WEALTH OF IDEAS

On September 8, 2009, Little, Brown and Company (USA) is releasing The Boy Next Door by Geneva-based Zimbabwean author, Irene Sabatini, who grew up "gobbling up books from the [Bulawayo] public library". A graduate of University of Zimbabwe, Irene Sabatini "ventured across continents to Colombia...and one early morning she found herself in the lush countryside outside Bogota,...she opened a red notebook and started writing. She has yet to stop." This book is described as a love story set against he backdrop of political upheaval, crafted from an insider's perspective, since the author grew up in Zimbabwe, lived in two of the most important political enclaves of Zimbabwe--Harare and Bulawayo, not to mention some of her childhood in Hwange. "Insider perspective", great concept, as we all know the old writing adage write what you k now, which, when mixed with write what you don't know , may produce great results. Once you start your story in familiar ...

Yesterday I articulated that I am thinking of how nice it would be to have books or articles that discuss how to read African literature, a publication in the mode of Harold Bloom's How to Read and Why . Bloom's book looks at the different genres of literature and explains how to read by discussing key works that he calls the best for each category. He argues that most people are drifting away from reading because there are so many distractions, but if you still believe in reading, you might as well read the best work there is. Of course, the criteria Bloom uses to judge what's best is questionable as his best cannot be everyone's best, which is why, before I start telling people how to read African literature, which will end up being about telling them what to read, I should first talk with other readers to find out what they think of the category of African literaure itself. Jonathan Masere has responded, and below are his answers to the questionaire I built yesterday...

You know a name works when you open a package and tell the kids that you just received a book on African Folktales for Children by Uncle Blenblen and soon your five-year-old is laughing and singing "Uncle Blenblen! Uncle Blenblen!" That's the pen name of Jonathan Masere, who has released his collestion of tales with Lion Press Ltd in the UK. This, together with Sarudzayi Barnes's The Village Story-teller , is an addition to the growing list of African fairytale collections being published in and outside of Africa. They tap into the rich story-telling tradition of Africa and have a great potential to grip the hearts of many readers in the world. Let me tell you why story-telling, in its traditional sense, is important. As student populations' attention spans continue to be affected by the excess of electronica, teachers everywhere are figuring ways to engage students, and story-telling keeps coming up. Teaching through story-telling, but where are these stories? Th...