Author Paul Williams Featured in Mazwi: Zimbabwean Literary Journal
Good conversation, Tinashe Mushakavanhu and Paul Williams. We need more honest dialogues like this about Zimbabwe, about any country really. Now I want to read everything Paul has written. I want to interview him even! There is nothing as invaluable as a writer's voice that treats issues as they are (with their complexity), without seeking to impress certain interests or simply following what's in fashon at the time. Examples: everyone is writing a memoir about farm seizures in Zimbabwe, let me write a memoir about farm seizure in Zimbabwe; or everyone is writing a short story about this and that, let me write a short story about this and that too. Of course, this seems to be the case in Zimbabweean writing because of the current rise in themed anthologies; so writers have to satisfy the editor's needs, which is a practical consideration, but eventually, after that one or two short stories, start to treat matters the way you want to, even if it means taking a radically ...