WEALTH OF IDEAS

"Some people think Zimbabweans are on the cowardly side when they employ what I call survival strategies. Faced with extreme danger to their person, Zimbabweans use two major approaches: run away or fall silent. So, the diasporans took the first option, to escape "to live to fight another day", as Bob Marley says. It is pointless to be a dead hero. No Zimbabwean will engage in "suicide bombing", writes Chenjerai Hove in his new essay published in the Mail & Guardian of South Africa. Read the rest of the essay here.

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 .

You should have seen me during the first week of April, glued to my computer or scrolling down cable channels to catch video and sound bites on Zimbabwe; I was ready to see real change and to join the subsequent nation-rebuilding dialogue. And I was already brainstorming on what my national-scale contribution would be, but all hopes crumbled when it became apparent that nothing would change that fast, that it would take some time before we knew the results of the elections; then when the results finally came, a strong fog of uncertainty was already hanging over the troubled country. But see, I am out of the country and my anxiety has also been exacerbated by not being on the ground to witness the reality attending to the people. I have become more aware of the uselessness of the media sources that I have relied on to raise my hopes for change. I have, however, noticed that the world has many questions about the Zimbabwean situation, questions leading to more questions, questions that s...

Zimbabwe's diaspora has given birth to yet another interesting writer,Tapiwa Kapurura, author of Touching the American Rainbow . Tapiwa Kapurura studied law in Zimbabwe before migrating to the United States in the year 2000. The synopsis of Touching the American Rainbow reads: Leaving Africa as an attorney, the young man from Zimbabwe left family and friends, and sold all his earthly possessions, hoping to start a better life in America. He took everything for granted. Considering himself educated enough to easily fit into the American job market, he hoped to easily pass the legal bar exam, become an American attorney and live “large.” Before departure, he combined his childhood fantasies with a mature analysis, convincing himself that he was bound for the biblical Canaan—“a land of milk and honey”. Just like anyone from the Third World, the author possessed a vivid-colored picture of America. He never contemplated any glitch in the transition process. Because of media hype, ...