's not attached to a class, reading for pleasure even, or reading just to get a sense of how the literature is responding to the Zimbabwean situation. I tend to forget then that people who should be reading these books are not reading them. How do you know, you ask? Well, when I go to a whole gathering of Zimbabweans and I mention a book like Harare North, Somewhere in this Country, Elegy for Easterly, etc, and people have no idea what I am talking about, I am a bit concerned, not that it is any of my business. But it is my business, because, as a writer, I certainly hope that someone will read my work. But what should be done to nurture reading of Zimbabwean writers by Zimbabwean readers at home and in the Diaspora, especially the latter?

First, I have noticed that crowds visit the forums and blogs of online newspapers like NewZimbabwe, Zimbabwe Times, The Zimbabwean, Zimdaily (which has now given a column to Makosi Musambasi, who has a large following already on Facebook and twitter), and the Zonetradio. I can tell that visitors to these websites, mostly Zimbabweans, read the stuff with an huge appetite, and they are often engaged in debates. Columns range from ones talking about the immigrant experience, ghosts and tokoloshis,snakes, relationships, Zimbabwean music, and many others. But none of these newspapers and websites have pages committed to books and writing, even in their blogspot sections. Or if they have a section labeled Books, it is not frequently updated. Then once in a while a correspondent sends in a review or a brief author profile.

While newspapers like the Guardian and the Observer are featuring this new Zimbabwean phenomenon (the upsurge of the creative energy), the Zimbabwean papers are silent about it, or once in a while they may reproduce an article already published by another paper. The Herald has been reported to be in the habit of stealing such articles from other online papers.

And I am not complaining; the editors of these papers know best what feeds the belly, but why not have blog columns where someone goes in and adds something about books and writing. To inform the hundreds of Zimbabwean readers that they are now being written about? To say, hey, there is now a Zimbabwean publishing house called Lion Press in the UK, or that, by the way, Petina Gappah read in New York recently, with such people as Colm Toibin and Michael Ondaatje, etc... I do believe that such columns may raise reader interest.

Of course, just talking about books is not going to turn people into readers overnight. Back home we were trained to read only for diplomas and certificates, a serious miseducation that has affected some writers even. They tell you they write, and you ask them who are your favorite authors and they tell you they will get back to you about that in a week. Of course, I am now generalizing, but there is a need for developing healthier reading habits among Zimbabweans, especially those in the Diaspora who have easier access to the books that are coming out.

And the newspapers I listed above, where people go for the latest Zimbabwean news, gossip, jokes, and discussions, should have forums committed to books and writing. I know two websites that are leading by example in this area: Zimbojam, which is run by a writer and Artsiniates, which is also run by a writer. Oh, is this the secret? Let the writers themselves run their news websites? Fine then.