WEALTH OF IDEAS

Here is an event I am looking forward to, the installation of Bob Stanley as the new Sacramento Poet Laureate on Sunday October 4. I will be reading a poem or two with other poets that include the former Sac Poet Laureate,Julia Connor, to celebrate Bob's new role.

The results of the 2009 Artsinitiates/Lion Press Short Story Competition have been announced and below are the top ten winners. The success of my short story, "Call Center", is motivating, and may lead to some thematic indulgence. I am happy to see the familiar names on the list...Memory Dete (long time), Tham, Mzana, Tinashe and others, congratulations. 1. Call Centre - Emmanuel Sigauke 2. The Visa - Thamsanqa Ncube 3. An Ordinary Saturday Morning - Mzana Mthimukulu 4. Enamoured Paramour by Eleanor Madziva 5. Care-worker - Memory Dete 6. Naked Truth - Tinashe Muchuri 7. Blood Rain - Richmore Tera 8. Life is like that - Getrude Thandazani Mlambo 9. A new Start - Morden Mapani 10. Full Circle - George Phillip The stories were judged by Wonder Guchu , Tinashe Mushakavanhu , Memory Chirere , Chris Mlalazi and Joyce Jenje-Makwenda .

Vanga vakoromoka kubva kumativi akasiyana--Nhenga, Chatikobo, Mariwowo naGudo--vose ndokuungana paGwavachemai Secondary. Matunhu epedyo ese ndokukwitimira kuchikoroko, kunoona vatendi ava vainzi vairura, zvikwapuro zvemadhimoni neimwe mweya yakasviba. Isu nhundurwa mbishi takasvika dandare rati pamu-pamu nevadzani, mikwimba yevarume nezvikadzi zvaivanga pasi. Ngoma ndokuchidandaurwa. Kwakatambwa vehama, usiku hwose ngoma ichitsemurwa, pasi pachirikitwa. Mharidzo dzikaitwa nedzaitaudza matombo. Zvigagairwa zvikaimba kusvikira zvarasa mazwi, uku vatambi vachingokweshana, ngoma ikati mati manzwei. Kuchinonzi vabaiwa neshoko tendeukai, tose dungwe rongondo. Pwere neharahwa dzeMototi ndokutendeuka. Tichibvawo tadzibatiswa ngoma, ndokuripinda dariro. Kwakadzaniwa, chikuruva mone sepairwa mabhuru mana. Pakazoedza repiri zuva, tese tanga tadhamba, uku ngoma dzaibva nekurikitwa, dzati rabada....

I just got, from the author, information about this novel that is set in Zimbabwe. It's is entitled We Are All Zimbabweans Now, and from the reviews and blurbs, its premise seems interesting. The book was published by Umuzi (Cape Town), a division of Random House. Here is some information about the novel and author: Description In 1981 a young American historian arrives in Zimbabwe, full of idealism and enthusiasm for the benevolent new Prime Minister Robert Mugabe and the post-colonial new beginning for that country. His historic research leads him to an apparent murder case, unresolved since the days of the bush war. As he draws – or is lead – or yet mislead – closer to an answer, he becomes involved with a local woman through whom he soon finds himself in the inner circle of the new ruling class. Once the euphoria starts dissipating he encounters increasingly menacing instances of corruption and repression, including threats to himself to abandon his investigation. With every ne...

It's clear (at least to me)by now that I am very excited about the selection of Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of them to the Oprah Book Club . I had already bought the book three weeks earlier, which meant that I paid a higher price than the $8.00 or so it is going for now since its on a 30 percent discount in many bookstores. Yes, very many bookstores, nearly ALL bookstores, and retail and grocery stores. I have already seen many copies in places like Borders, Barnes and Noble, now it's everywhere: Target, Costco, Rite AID, and of course, all the online outlets. It's everywhere, because Oprah recommended it, but most importantly because Akpan wrote it the way he did, which led to an agent liking it enough to sell it to Little, Brown and Company where it fell in the hands of caring editors and publicity personnel... For them, as it is for Akpan, for African literature, and for the short story genre, it's a huge success. For that reason (the causal process here d...

"Now, let's hope that literary agents and editors will begin to consider our manuscripts seriously," writes Chielo Zona Eze , author of The Trial of Robert Mugabe , in his comment about the new Oprah Book Club selection, Say You Are One of them by Nigerian author and Jesuit ordained priest Uwem Akpan. Eze makes a great point here, since publishing is driven by these kinds of market forces, and it goes without saying that Oprah is a big force in the publishing industry. I am happy that Akpan's stories (set in Africa) will gain greater exposure now...; and yes, quite a few important people in the American book world will notice more such works as this one. The book was published by Little, Brown & Company, a company that knows how to market its books. I bought my copy of Akpan's book three weeks ago at Barnes and Noble where it was on a special display with other African books. I am currently reading another of Little, Brown's latest African publications, ...

I just picked up my copy of the Rattlesnake Review 23 at the Book Collector. I was waiting for this one since it carries my poem, but as I was looking for the poem (which is on page 49), I was pleased to see poems by Zimbabwean poets Tinashe Muchuri and Julius Chingono (on page 48), and right on the next page from where mine was, there was a two-page spread of Ruzvidzo Stanley Mupfudza's work! I know Mupfudza very well, from our University of Zimbabwe days, and he is my friend on Facebook where we chat sometimes. It's amazing how things are connecting in this internet world, but I am most impressed by the growing poetic connection between Sacramento and Harare. They are fast becoming poetic sister cities. In issue 22, Rattlesnake Review guest featured Tinashe Muchuri, another good friend of mine in the writing world. These two are well-connected writers in Zimbabwe, so it is likely that Rattlesnake may see an upsurge in submissions from Zimbabwe. And that's good, because...

We all do it; we write about real people, whether we use just a few details about a person we know. Then there are those who will base whole characters on real people, but attempt to fictionalise everything. Both fiction and non-fiction are based on real life, and how close we are to the specific details that inspire our writing depends on genre and style. These and other issues were the subject of a panel discussion held yesterday at the UC Davis extension center in downtown Sacramento. Titled "What Would Mother Say?", the panel discussion featured local writers Jan Haag, Jodi Angel, Elain Corn, and Jennifer Basye Sander, who discussed the different ways they balance between truth and fiction, loathing and love. It was a very inspiring discussion which made me realize that even at its most fantastical, my fiction borrows heavily from people I know, their lives, their dreams, failures--there is always a thread that connects everything. The discussion went into issues of what...

WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA -- Artsinitiates-Zimbabwe and Township Productions of Namibia will from 25 to 27 September host poets from the region for the inaugural Sadc Poetry Festival. The festival is being funded by Prince Claus Fund while the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre, Township Production as well as Gentlemen’s Club are partners. The festival seeks to foster a culture of networking among poets as well as producing a poetry anthology after the event. The three-day event will open on Friday, 25 September in the evening before the workshop scheduled for the FNCC on Saturday 26. On September 27 the poets will perform to the public in selected areas. Some of the poets attending are Tebogo Makgetla and Keselofetse Ditsabatho (Botswana); Moffat Moyo and Milensu Kapaipi (Zambia); Cynthia Marangwanda (Zimbabwe); Khadija Tracey Heeger (South Africa) and Phinda Mkhonta (Swaziland). Memory Chirere, Zimbabwean writer and university lecturer, will be one of the resource persons, coordinating the work...

Lately, I have been reading fiction that features Bulawayo a lot, starting with Short Writings from Bulawayo II and Long Time Coming, both edited by Jane Morris and published in Bulawayo by amaBooks, to Yvonne Vera's Stone Virgins and Chris Mlalazi's Many Rivers (the latter is set in Johannesburg, but Bulawayo plays a significant part), and now I am reading The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini, which gives abundant details about Bulawayo as a setting. Bulawayo matters to me, especially in my fiction. Since I grew up in Mazvihwa, I had easier access to Bulawayo than Harare. Mine was known as the Harare family, because all my older brothers worked in Harare, but most families in Mototi sent their children to Bulawayo. Even our local bus brought more passengers from Bulawayo than anywhere else, and most of my school mates spent their holidays in Bulawayo, and when they came back, we heard all about it. It was where, for instance, Leni (fictionalized name) escaped to when his un...

The audience packed the Book Collector for the Rattlesnake Book Launch Sacramento is the city of poetry. At any night of the week you can find a poetry event to go to, whether it's in the downtown area, or somewhere in the Greater Sac area. I usually just attend the Monday night readings at the Sacramento Poetry Center, where I am a host, but tonight I found myself attending two events, one at the Book Collector and a second one, at the Queen Sheba [Ethiopian] restaurant on Broadway. The Book Collector event, which started at 7:30pm, was a chapbook and broadside launch by Rattlesnake Press, the publishers of the Rattlesnake Review . The chapbook is Mirror, Mirror: Poems of the Mother-daughter Relationship by Susan Finkleman. The broadside is Late Harvest by Marie Reynolds. The poets read from their new works and the Book Collector was full, with people standing outside the door. The poets were introduced by the editor and publisher of Rattlesnake Press, Kathy Kieth. Nice event in...

State of the Nation: Contemporary Zimbabwean Poetry "Publishers in Zimbabwe have certainly failed poetry," writes Tinashe Mushakavanhu in his introduction to the new anthology of contemporary Zimbabwean poetry, State of the Nation. We can extend this further: publishers everywhere have failed poetry as they pursue profitable genres. And if in doing so they argue that they are trying to give readers what they want, then readers everywhere have failed poetry.... But here is a new anthology that will get many reading. It's the first collection I have seen that covers a cross-section of classic and contemporary Zimbabwean poets. I, for one, am honored to have my poems featured alongside Chenjerai Hove, Dambudzo Marechera, Charles Mungoshi, John Eppel, Nhamo Mhiripiri, Ignatius Mabasa, and many others. What's more, the collection features short personal essays, which in the words of co-editor David Nettleingham, tell the poets' stories "of personal experience, of...

Once in a while I do the cafe thing--carry my laptop, go to a cafe that has wi-fi, plug in the gadget, buy something (I figure it is a good thing to buy something if I am going to occupy a table for a couple of hours).The purchase entitles me to a passcode for the internet and use of the restroom, especially if I am in this one cafe chain that specializes in both coffee and tea. Ok, right now I am in one of them, avoiding a story I am supposed to be working on (because I have to remember some specific details of the Chivi and Mazvihwa of the late 70s). This place has the African theme going on big time. They carry coffees from Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, and they have varieties of Indian and British tea. Nothing new in this; I have been here before. However, their latest addition,which cost me some change before I was even able to connect to the internet, is a little house-shaped container of tiny cookies called Khaya, a product of South Africa. The container did not give me a ...

Adichie's The Thing Around Your Neck. I probably just found my best Barnes and Noble, the one in the Birdcage shopping center in Sacramento. Not only was I able to find the African literature titles I have been looking for, but they were merchandised face-out, to show that they are hot items. Even when I couldn't find one of the titles, a bookseller walked me to the shelf, and there, face-out, was Adoabi T. Nwaubani's novel, I Do Not Come to You by Chance . Then what the bookseller said after that was just wonderful: "African fiction is the new hot product in the market, even the music department is seeing many new African titles, especially from Southern Africa." I stood there smiling. I am happy that finally I can walk into a bookstore and find some of the latest African titles on the shelves. Ten years ago that was not the situation. I even worked for a bookstore myself as an inventory manager, and I remember how dismal my efforts to acquire African titles wer...

2009 Shortlist and Commendation (alphabetical order) "Snow" by Elaine Barnard, California, USA "Cold Cut" by Alexa Beattie, CT, USA "Harm" by Michael Copperman, Oregon, USA "Southern Hospitality" Alyn Fenn, Co.Cork, Ireland "My Friend Joe" by David Mohan, Co. Dublin, Ireland "The Mason's Tale" by Alec Solomita, MA, USA "Holding On" Sheena Wilkinson, Co. Down, N. Ireland Commendations (In order of entry) “The Shaman Can’t Call the Spirit Home” Benjamin Arda Doty, Mn, USA “Scattered Teeth” Tabitha Roemish, Seattle, USA “The Statistician” Richard Scarsbrook,Toronto, Canada “The Fallen Cone” Sasha Margolis, Ohio, USA “Nel Mezzo del Camin” James Moynihan, Cork, Ireland “The Sky at Night” Robert Keaton Mac Donald, California, USA “Giving Up” Gerry McCullough, Northern Ireland “The Girl in the Window” Brian Kirk, Dublin, Ireland “Island Shaman” René J. Navarro, Pennsylvania, USA “The Girl at the Fair” Howard Petote,...

Since the beginning of summer (let's be honest, since February) my reading has been focused on literary fiction, particularly the short story. The poetry books have been piling up, waiting to be read. I can't wait to get started on John Amen and Alice Teeter's new collections. I love reviewing poetry, so watch this space. I'm, as they say, kinda busy and should take it easy on reading for pleasure, but I can fit in one or two volumes of poetry here and there.

Farafina 17 features my reviews of Brian Chikwava's Harare North and Chimamanda Adichie's The Thing Around You Neck . Go there and read the reviews.