Bulawayo's Reading Africa Panel Discussion

 

Bulawayo writers discuss their writing, Zimbabwe's reading culture and their new projects as part of Catalyst Press' Reading Africa Project.

The recording is available through the link below:

Bulawayo's Reading Africa Panel 

How do authors create their characters - with John Eppel, Violette Kee-Tui, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu and Bryony Rheam

 Four Bulawayo novelists John Eppel, Violette Kee-Tui, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu and Bryony Rheam in discussion about how they create characters in their novels with Dr Drew Shaw. 

Recorded at The Orange Elephant in Bulawayo, with the support of The Centre for English Excellence and The Orange Elephant.

The links to the three sections of the discussion are below:

Section One

Section Two

Section Three

All Come to Dust in Bulawayo

Photos courtesy of Violette Kee-Tui

Last week, Bryony Rheam read from some of her published short stories and from her forthcoming novel, All Come to Dust, at Middys Coffee Shop in Bulawayo. The novel follows Chief Inspector Edmund Dube as he investigates the suspicious death of Marcia Pullman. As the investigation unfolds so does the story of Dube's life from his early years as he begins to put the pieces together of why the Scottish couple, for whom his mother worked, left the country in a hurry and Dube with an abiding sense of abandonment.  

The readings at Middys were well attended, with a scattering of other writers published by amaBooks, including Mzana Mthimkhulu, John Eppel and NoViolet Bulawayo. The event was organised by Hubbard's Historical Tours.

NoViolet Bulawayo and Bryony Rheam

John Eppel and friends

Mzana Mthimkhulu

Bryony is an ardent fan of Agatha Christie, a passion inherited from her grandmother. As testimony to this enthusiasm for Christie, she won the international Write Your Own Christie competition, which involved writing a chapter of a novel in the style of Agatha Christie, following on from chapters of previous winners. She was also runner-up for a previous chapter she wrote.

As her prize Bryony travelled to London to have dinner with Christie's grandson and the detective novel writer's British and American publishers. It will be up to Bryony's readers to judge whether she is able to follow in Christie's footsteps and weave as tangled a web as the best-selling author did in her many works.

All Come to Dust, to be published by amaBooks in November 2018, will be available in Zimbabwe through amaBooks and elsewhere through the African Books Collective.

Bryony's short stories have appeared in several anthologies published by amaBooks: Moving On and Other Zimbabwean Stories, Where to Now?, Long Time Coming and Short Writings From Bulawayo I, II and III. Short stories by Mzana Mthimkhulu and John Eppel have also been published in the anthologies, and John Eppel has had several novels, poetry and short story anthologies published by amaBooks. A story by NoViolet Bulawayo was published in Where to Now?.

The Intwasa Short Story Competition 2013

  

The Intwasa Short Story Competition 2013

The Intwasa Short Story Competition enters its ninth year this year, 2013. The competition, which was inaugurated in the first year of the festival, is an annual literary event seeking to promote original creative writing talent in English. In 2011 the award for the winner was named the Yvonne Vera Award, after the late Dr. Yvonne Vera, a literary genius whose works include Why Don’t We Carve Other Animals, Nehanda, Without a Name, Stone Virgins, and Butterfly Burning. The Yvonne Vera award carries a $500 cash prize.

The rules of the competition are as follows:

- There is no particular theme

- Entries must be written in English

- Entries should be previously unpublished

- Only one entry per person

- All work must be original

- Entries must be typed

- Maximum 3000 words

- The competition is open to all Zimbabwe citizens and residents

- Entries must be submitted by June 30, 2013

- Late entries will not be accepted

- Only the short-listed candidates will be personally notified

The competition has developed to become one of the leading writing competitions in Zimbabwe, continuing to encourage and promote the original Zimbabwean narrative. Last year the competition was won by Violette Kee-Tui with her story Tattered Cloth. The story explored interracial relationships and had the judges praising its use of language and imagery. Violette Kee-Tui is a former editor of the Edgars  Club Magazine.

Sipho Mpofu’s A Congenial Man and Nixon Nembaware’s The Rain God of Nyatanga Hill were among the top three stories of 2012.  Each year the standard of writing continues to improve.

Writers are invited to start submitting their stories to:

Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo

403 LAPF HOUSE

Jason Moyo Street

8^th Avenue

Bulawayo

Email: info@intwasa.org  or Info.intwasa@gmail.com

The 9^th edition of Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo is set for 24 -29 September 2013. The festival will be held under the theme Cultural Diversity – The Common Heritage of Humanity.