Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Bulawayo poets featured on Poetry International website


The work of seven Bulawayo poets is featured on this month's Poetry International website. Four of the seven have been published by 'amaBooks: Deon Marcus has had poems in each of the four books in the Short Writings series and his collection Sonatas won the 2005 National Arts Merit Award for Best First Book and the Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association award for Poetry and Drama; Shari Eppel's poem Bhalagwe was first published in Short Writings from Bulawayo; Mgcini Nyoni's When We Were Young and Mthabisi Phili's Sunset In Mzilikazi were both published in Intwasa Poetry.
Information about the poets and samples of their work appear on:
http://zimbabwe.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=18083

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

UK Publishing Deal for Bryony Rheam

Zimbo Jam reports the publishing deal between 'amaBooks and Parthian Books that will result in Bryony Rheam's This September Sun being available in UK bookshops in 2011.
Bryony Rheam with Tswarelo Mothobe at the Indaba Book Cafe in Bulawayo
The article also reports that This September Sun is now available online in South Africa through www.porcupinepress.co.za and that it is available as an ebook in the USA through www.scribd.com.

The article can be found at http://www.zimbojam.com/culture/literary-news/1877-uk-publishing-deal-for-bryony-rheam.html

The UK publishing deal for This September Sun is also reported in The Zimbabwean:
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35036:bryony-rheam-gets-uk-book-deal

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Bryony Rheam interviewed in African Writing




Bryony Rheam's interview with Emmanuel Sigauke about This September Sun has appeared in African Writing. The magazine is available as a 110-page print edition, or can be purchased online through www.african-writing.com.
The photographs are of Emmanuel Sigauke and of Bryony Rheam with Jeanette Johnson at the launch of This September Sun. Jeanette is the Bulawayo artist whose painting was used for the cover of the book.

Interview with Bryony Rheam:

1. I just finished reading This September Sun and I enjoyed it a lot. You created an impressive character in Ellie. I also now know that the book is not autobiographical, but what inspired Ellie?

Although the novel is not an autobiography, it is autobiographical in many ways. I am very much like Ellie and there are parallels in the events in our lives. I don't see her as myself though - she is a character in her own right.

2. I love the first sentence of this novel, but this question is about the ending. Is it reasonable for Ellie to expect to go back to Zimbabwe and find Tony waiting for her after all these years? Was it just a momentary epiphany, or a sudden realization that there could actually be alternatives to how she had thought she could dream? Or does it really matter what she returns to as long as she returns with a sense of hope?

The ending of the novel appears to be a 'happily-ever-after' one, but the more you think about it, the more you begin to wonder if this isn't another of Ellie's dreams - like her one of going to live in the UK. Will Tony be waiting for her or will he have met someone else? That's up to the reader to decide. However, although Ellie is an idealist who will probably encounter many problems and frustrations on her return to Zimbabwe, the most important thing is that she is going back to Zimbabwe with a sense of starting over rather than dwelling in the past.

3. Readers of my age seem to connect with Ellie in that she speaks for our times. But how important was it to make her ignore the war? If she was six at independence, was she too young to be bothered about the vagaries of war? I know I wasn't too young not to remember, but then I was in an area that continued to see the signs of war four or five years into the eighties. In other words, was the war as irrelevant as Ellie seems to imply?

I don't think that Ellie sees the war as irrelevant; after all, it had such an impact on her family. What she despairs of is the tendency of the older generation to almost wallow in its pain and therefore refuse to move on. It's a time in Zimbabwe's histrory that people seem to have to constantly return to, whether they be politicians, writers or the average person on the street. That's all very well, but what about now?

4. I know you have pointed out that this novel is a mystery/romance. But I think it turned out to be literary too. Do you care about it being considered literary? Or are those genre distinctions even necessary?

I am sure there are many ways in which the novel may be considered literary. I have actually discovered a number of things that may be considered symbolic, but that wasn't my intention when I wrote the book. T.S. Eliot believed that the author's intention wasn't as important as the reader's response and I go along with that. I'm glad that it can just be read as a mystery/romance because it means it appeals to a wider audience than a purely literary work would.

5. You have already been compared with Doris Lessing and because of that, I couldn't help but look for traces of the The Grass is Singing. Is this a fair comparison?

I have great respect and admiration for Doris Lessing and yes, I think it is fair to say that her writing has influenced me a lot. I remember sitting in almost trance like state after finishing the last page of The Grass is Singing!

6. Which writers have influenced your writing? How many of these are Zimbabwean, or is this even relevant?

There are three books which I could read over and over again. They are The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (I consulted this book many times when writing Evelyn's diaries), Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (I love the attention to the smallest detail) and Reef by Romesh Gunesekera, a Sri Lankan writer (politics are so much in the background here, they are almost non-existent, yet somehow you manage to feel its effects in the lives of the characters). Funnily enough, I haven't always liked other books by these writers.

7. There is always debate about whether one is or is not an African writer, and often, the debates are fraught with misunderstandings, leading to unnecessary controversy. Do you consider yourself an African writer? And what does this mean to you?

This is one debate that will go on for eternity! I think I'd just like to call myself a writer actually. I don't see any need to be anything in particular, even if I do live in Africa.

8.There are some subtle metafictional elements to This September Sun (which I enjoyed, by the way). How important was it for you to present Ellie as a writer? As I read the story, I enjoyed being aware that it was being written as I read.

I feel writing is a way of making sense of your life. Why, for instance, do people keep diaries? Both Evelyn and Ellie use writing for a number of reasons. One, as I said, is to make sense of their realities; another is to record it - both women want to be 'heard' by someone: Evelyn uses her diaries as a confessional and eventually leaves them to Ellie because she wants them to be read. Ellie feels constantly overlooked and therefore demands that the reader listen to her. However, as with all first person narratives, how far are they to be trusted? At times we see an incident from two different points of view, such as the time when Evelyn and Ellie visit Miles's house. Which is the truth?

9. I read somewhere that you studied literature in college. How has this influenced your writing? You are also a teacher. Do you believe, as Achebe, that a writer is like a teacher?

Studying literature at university definitely influenced me in a number of ways. I had to read a large number of books that I would never have chosen to read for a start! I also became much more aware of how vulnerable the writer is and how you have to constantly think about how your writing may be criticised, both positively and negatively - but this shouldn't stop you writing. The biggest drawback about studying literature is that you always want to look deeper into something and I really resented the way some of my favourite texts were almost carved up and dissected. I got to the point where I just wanted to read for reading sake and to be entertained, but I don't think you can ever do that again after studying literature! I did get frustrated when studying post-colonial litertaure because I felt that many of the white characters in much of the writing weren't 'real'. They tended to be limited to the District Commissioner or a policeman. Issues of identity and belonging were never seen as 'white' problems. I used to argue quite a lot during turorials, but I never really felt that I got the others to listen to me. I think everyone was too busy being politically correct! As for a writer being a teacher, I would hate to be didactic in my work, but I do think you can prompt the reader to look at a situation differently. How many times have you heard someone say, 'this book changed my life'? Books can have a huge impact on people.

10. Your novel has been hailed as the first one in Zimbabwe to educate readers about the white world in Zimbabwe in the 80's. I don't know how true this is, but having studied Zimbabwean literature at the University in Harare, I was well aware of the absence of white Zimbabwean literary works on the syllabus. Do you think the makers of the curriculum deliberately left out these works, or the works were not being written.

I don't think there have been many literary novels by white Zimbabweans. In fact, I can only think of Doris Lessing and possibly John Eppel. However, I do think that will change.

11. What aspects of This September Sun were difficult to write? I imagine coming up with those letters and keeping them in the same voice may have been time consuming, yet they sound so natural, so believable. Was this difficult to do?

Yes, it was very difficult to 'be' Evelyn. Sometimes I thought she sounded too old-fashioned, like a character out of a Jane Austen novel. I also struggled to find her a place within England. Should she be posh, upper-class or working class. I needed her to have a 'neutral' accent, because I would have found doing a broad Yorkshire accent or something similar very difficult! I had to be aware of the words I used in case certain expressions weren't in use in the 1940s and also be aware of the era in general - what did women do and what didn't they do? Getting the historical bits right meant a bit of research, but I enjoyed that.

12. What do you think of the future of Zimbabwean literature?

I think writers need to start to move away from the political, at least the overtly political. We need to write love stories and thrillers and mysteries, otherwise we will continue to go over the same ground.

Christopher Mlalazi reads with Ron Slate at the Sacramento Poetry Centre


Christopher Mlalazi read from his work at the Sacramento Poetry Centre on October 11. Also reading at the same event was American poet Ron Slate.

Chris read from his award-winning collection Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township.

Ron Slate earned his Masters degree in creative writing from Stanford University in 1973 and did his doctoral work in American literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He started a poetry magazine, The Chowder Review, in 1973 which was published through 1988. He lives in Milton, Massachusetts.

The Incentive of the Maggot, his first book of poems, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2005. The collection was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle poetry prize and the Lenore Marshall Prize of the Academy of American Poets. The collection won the Bakeless Poetry Prize and the Larry Levis Reading Prize of Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Great Wave, his second book, was published by Houghton in April 2009.

Chris earlier that day spoke about his work to students of creative writing, and others, at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Tendai Huchu appreciates This September Sun


Tendai Huchu, author of the recently published novel The Hairdresser of Harare, comments on Bryony Rheam's This September Sun:


"This September Sun is really really good, the prose borders on poetic. It's a gentle yet stunningly visual story. She's a breath of fresh air. Most of our authors, myself included, are storytellers but Bryony seems to be more of a stylist, an artist.

Over the last decade, decade and a half, virtually every book that has come out of Zimbabwe, both fiction and non fiction has had some protest of 'Mugabe', 'The Mugabe Regime', 'The Zimbabwean Government', 'Zanu PF' as its core selling point. Here you have a novel that would still work even if the circumstances in the country were different. This September Sun is a powerful work and breaks new ground in our literature.

The relationship between Ellie and Gran is as fantastic a relationship as has been conjured up in any book. Rheam is a language scholar and I've read novels constructed by graduates usually of creative writing programs, which though technically excellent lack passion, experience and soul in them. This is not an accusation you can level at Rheam. There is a poetic like quality in the prose that could have only come from the heart, not from the head."

Friday, October 8, 2010

Brian Chikwava's love-hate history with Zimbabwe




brian_chikwava
Brian Chikwava, who has contributed short stories to Short Writings from Bulawayo III and Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe, is interviewed in The Zimbabwean about a forthcoming lecture on the theme 'The Past is Another Country':

"I love it for innumerable things, but loathe it for the way it has ceased to care about the plight of its poor and less fortunate."


http://w
ww.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34625:chikwavas-love-hate-history&catid=57&Itemid=37

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Porcupine Press Website in South Africa To Sell 'amaBooks Titles



Two 'amaBooks publications, Bryony Rheam's This September Sun and Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe, are now being sold online in South Africa through the Porcupine Press website: www.porcupinepress.co.za

This September Sun is now available online for the first time in South Africa, and Long Time Coming is now available at a much lower online price. Other books to follow soon.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

amaBooks e-books in the USA



Three of amaBooks titles are now available in the USA as e-books: This September Sun, Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe and Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township.






They are all priced at $9.99, through http://www.scribd.com/document_collections/2622695