Writers & Poets Events in December (Sacramento & Harare)
The Sacramento Poetry Center is holding a Fundraising Benefit at The Millers featuring Gordon Preston, Kathleen McClung, Allegra Silberstein, Shadi Gex, and Ellaraine Locke. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, December 1 at 6:00pm to 8:00pm. 1224 40th St., Sacramento, California. $30 at the door, $20 for members.
Former Sacramento mayor Burnett Miller (and major contributor to Ken Burns’s series entitled “The War”) and his wife, Mimi, graciously open their home to support the Poetry Center. Tim Kahl, SPC events coordinator and board vice president says, "Please come and support the organization while you enjoy a tempting spread of delicacies and converse with a panoply of Central Valley literati. This year’s winners of the Sacramento Poetry Center poetry contest will be featured at the event."
And from Zimbabwe, here is an announcement from the interim committee of a new (proposed) umbrella body of writers:
INVITATION TO WRITERS GENERAL MEETING
The Interim Committee of the proposed new umbrella writers organization of Zimbabwe, in line with the mandate granted to it on 27 August 2010, is inviting you all writers who have been supportive of this initiative from the beginning as well as all other willing writers of Zimbabwe to a meeting on 4 December, 2010 at the Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa at 57 Mazowe Road, Harare (Close to Parirenyatwa Hospital and opposite The Sudanese Embassy) from 08:30:00hrs to 13:00hrs. The the major business of the day will be a)tabling The Draft Constitution for discussion and adoption, b)adopting the name of the organization and c)mapping the way forward.
Background
On 29 July 2010, on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF 2010) 33 Zimbabwean writers who attended a Workshop at the Zimbabwe German Society to discuss the status of writers and their organizations in Zimbabwe unanimously agreed to form a new national organization that serves to unite the various associations in one voice where their common welfare is concerned. A few notable experiences may serve as useful examples in this regard:
- The Charles Mungoshi situation
- Ruzvidzo Mupfudza?s problem and subsequent death
- The Unicef-Longman Project
- The National constitutional consultative exercise
- Contractual rights with publishers
- National policy on literature in schools curriculum
- National Book Policy Crisis
- Copyright issues
- Other problems and grievances impacting negatively on writers? welfare
In the end, a Steering Committee was set up to consult widely with other writers not present, approaching publishers to provide names and addresses of those writers who were not present at the meeting; enquire if individual writers? organisations would support the idea of a new national writers? organisation and if so, what kind of organisation they envisaged and report back to plenary on 27 August 2010. On this date an Interim Executive Committee was elected and given the mandate to:
- Draft a constitution for the new organization
- Raise funds for the initial operations of the organization
- Call a General Meeting to for tabling, discussion and adoption of the Draft Constitution
- Registration of the Constitution with National Arts Council
- Go on a membership drive in preparation for Elections of substantive Executive Committee to subsequently take over from the Interim Committee by end of February, 2011.
To this end The Draft Constitution is now in place and will be put before the members during the meeting of 4 December 2010. The agenda is as follows:
ZIMBABWE WRITERS GENERAL MEETING
DATE: 4th December, 2010
VENUE: ZIMBABWE FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
57 MAZOWE ROAD, HARARE
(Close to Parirenyatwa and opposite The Embassy of Sudan)
PROGRAMME
08:30 Arrival and Registration
09:00 Opening Remarks - Dr Rino Zhuwarara
09:15 Minutes of 27th August, 2010
09:25 Introductions and Report Back(Interim Committee)
10:00 Tea Break
10:15 Discussion of Draft Constitution
11:30 Way Forward
1l:45 Closing Remarks - Mrs Tawona Mtshiya
12:30 Lunch and Networking
Here is another announcement from WIN-ZIMBABWE, of which I am a board member:
It's almost a week to go before writers and poets level the literary vibes at the popular Book Café in Harare . The ‘End of Year Writers Get Together’ roars into life on December 11 2010 at the said venue from 10 am to 1 pm, with some of Zimbabwe ’s talented writers and poets set to render ‘thirst-quenching’ speeches, readings, and performances. The event is running under the theme “Building a Future through Writing”. Renowned dub poet and musician Albert Nyathi will speak about the origins of spoken word/praise poetry in Ndebele culture, and of course he will give you a taste of “My Daughter” and other poems of his. New generation writers Tinashe 'Mutumwapavi' Muchuri and Phillip Chidavaenzi will explore "the paucity of training workshop facilities for aspiring poets" and "fiction writing" respectively; distinguished poet Julius Chingono, representing the beloved old generation of writers, will read from his exciting yet gripping poems. There will be a lot more performances by younger, gifted poets.
Former Sacramento mayor Burnett Miller (and major contributor to Ken Burns’s series entitled “The War”) and his wife, Mimi, graciously open their home to support the Poetry Center. Tim Kahl, SPC events coordinator and board vice president says, "Please come and support the organization while you enjoy a tempting spread of delicacies and converse with a panoply of Central Valley literati. This year’s winners of the Sacramento Poetry Center poetry contest will be featured at the event."
And from Zimbabwe, here is an announcement from the interim committee of a new (proposed) umbrella body of writers:
INVITATION TO WRITERS GENERAL MEETING
The Interim Committee of the proposed new umbrella writers organization of Zimbabwe, in line with the mandate granted to it on 27 August 2010, is inviting you all writers who have been supportive of this initiative from the beginning as well as all other willing writers of Zimbabwe to a meeting on 4 December, 2010 at the Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa at 57 Mazowe Road, Harare (Close to Parirenyatwa Hospital and opposite The Sudanese Embassy) from 08:30:00hrs to 13:00hrs. The the major business of the day will be a)tabling The Draft Constitution for discussion and adoption, b)adopting the name of the organization and c)mapping the way forward.
Background
On 29 July 2010, on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair (ZIBF 2010) 33 Zimbabwean writers who attended a Workshop at the Zimbabwe German Society to discuss the status of writers and their organizations in Zimbabwe unanimously agreed to form a new national organization that serves to unite the various associations in one voice where their common welfare is concerned. A few notable experiences may serve as useful examples in this regard:
- The Charles Mungoshi situation
- Ruzvidzo Mupfudza?s problem and subsequent death
- The Unicef-Longman Project
- The National constitutional consultative exercise
- Contractual rights with publishers
- National policy on literature in schools curriculum
- National Book Policy Crisis
- Copyright issues
- Other problems and grievances impacting negatively on writers? welfare
In the end, a Steering Committee was set up to consult widely with other writers not present, approaching publishers to provide names and addresses of those writers who were not present at the meeting; enquire if individual writers? organisations would support the idea of a new national writers? organisation and if so, what kind of organisation they envisaged and report back to plenary on 27 August 2010. On this date an Interim Executive Committee was elected and given the mandate to:
- Draft a constitution for the new organization
- Raise funds for the initial operations of the organization
- Call a General Meeting to for tabling, discussion and adoption of the Draft Constitution
- Registration of the Constitution with National Arts Council
- Go on a membership drive in preparation for Elections of substantive Executive Committee to subsequently take over from the Interim Committee by end of February, 2011.
To this end The Draft Constitution is now in place and will be put before the members during the meeting of 4 December 2010. The agenda is as follows:
ZIMBABWE WRITERS GENERAL MEETING
DATE: 4th December, 2010
VENUE: ZIMBABWE FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
57 MAZOWE ROAD, HARARE
(Close to Parirenyatwa and opposite The Embassy of Sudan)
PROGRAMME
08:30 Arrival and Registration
09:00 Opening Remarks - Dr Rino Zhuwarara
09:15 Minutes of 27th August, 2010
09:25 Introductions and Report Back(Interim Committee)
10:00 Tea Break
10:15 Discussion of Draft Constitution
11:30 Way Forward
1l:45 Closing Remarks - Mrs Tawona Mtshiya
12:30 Lunch and Networking
Here is another announcement from WIN-ZIMBABWE, of which I am a board member:
It's almost a week to go before writers and poets level the literary vibes at the popular Book Café in Harare . The ‘End of Year Writers Get Together’ roars into life on December 11 2010 at the said venue from 10 am to 1 pm, with some of Zimbabwe ’s talented writers and poets set to render ‘thirst-quenching’ speeches, readings, and performances. The event is running under the theme “Building a Future through Writing”. Renowned dub poet and musician Albert Nyathi will speak about the origins of spoken word/praise poetry in Ndebele culture, and of course he will give you a taste of “My Daughter” and other poems of his. New generation writers Tinashe 'Mutumwapavi' Muchuri and Phillip Chidavaenzi will explore "the paucity of training workshop facilities for aspiring poets" and "fiction writing" respectively; distinguished poet Julius Chingono, representing the beloved old generation of writers, will read from his exciting yet gripping poems. There will be a lot more performances by younger, gifted poets.
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