Bulawayo novel tops UK online sales

Auxilia Katongomara, Entertainment Correspondent

Chronicle, 7 June 2013


BULAWAYO writer Bryony Rheam’s novel This September Sun this week became the best-selling e-book on Amazon in the United Kingdom in three different categories, literary fiction, historical fiction and in the overall sales category. 

Amazon is the biggest bookseller in the world, specialising in physical and e-books.
The novel was first published and launched in Bulawayo in 2009 by local publishers ‘amaBooks before the UK rights were sold to Parthian Books.
Brian Jones of ‘amaBooks said: “The book has been selling well in Zimbabwe since it was first published in 2009, and particularly well here since it was selected as an “A” Level set book by Zimsec.

It has taken a while for it to be noticed elsewhere in the world and we were surprised, and very pleased for Bryony, that sales of the e-book reached such high levels.”
He said it came as a great surprise to them that the little known author’s book sales have soared in the UK.

“It is, apparently, very unusual for a book by a new author to become a best-seller in the United Kingdom, beating nearly two million other titles, including those by well-known writers such as Dan Brown and F Scott Fitzgerald especially as Bryony has not been able to travel there to promote the book because of her work as a teacher.

Bryony is working in her spare time on a book of short stories and on a second novel, and I’m sure those books will prove at least as popular as This September Sun,” said Jones.

This September Sun, which is mostly set in Bulawayo, is a chronicle of the lives of two women, the romantic Evelyn and her granddaughter Ellie, from the time Evelyn arrived in the country at the end of the Second World War to the present day.

Growing up in post-Independence Zimbabwe, Ellie yearns for a life beyond the confines of “small town” Zimbabwe, a wish that eventually comes true when she moves to the United Kingdom.

However, life there is not all she dreamed it to be, but it is the murder of her grandmother that eventually brings her back home and forces her to face some hard home truths.  Ellie looks back, through her grandmother’s diary entries and letters, and through her own childhood memories, to the doomed relationship between Evelyn and her mysterious lover and to other long-concealed family secrets.

The author was born in Kadoma in 1974 and lived in Bulawayo from the age of eight until she left school. She studied for a BA and an MA in English Literature in the United Kingdom and then taught in Singapore for a year before returning to teach in Zimbabwe in 2001.

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amaBooks to translate book into isiNdebele

The Chronicle, 27 May 2013

AMABOOKS, the publishers of the story anthology, Where to Now?: Short Stories from Zimbabwe, are working on translating the book from the English language to isiNdebele to help promote the language.

The book would be titled Siqondephi Manje, Indatshana ZaseZimbabwe.

It is a collection of 16 short stories from Zimbabwean writers, the majority of them from Bulawavo.

In an interview, Brian Jones from Amabooks said they decided to translate the book into isiNdebele for the stories to reach a wider audience as well as promoting the language.

"The majority of the stories in the collection were written by Bulawayo writers in and out of the country and we realised that sometimes they think in isiNdebele and some of the words lose meaning in the process of translation into English.

"The stories often read much better in isiNdebele because it's the writers' mother tongue and some of the humour works better in isiNdebele," said Jones.

He said South African based writer Dr Thabisani Ndlovu was translating the book.

"So far, three stories have been translated by Dr Ndlovu, who is based at Wits University, and we are expecting that he would be done by the first of July.

"Zimbabwe has good writers and we want the stories they tell to be available locally as well as reach out to a much wider audience," he said.

The 150‑page anthology is made up of stories that deal with various social issues, among them life in modern day Zimbabwe, traditional values, modern life and the particularly changing role of women in today's society.

Where to Now is the fifth short story collection from Amabooks publishers.

The other books in the series are Short Writings from Bulawayo I, II and III, and Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe.

"The first books were mainly made up of pieces from Bulawayo writers because we were the only publishers in English here at that time, but we have since attracted Zimbabwean writers from all over the globe so we felt we should stop calling the books 'from Bulawayo’," said Jones.

Barbara Mhangami Ruwende's Christina the Colourful has been translated as Itshatshazi ElinguChristina and Mzana Mthimkhulu's I am an African am I? as NgingumAfrica Akunjalo?

Some of the popular short story writers are Raisedon Baya, Caine Prize winner NoViolet Bulawayo, Christopher Mlalazi, John Eppel and Mzana Mthimkhulu, among others.

Jones said they are expecting the book to be available on the market in September.

The project is funded by the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa.

Auxilia Katongomara, Entertainment Correspondent

Article on This September Sun signing from Bulawayo's Chronicle

This September Sun author signs autographs


Entertainment Editor

BRYONY Rheam, the author of the book This September Sun, which was launched in Bulawayo last year, was yesterday at the Indaba Book Cafe signing her book.

Indaba Book Cafe is a bookshop which was recently opened in Bulawayo. A handful of people had the opportunity to meet and ask her questions on her book and have her sign

the books that they would have bought.

The book was published by AmaBooks, a Bulawayo-based publishing house that has

published 23 books in its three years existences - a milestone.

An official from AmaBooks, Jane Morris, said the batch that was being signed was from their

second print run and the book has been well received.

"This is the first time that we have had a second print and the book has been popular among women," she said.

Morris said they initially printed 500 books and they ran out. Each copy costs US$20.

Book signings provide more than just a chance to get signatures.

For authors and bookstores the obvious benefit is that many copies of the book being promoted are sold.

Signings also increase public goodwill and allow authors to connect with their fans. For fans,

signings give them a chance to see and meet a favourite author and to ask them questions.

Book signing is popular because an author's signature increases the value of books for collectors.

The author may add a short message to the reader, called a dedication, to each book, which may be personalised with the recipient's name upon request. A simple author's signature

without a dedication is typically more valuable to collectors.

This September Sun was recently launched in Zambia, where Rheam is now based.