Christopher Mlalazi Iowa Bound

Mlalazi signing books at the Iso Won Bookstore in Los Angeles, 2010. We were co-featured at this event where African Roar 1 was launched. It was fun sharing the stage with Chris.

Christopher Mlalazi has done it again. He has just been offered a creative writing residency at the University of Iowa called the INTERNATIONAL WRITING PROGAM (IWP). 

Running from August to November 2012 annually, this program is the oldest and largest multinational residency in the world and has been in existence since 1967. Over 1400 writers from more than 130 nations have taken part in the residency.  The goal of the IWP is to provide authors the time to write, read, translate, study, conduct research, travel, give readings, and also be part of the vibrant literary and academic community of the University of Iowa, a major American research instituiton in Iowa city, the only American city designated as a UNESCO City of Literature. 

Christopher Mlalazi is a published author with two books to his credit, a short anthology titled DANCING WITH LIFE:TALES FROM THE TOWNSHIP, published by amabooks in 2008, and MANY RIVERS, published by LION PRESS (UK).  DANCING WITH LIFE won a 2009 NAMA award for Best First Published Book, and MANY RIVERS was nominated for a NAMA in 2009 in for Outstanding Fiction Work.  Also a prolific playwright, his 2010 stage play ELECTION DAY won a NAMA for Outstanding Stage Play. His current runing play is Fesibhuku which was produced by Savana Trust.  He has another play titled THE DR HOKASPOKAS SHOW which will open in December 2012 and will be produced by Rooftop Productions.

Mlalazi is not a stranger to residencies, as in 2010 he was a creative writing fellow in Los Angeles, and in 2011 was guest writer at the Nordic Afrika Institute where he also had the opportunity to go and read his work in Germany, Finland and Norway.

Mlalazi is also currently working on a new novel which he says is at an advanced level and he hopes to finish it in Iowa.

But how does Mlalazi do it; how does he keep getting these residency opportunities?

"If writers want to access international opportunity," says Mlalazi, " the trick is to have a published book or a stage play that has been produced.  These are the tangible art products that one can use as part of their CV. Then when one has the art product, then now you can search on the internet  for these residency opportunities." 

And he does it all: he runs a blog or two, he has published both in print and online, and he is into socia media, with many friends and subscribers on facebook. Most importantly, he is accessible and flexible, and has even read with Ron Slate at my reading series at the Sacramento Poetry Center. A humble, and very creative guy, hard working, committed to his art.

 Having attended a few very good residencies, Mlalazi definitely has one or two things to say about the art of getting into residencies: "It also pays to be part of the international writers network, and this one can only get by searching for these networks online.  So the bottom line is that writers must learn to extensively use the internet and online social media.  This is slow and painstaking work which calls for extreme investment  patience and discipline."

I am very happy about this. I already picture a special reading in Sacramento which will feature both Christopher Mlalazi and NoViolet Bulawayo (who will be in the Stanford University Stegner residency); two Zimbabwean writers, one Zimbwean host, at a location in Sacramento. But...shhh, I haven't talked to them yet about this.