Saturday, September 29, 2012

Violette Kee-Tui wins Yvonne Vera Award at Intwasa 2012



Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo has announced this year’s winner of The Yvonne Vera Award for short story writing. This year’s winner is Violette Kee-Tui with her short story Tattered Cloth. The short story was adjudged the best out of 81 short stories submitted this year. The Intwasa Short Story Competition is an annually event organised by Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo. Violette Kee-Tui’s Tattered Cloth faced stiff competition from Sipho Mpofu’s A Congenial Man and Nixon Nembaware’s The Rain God of Nyatanga Hill.  For her efforts Violette Kee –Tui won $500. The Yvonne Vera award is supported by Hivos and the Norwegian Embassy and seeks to promote and honour creative writing, particularly short story writing in Zimbabwe.
In short Tattered Cloth is the story of forbidden love, and a relationship that is doomed from the beginning. It is well told and almost seamless. The judges fell in love with the story and heaped praise upon praise on Violette Kee-Tui’s narrative skills. 
Previous winners of the Intwasa Short Story Competition, which has developed into Zimbabwe's leading writing competition, include 'amaBooks writers Thabisani Ndlovu, Bryony Rheam, Chaltone Tshabangu, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma and Bongani Ncube.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Business of Writing workshop at Intwasa 2012



Over 50 writers, both established and emerging, attended the Business of Writing workshop on Saturday 22 September in the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. The workshop was part of the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo and was supported by the British Council. It was facilitated by Jane Morris and Brian Jones of 'amaBooks, with Mgcini Nyoni of Poetry Bulawayo and writer Naison Tfwala.
Mgcini concentrated on online publishing and Naison on the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing. Brian and Jane led discussion on the relationship between writers and publishers. Among subjects touched on were the changing world of publishing with the growth of self-publishing and the introduction of ebooks and digital printing. Opportunities for writers looked at included joining writers' groups, attendance at workshops, entering competitions, residencies and submitting work to poetry and story websites and blogs. The role of publishers in developing the skills of writers through constructive feedback on their submissions was an area of debate. It was great to see so many writers coming to the workshop and we hope to run more in the future.

Photograph courtesy of Batsirai Chigama

Friday, September 14, 2012

amaBooks at the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo 2012

Thursday 20 September at 5.30pm at the National Gallery in Bulawayo

Opening of the Intwasa Visual Arts Exhibition, where copies of African Violet, the Caine Prize 2012 anthology, will be available. 'amaBooks will also be involved in the launch of Shadows, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's debut novel, during the opening. Free admission.



Friday 21 September at 2.30pm at the Bulawayo Large City Hall

Song of the Carnivores, composed and arranged by Richard Sisson, features choirs of schoolchildren from across Bulawayo, with poetry readings and talks about the five large endangered carnivores: lion, leopard, wild dog, hyena and cheetah. Free admission.
Songs














Friday 21 September at 5.00pm at the National Gallery in Bulawayo

Announcement of the winners of the Yvonne Vera Award - the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo Short Story Award, which has developed into one of Zimbabwe's leading writings prizes. The announcement will take place during the launch of Ericah Gwetai's book Embracing the Cactus. Free admission.

Saturday 22 September at 10.00am at the National Gallery in Bulawayo

The Business of Writing. The workshop targets writers, dealing with the whole process of writing from creation, editing, publishing and marketing of literary works. 'amaBooks, together with two self-published writers, Mgcini Nyoni and Naison Tfwala, will facilitate the workshop. Free admission, but please register beforehand with the Intwasa office, 403 LAPF House, 8th Ave, Bulawayo, info@intwasa.org or (09)63928.



Friday, September 7, 2012

'amaBooks titles now available in South African copy shops

Several 'amaBooks publications can now be legally printed in copy shops across South Africa, through Paperight.

Paperight is a website that lets a copy shop, at present only in South Africa, print books for customers legally and quickly. 
Customers probably already ask the shop to photocopy books for them, but it’s illegal to copy without permission. Paperight gives the outlet a legal way to print books. Paperight have already got the publisher’s permission on your behalf.
The Paperight site is so fast and easy to use that it saves time and money, and is more cost-effective for customers than finding or copying traditional books.
Once the copy shop registers on the Paperight website (which is free and quick to do), it can choose from a whole library of books to print, as customers ask for them.
Publishers charge a small rights fee for each copy printed. When Paperight charges a rights fee, it is just added to the customer’s normal printing and binding charge. The overall cost to a customer is less than buying a traditional copy of a book, it is legal, and writers and publishers get their fair share.


For registered outlets near to you, if you are in South Africa, please look at the Paperight website http://paperight.com/

The available titles are:

Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township (Christopher Mlalazi)
Hatchings (John Eppel)
Intwasa Poetry
Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe
Short Writings from Bulawayo I, II and III
White Man Crawling (John Eppel)
Zimbabwe's Cultural Heritage (Pathisa Nyathi)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Where to Now? published in the UK


Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe is published this month in the United Kingdom by Parthian Books. Parthian's information about the collection states:
"Meet the prostitute who gets the better of her brothers when they try to marry her off, the wife who is absolved of adultery, the hero who drowns in a bowser of cheap beer, the poetry slammer who doesn’t get to perform his final poem, and many more.
The writing in this collection of short stories from Zimbabwe, edited by Jane Morris, is at times dark, at times laced with comedy. Set against the backdrop of Zimbabwe’s ‘lost decade’ of rampant inflation, violence, economic collapse and the flight of many of its citizens, its people are left to wonder – Where to now?
Penned by a range of award-winning Zimbabwean authors. Editor Jane Morris runs Zimbabwean publishing house ‘amaBooks with Brian Jones. She is originally from Ebbw Vale, Wales, and comes back to visit whenever she can. 
Comes with a glossary of Zimbabwean terms."

The book can be purchased directly from Parthian on http://www.parthianbooks.com/content/where-now-zimbabwean-short-stories