Shepherd Mutamba finally launched 'Tuku Backstage' in Harare on Saturday 28 March 2015

 

Mutamba shows the book during his speech

Mutamba signs a copy. Available at the Book Café, Harare.

David Mungoshi's new sequence

Just a hitch-hiker’s fantasy

(by David Mungoshi)

With fluid ease
she  leaned against the window of the open truck
And let the baby play with her nipples
richly-exposed!
The vehicle tore into the miles and left behind a long yawning road
And with the soft pink towel
from inside the baby bag
She wiped the milk oozing down  her dress
and let the wind do the rest
The supple and heavenly figure of a sweet temptress
in a peasant woman's cotton dress
that transcended the limitations
Exploded into the poet's consciousness through a view
of shapely legs
that could have easily won plaudits and a review
in some avant garde collector's item man's magazine
All this and more,
the poet thought and felt from the back of the truck
The older woman, the mother of the husband, so the poet learned
Had a twinkle in her eye
and a smile that said it was all right to flirt
And for just a short while be the village belle that strangers could adore
and poets could wax lyrical about in a poem about valued female assets
She too
was having her fun
in a kind of delayed season mode -vicariously on that grand stage
at the back of a swift truck
where dreams died all too soon as one's station loomed nearer
The poet
took it all in, in a glance
that lingered upon the woman's lips
The quiver there was rich
with the abundant promise of a free spirit
Daring him with her eyes to take her there and then
on wings of fancy
To ravish her upon a soft earthen altar 'neath the tropical sky
In that fleeting moment
the world stood still though the truck sped by
And their wayward souls willed a merger of their hungry longings
Then she laughed
a coarse laugh
spiced with raw desire
and just like that the moment was gone; and they both knew it,
but she of the face without make-up, she, a woman and a free spirit,
had won against a gaping poet with a note book and lots of words in his heart
Propelled
and puzzled
by the intensity of the moment
and the lessons
he still had to learn,
the poet
told himself he would do so soon
on a lazy October afternoon in the heat of the hot dry season
If she still would play,
and if the husband's mother would hum a tune,  
keep the baby quiet
and lull her to sleep with a drowsy lullaby
It was
all just a fantasy, the poet conceded with some reluctance,
something you dream up when you hitch-hike

 *** This is a very recent poem. The poet is currently working on a sequence to be called: 'Love and Hurt' - The Poems of David Mungoshi.

 

Zibf 2015 Indaba call for papers

 

THE ZIMBABWE INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR 2015 Indaba call for papers

THEME: GROWING THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY THROUGH RESEARCH, WRITING, PUBLISHING AND READING

INDABA CONFERENCE: 27 JULY – 28 JULY

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

On behalf of the Executive Board of The Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association, I wish to advise that the approved Theme for 2015 is – Growing the Knowledge Economy through Research, Writing, Publishing and Reading. We are, therefore, pleased to announce that the dates for The Zimbabwe International Book Fair have been set for 27 July – 1 August 2015 while The Indaba Conference is slated for 27 and 28 July.

In arriving at this Theme, the Executive Board took into account the many diverse recommendations made by participants at the conclusion of the 2014 Indaba and extracted the general spirit of those recommendations in order to determine this Theme.

 

The subject of Creative Industries and the Knowledge Economy is a vast contemporary phenomenon that cuts across all forms of creativity, storytelling, writing, publishing, architecture, graphics, dancing, technology, theatre, the film industry, motivational speaking, advertising etc.  Our view is that it is time we engaged this illuminating contemporary subject which would more than adequately address the interests of a vast majority of our stakeholders and bolster the impact of the arts and humanities research in the creative economy, at large where the new digital revolutions beckon ceaselessly for those eager to exploit the opportunities they offer.

 

We live in an age where it is easy to lose sight of the interconnectedness of human activities where the quest for knowledge, its application and propagation is not always linked; where the arts appear disparate from discipline to discipline and are encouraged to remain scattered entities uninformed by a common spirit; where creative writing and research are not accorded their complimentary nature and where literary skills are only seen as the raw materials of publishing industries rather than complimentary activities in the advancement of knowledge; where the Internet and social networks have yet to be appreciated as not just platforms for the communication of fellow feelings among groups but as fora for exchange and dissemination of knowledge and even publication of creative products; and even more critically, where the potential for marketing and selling of individual productions for economic benefit have yet to be fully appreciated.

 

SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

Abstracts of not more than 500 words and inquiries shall be received at the following email addresses: zibfa@yahoo.com copy events@zibfa.org.zw up to 15 April 2015 for reviewing by the ZIBF Indaba organizers and will be reviewed anonymously. Please note that the topics provided below are meant as guidelines and so presenters are at liberty to submit Abstracts that best fit the spirit of the given Theme.  Selected participants shall be notified by 30 April 2015 for development of their full conference papers. The final Papers should be submitted to the above e-mail addresses by 30 June 2015.

 

A. RESEARCH, WRITING AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

                1.  What do We Need to Know About the Creative Economy?

2.   Non Fiction Writing

                3.  Adding Value to Creative Writing in the Age of Digital Revolutions and Social Media

                4.   Who needs Academic Writing?

                5.   Research, Writing and the Creative Industries

 

B. MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS

                1.   Place of the Book Value Chain in the Book Industry

                2.   Book Marketing Across Africa: What Went Wrong?

                3.   Incentivizing Reading, Publishing, Sale and Distribution for African Books

                4.   Channel Structure, Management and Design Issues

                5.   Black and Grey Markets

                6.   Ethical Practices

                7.   Roles of MOPSE as Customer Regulator

 

C. BOOK POLICY

1.       Book Selection, Procurement and Distribution

2.       Language Policy and Democratization of Creativity and Knowledge

3.       Literacy Without Reading – an African Curse

4.       Mediating Between Creativity and Censorship

5.       Towards a Reading Culture

 

D. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, COPYRIGHT AND HERITAGE KNOWLEDGE

1.       The Importance of IP Law in Safeguarding the Knowledge Economy

2.       Models of Success in Fighting Piracy/in the Anti-Piracy Fight

3.       IP in the Digital Space

4.       Free Access to and Exchange of Knowledge versus the Demands of Copyright

 

E. LIBRARIES AS TEMPLES OF KNOWLEDGE

                1.   Libraries in the Promotion of Development

                2.   The Virtual Library of Knowledge Systems

                3.   Archiving in the Digital Era

                4.   Promoting Literate Environments

 

F. PUBLISHING IN THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

                1.   The Changing Face of Publishing in Africa

                2.   Writing and Publishing for the Challenged

                3.   Digitization of African Knowledge, Science and Medicine

                4.   Research on Patterns of Writing, Publishing and Reading in Zimbabwe and Africa

                5.   Digital Publishing

               

Musaemura B Zimunya

Chair, Executive Board, Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association

 

Tinashe Muchuri's debut novel

the cover! We will soon preview this amazing novel.