More amaBooks as ebooks

Books from the amaBooks backlist have now been added to the list of titles available as ebooks through the African Books Collective.

https://www.africanbookscollective.com/publishers/amabooks

NoViolet Bulawayo Comes Home to Bulawayo

The launch of NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel ‘We Need New Names’ at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on September 17 was a memorable occasion. It had been a long while since the gallery had hosted such a crowd, with over 300 people packing into the courtyard to welcome NoViolet home and to hear her in conversation with Dr Drew Shaw of the National University of Science and Technology. To use NoViolet’s words:

'Bulawayo came out proper with a crowd of close to 300, i'm made to understand, and gave me the launch of my dreams even as i had been told that folks in the City of Kings don't come out much anymore. very honored by the presence of many people i admire, and the many i do not know, who saw me worthy of their time and ears and hearts. then there was Ericah Gwetai (mother of the late Yvonne Vera, who found me in a room before the launch and sang me a song, dlala nkazana ♥). if you see me walk like i own the earth, forgive me because i'm suffering from too much love, from a small, proud place that came out big to show me who they were, and who i was. that was not a launch, it was a baptism, and Bulawayo, blue eyed city you, home of my girlhood you, you Bulawayo, ngiyazendlala on your feet with gratitude, thank you kabanzikazi.'

The launch was organised by ’amaBooks Publishers, the British Council – Zimbabwe, the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo and Bulawayo Agenda. The book is published by Weaver Press in Zimbabwe and distributed by ’amaBooks in Bulawayo.

The link to the soundcloud recording of NoViolet Bulawayo's conversation with Drew Shaw during the Bulawayo launch of We Need New Names is below.

https://soundcloud.com/drew-shaw-6/noviolet-bulawayo-in?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter

Photographs courtesy of Lene Lauritsen and Intwasa Arts Festival koBulwayo

Publishing and The Writer workshop at Intwasa

Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, British Council Zimbabwe and amaBooks Publishers invite you to the workshop

Publishing and The Writer

Thursday 26 September 11.00- 13.00

Selborne Hotel, Bulawayo

An informal meeting of writers to discuss writing and publishing options, particularly in the light of new technologies. The meeting will include sharing of experiences and will be facilitated by Jane Morris and Brian Jones of amaBooks Publishers. 

All welcome.

A busy week for literary Bulawayo

NoViolet Bulawayo at the Indaba Book Cafe in Bulawayo

The big event of the week is the hometown launch of NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel ‘We Need New Names’, at 5.30pm on Tuesday 17 September in the courtyard of the National Gallery in Bulawayo. The book has been long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award and short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. NoViolet is the first Zimbabwean, and the first Black African woman, to be shortlisted for the Man Booker, which has been one of the most prestigious literary awards for 42 years. The event, open to all, will feature readings by NoViolet as well as a conversation between NoViolet and Dr Drew Shaw of the National University of Science and Technology. The event is supported by amaBooks, British Council Zimbabwe, Bulawayo Agenda and Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo.

Earlier that day, NoViolet will facilitate a workshop for promising Bulawayo writers. The participants have been selected from those who have entered the Intwasa Short Story competition for the Yvonne Vera Award.

The next day, on Wednesday 18 September, there will be another literary event, at 5.30pm in the John Knight Cinema at the National Gallery. This time it will be a slide show presentation by Dr Drew Shaw, titled 'Looking back / Looking forward: Zimbabwean literature of the GNU period, 2009-2013', to be followed by discussion about whether or not we can see discernible trends in the national literature and critical studies of it in the last four years. As the title suggests, some literature casts its gaze back to earlier times, while other writing considers the contemporary situation or 'Where to Now?' (which is the title of one short story collection under discussion, published by amaBooks). On 29th June, Dr Shaw gave this presentation at the Britain Zimbabwe Society's 'Culture Without Borders' Research Day in Oxford and got interesting responses from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. Now the idea is to get Zimbabwe-based perspectives as we continue the discussion.

At the same time on Wednesday, Susan Hubert will be launching her novel ‘Sabi Star’ at Déjà vu.

On Friday 20 September, at 5.30pm in the National Gallery, Styx Mhlanga will launch ‘Acting Exercises & Games for Drama Plays in Schools & Colleges’.

NoViolet Bulawayo comes home

NoViolet Bulawayo comes home to Bulawayo to launch her debut novel We Need New Names.
The launch will take place on Tuesday 17 September at 5.30pm at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. The event has been organised and supported by 'amaBooks Publishers, British Council Zimbabwe, Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo and Bulawayo Agenda. All are welcome to attend the launch, there is no admission charge. The book has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and has just been shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. We Need New Names is published in Zimbabwe by Weaver Press and distributed in Bulawayo by 'amaBooks.
NoViolet was in Bulawayo a couple of weeks ago, meeting with Jane Morris and Brian Jones of 'amaBooks to discuss arrangements for her launch and other activities to promote an interest in literature in Bulawayo. Before the launch, NoViolet is to facilitate a workshop for promising writers from the city.
Her short story, Snapshots, was published in 2011 by 'amaBooks in the anthology Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe. The anthology was co-published with Parthian Books in the UK. The collection is being translated into isiNdebele and will be published by 'amaBooks later this year.
NoViolet is a past winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing and, for the last two years, 'amaBooks have published the Caine Prize anthology in Zimbabwe.

amaBooks titles from Mega Books in South Africa

Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township, Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe, Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe's Cultural Heritage are now available through print-on-demand from Mega Books. Other titles will follow soon.

amaBooks in Kenya for a Feast of Literature


In June, we, Jane Morris and Brian Jones, the two directors of ’amaBooks, a small independent publisher based in Bulawayo, visited the bustling city of Nairobi, to participate in a workshop for those involved in promoting literature, as well as a series of literary events.


Luckily when we arrived we didn’t have to battle through rush-hour traffic as this is a foolhardy pursuit if you want to reach your destination in a reasonable time, with matatus zigzagging crazily through the long traffic jams.


The programme in Kenya was devised to celebrate the British Council’s partnership with Granta, the UK’s leading literary magazine on their recent announcement of the “Best of Young British Novelists 4”.


For three consecutive decades Granta has selected 20 young writers who have shown exceptional promise on the British literary scene. As well as the British Council in Kenya, the other local partner in the programme was Kwani Trust, a Kenya-based literary network dedicated to developing quality creative writing.


Running in parallel with our workshop on “Promoting New Writers” was a fiction writing workshop. Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, the Zimbabwe representative, joined writers from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda.


The young writers were able to interact with award-winning British writers Adam Foulds and Nadifa Mohamed (two of Granta’s ‘Best of Young British Novelists’), Granta’s Deputy Editor, Ella Allfrey and Kwani’s Managing Director Billy Kahora.
 Attending the workshop gave us the opportunity to interact with others involved on the literary scene from other African countries and we were particularly pleased to meet up with two of the co-publishers of our next book. Femrite from Uganda and Kwani in Kenya are also publishing the latest collection of short stories from the Caine Prize for African Writing 2013 – “A Memory This Size”. The book has just arrived from the printers and will be in Zimbabwe outlets shortly.


Another highlight was exchanging ideas with the representatives from the Port Harcourt Book Festival, a literary event that takes place every October in the city, referred to as the Garden City, in the Niger Delta. Port Harcourt has had the honour bestowed on it of being elected as the UNESCO World Book Capital for 2014, the first city in sub-Saharan African to be chosen. The organizers of the festival are actively involved in promoting a reading and writing culture.


The workshop gave each participant the opportunity to talk about their experience of events and one of the examples we shared was the launches we had organized for the most recent book in the short writings series “Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe”, which seemed to fit in well with the theme of the workshop of promoting new writers.


We have used each of the five books in the short writings series to introduce new writers to the Zimbabwean reading public, through including their work with those of more established writers. Because of the scattering of Zimbabwean writers, we, for the first time, launched the book in South Africa as well as in Zimbabwe.


The venue for the launch was the Writers’ Centre at Wits University, where three of the writers featured in the collection, Thabisani Ndlovu, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma and Sandisile Tshuma, read from their pieces and answered questions from the audience. The Zimbabwe launch of the anthology, during the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo and held at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, featured readings, as well as a live drawing by the artist Owen Maseko, based on the short story “Snapshots” by NoViolet Bulawayo.


The growing emphasis on the use of social media in attracting and maintaining audiences for literary events was a key part of the workshop. Kwani gave the example of publicizing their events using Twitter and the innovative method of people buying a book prior to a launch by using Mpesa, an East African payment method via cell phones.


After the workshop, we were treated to a variety of literary events organized to celebrate Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, featuring readings and discussions with Adam Foulds, Nadifa Mohamed and Kenyan writers. Adam Foulds read from several of his books, including his narrative poem, “The Broken Word”, set in Kenya about the Mau Mau uprising.

Nadifa’s readings were mainly from “Black Mamba Boy”, her fictionalized account of her father’s early life in the Horn of Africa. The literary week ended with Granta, Kwani and British Council combining to stage the ‘Best of Young British Novelists 4 Sunday Salon’; on a balmy Sunday afternoon it was a fitting end to what had truly been a literary feast. 
The picture shows Ellah Allfrey, Nadifa Mohamed, Zukiswa Wanner, Adam Foulds and others.

– By Jane Morris and Brian Jones © Panorama Magazine 2013.


from Panorama Magazine (http://www.panorama.co.zw/index.php/archives/115-pan-news/616-a-feast-of-literature)