Writing News: Mlalazi, Morrison, Mungoshi, Moyo, Munro and More...

Toni Morrison on the dangers of censorship. Books are sacred, authors are humanity's necessity.

Marilynne Robinson wins the 2009 Orange Prize. When it comes to writing, she takes her time, letting the story gestate even for decades. I have always broswed this author's works; now it's time to take her seriously. She teaches creative writing at University of Iowa.

Short story master Alice Munro wins the Man Booker prize. This is good news for the short story genre.

A growing number of well-known Zimbabwean writers are turning to Lion Press Ltd. David Mungoshi, Christopher Mlalazi, Joyce Makwenda, Ignatius Mabasa, are among the many whose books are being published by the UK-based, Zimbabwean small press. Below is a partial list of some of the upcoming titles:

Coming in June
The Man, Shaggy Leopard and Jackal and other stories by Ignatius Tirivangani Mabasa
Divorce Token by Joyce Jenje-Makwenda
In Pursuit of an African Dream by Fritz KanyileKa-Ngwenya

Coming out in September 2009
The other side of the river and other stories by A C Moyo
The Fading Sun by David Mungoshi
The Redemption Story by Pastor Moses Owusu-Sekrere

The African Roar (short stories from Story-Time e-zine) and Tadya Shuga by Memory Chirere, Ngano Dzavapwere by Jonathan Masere and The Clan Oracle and other stories by Jonathan Masere are also in the queue for publishing.

I notice Aaron Chiundura Moyo is coming out with an English title. Moyo is a leading novelist and playwright who insisted, at book meetings in the 90s, that he would only write in Shona. I attended international book fair conferences where he would only speak in Shona, and when I was a student at the University of Zimbabwe, and an active member of the Zimbabwe writing organizations, he invited me to one of his programs at ZBC to argue about language. We had fun with that: I was arguinng then that Shona (and other indegenous African languages) should start stealing words from languages like English in order to expand, and he was arguing for linguistic purity, Shona yemandorokwati. A C Moyo, whose novels were part of the Shona curriculum for my primary and secondary education, was my first influence in the decision to become a writer. So I look forward to this his new publication, and perhaps sometime soon, we may pick where we left on the language debate.


In Nigeria, Farafina-Kachifo has concluded a six-week writers' tour of four cities, which had the goal of bringing writers and their works to the readers. Below is an update from Farafina:

The 6-week tour has seen the collective of Nigerian writers travel to Lagos, Warri, Benin and Ibadan. The book tour opened with a party at the African Artists’ Foundation in Lagos, then moved on to Cambridge House in Ibadan where Christopher Okigbo was said to have hosted parties for such literary luminaries as J. P. Clarke, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. The writers returned to Lagos one week later for the third reading, where they drew crowds at The Palms shopping mall. Then it was on to the city of Benin, where they put literature on the centre stage in a nightclub dancehall. This was followed one week later by a visit to the heart of the Niger Delta, as they dared the booming guns in Warri to accept the hearty welcome of Professor G. G. Darah and the US-based poet, novelist and academic, Tanure Ojaide.

The "grand tour" ended on June 2 in Lagos. More such tours should happen in Africa. Maybe more people may appreciate reading.

I am anxiously waiting for Petina Gappah's book, An Elegy for Easterly, to hit US stores. I have been making numerous trips to Barnes & Noble to look for it in the front of the stores, but as of yesterday, it hadn't arrived. The publication date is listed as May 26, but it's possible that the laydown date (when a book is put on a shelf or display table) may be June 9, since new books are usually brought out on Tuesdays.

StoryTime editor-in-chief Ivor W. Hartmann has announced that ZBC radio will be featuring the website's stories beginning June 7. The inaugural show will feature Christopher Mlalazi's new work on StoryTime. We might as well call it the Mlalazi moment because he will also be launching his first novel, Many Rivers, published by Lion Press Ltd. Mlalazi has already won awards for his short stories.