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Excerpt of the Zambia Wrap

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  EXCERPT THE ZAMBIA WRAP EMMANUEL SIGAUKE   I hadn’t expected to be dating this soon, online of all places. Match dot com, to be exact, before Tinder and the other swipe apps came along. The dates started off as harmless encounters with African-American women of various sizes and skin shades, presented as filterable thumbnails, all there awaiting a click. The site kept suggesting women in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno, even Boston, but I confined my search to Sacramento. As the state capital, it drew people from every corner of California. State workers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, and recent arrivals. These were more profiles than I could ever answer, and I saw no reason to drive, let alone fly, further afield in search of romance. Earlier, I had tried Great Expectations on Howe Avenue. They made us fill out partner-preference forms, then handed us binders of strangers and played videos of confident love-seekers. If someone caught your eye, a staff member presented you w...
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October Was a Good Month of Publications

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 October 1st:  publication of The Zambia Wrap, my short story set at the eve of online dating, featuring especially Match.com. Story published as a single by ZamaShort. A story that mildly scared me when all the editing was done and it was getting published: the confessional honesty of my protagonist. But an ADES colleague I discussed the publication with in Ghana said my reaction was a good sign that I had written something daring, provocative, and worth talking about.  I avoided talking about it to the more than 350 visitors to Ghana I have travelled with as we had more urgent matters to attend to, realities to deal with, a history of pain, but also a return (for most of my colleagues) to celebrate. But the story is out there, running the rounds on different platforms, and i am now ready to promote it. Here is one link to a preview of The Zambia Wrap.   Enjoy!  Then to close off the month neatly, "We Gather" was published by Saraba Magazine on October 31st. I ...
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A Return to Blogging

 It's been a while since I updated this blog, but I remember the great days of discovering writers, especially African writers. Early on, these pages celebrated each newly discovered African writer; and I would make predictions such as, this is the moment for African writers. Ever since, some of these writers are now big names on the world stage. And I can repeat: this again is the time for the African writer.  I am currently reading two memoirs by African writers which I plan to review here, books by my professor at UZ Francis Matambirofa and Ugandan writer Ber Anena, whom I first met at the African Writers Conference in Berlin, when she rendered a memorable, star-style poetry reading!  The two have produced memoirs that are making me return to book reviewing and to blogging! 
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Ronasi Fiction Prize for Mototi Ward Primary Schools (Zimbabwe)

The Ronald Sigauke Memorial Fiction Prize, in collaboration with Chisiya Writers’ Workshop in Mazvihwa, Zimbabwe, announces the first edition of the RONASI Fiction Prize for Grade 7 students at Mototi Ward Primary Schools (Gudo, Mototi, and Gwen'ombe Dip). This prize is offered by the Sigauke family in memory of Ronald Sigauke, who died at the age of 7 in Harare. He was in primary school and had already expressed his dream to get an advanced education.    Although his school in Glen View was about 20 minutes' walk from home, he had asked his uncle in America to send him a bicycle so he could cycle to school, to arrive quicker. He was young but already was showing signs of an emerging scholar. This competition honors his ambition by making education and bicycles the two themes contestants can base their stories. Themes:    Contestants will choose one only. 1.        Education and success : Your story should feature characters d...
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Bob Stanley Hosts Cool Poetry on Hot Nights

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California Launch of NoViolet Bulawayo's 'Glory"

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  I will be in conversation with NoViolet Bulawayo on Wednesday, March 16, for the California Virtual launch of the her new novel, Glory.   You can register on Crowd Cast to be part of this even t. Below a description of the event offered by the organizers:    From the award-winning author of the Booker-prize finalist We Need New Names, a blockbuster of a novel that chronicles the fall of an oppressive regime, and the chaotic, kinetic potential for real liberation that rises in its wake. Glory centers around the unexpected fall of Old Horse, a long-serving leader of a fictional country, and the drama that follows for a rumbustious nation of animals on the path to true liberation. Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president of nearly four decades, Bulawayo's bold, vividly imagined novel shows a country imploding, narrated by a chorus of animal voices who unveil the ruthlessness and cold strategy required to u...
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Introducing Ipikai, A New Zimbabwean Poetry Journal

 A new Zimbabwean online journal has just been launched. This journal is the first of many planned initiatives by the Zimbabwe Poetry Society, a new organization that brings together Zimbabwean poets at home and abroad.  The journal's mission is "to  make Zimbabwean poetry more visible and accessible locally and around the world and to make an impactful contribution to the global community of poets."  Ipikai Poetry Journal plans to publish one issue every quarter. Visit their   submissions  page for more information. There you will see detailed instructions on how to submit. 
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