NoViolet Bulawayo

Caine Prize 2023: Senegalese writers win for fantasy-horror story about dangers facing girls

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Dark, Language, Gender-related violence, A Small Place, Booker Prize, Hope, Anxiety, African literature, Guilt, Horror, Caine, Man, Assault, Caine Prize, Association, Starless Night, Shame, Strange Horizons, Growth, Environment, Homophobia, Literature, Woman, Nature, Dark Moon Rising, NoViolet Bulawayo, Book, Auction, Film industry, African

The influential Caine Prize for African Writing for 2023 was won by a power couple from Senegal. Their short story A Soul of Small Places (which can be read over here) echoes deeper trends in the country’s literature while picking up on the growth of horror and speculative fiction across the continent. African literature specialist Caroline D. Laurent explains.What’s the Caine Prize and what does winning it mean? The Caine Prize, awarded annually since 2000, acknowledges a short story written in English by an African author.

Key Points: 


The influential Caine Prize for African Writing for 2023 was won by a power couple from Senegal. Their short story A Soul of Small Places (which can be read over here) echoes deeper trends in the country’s literature while picking up on the growth of horror and speculative fiction across the continent. African literature specialist Caroline D. Laurent explains.

What’s the Caine Prize and what does winning it mean?

    • The Caine Prize, awarded annually since 2000, acknowledges a short story written in English by an African author.
    • It’s named in honour of Sir Michael Harris Caine, co-founder of the Man Booker Prize.

Who are this year’s winners?

    • Diallo is a lawyer and feminist activist who, at 15, founded The Association for Keeping Girls in School in Matam, Senegal.
    • Her work served as the inspiration for the winning story, hence the main protagonist’s name, Woppa Diallo.
    • His debut collection Dark Moons Rising on a Starless Night was nominated for two 2019 Splatterpunk Awards.

What’s the story about?

    • Woppa has the task of protecting her younger sister Awa on their way to school.
    • Indeed, girls going to school are often the prey of men who sexually assault them and force them into early marriages.

Why’s it so good?

    • The power of literature to focus on individuals and their personal experiences lends a human face to an unresolved social issue.
    • References to different gods and spirits also highlight the environment in which Woppa and her family live.
    • However, this short story can also resonate with the fears experienced by young girls and women globally.

What does this say about Senegalese fiction?

    • The choice to write in English works to dismantle the neocolonial use of languages based on one’s origin and the colonial past of one’s country.
    • The Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, where authors write in African languages, complements the Caine Prize.
    • Senegalese literature plays a vital role in encouraging people to read, reflect upon and engage with significant matters in the country.

Zimbabwe's rulers won't tolerate opposing voices – but its writers refuse to be silenced

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Taste, Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai, Stenosis, Revolution, Land reform in Zimbabwe, Optimism, Freedom, Violence, The House of Hunger, Awareness, Face, Life, Book, Culture, Politics, Leadership, Ndabaningi Sithole, Gukurahundi, Second Republic, Hope, Anger, Chenjerai Hove, Research, Emotion, Attention, NoViolet Bulawayo, Child, Language, Government, Literature, Movement, Population, Collection, Income, Democratic Change, Reading, Pleasure, The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives, House, Farm, Film industry, Video game, Entertainment, Tourism, Sawmill, Hunger, Robert Mugabe

The ruling elite in Zimbabwe has always tried to silence opposing political voices and erase histories it does not wish to have aired.

Key Points: 
  • The ruling elite in Zimbabwe has always tried to silence opposing political voices and erase histories it does not wish to have aired.
  • As Zimbabwe heads to the polls again in 2023, it’s worth considering the role that writers have played in engendering political resistance.

The liberation struggle

    • It was used to mobilise resistance against the white minority regime and garner international support for the liberation struggle.
    • Many others like Charles Mungoshi, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Chenjerai Hove produced texts that encouraged resistance against colonial rule.

Independence

    • Since independence in Zimbabwe, there has remained little space for dissenting voices – first under the leadership of Robert Mugabe and then Emmerson Mnangagwa.
    • The Gukurahundi genocide, which novelist Novuyo Rosa Tshuma called the country’s “original sin”, marked the first instance in which the state quashed opposing voices.

The turbulent ‘lost decade’ (2000-2010)

    • The rise of a formidable opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, in 1999 was met with violence by the state.
    • Fresh voices emerged, among them Brian Chikwava, NoViolet Bulawayo, Petina Gappah, John Eppel, Christopher Mlalazi and Lawrence Hoba.
    • Bulawayo’s award-winning 2013 novel We Need New Names depicts the political situation through the perspective of its teenage protagonist, Darling.
    • The stories illuminate the human cost of political decisions and the resilience of ordinary people in the face of hardships.

Literature in the Second Republic

    • Literature after the demise of Mugabe and his four-decade regime – a period referred to as the Second Republic – has continued to grapple with Zimbabwe’s prevailing sociopolitical environment.
    • Batsirai Chigama’s collection of poems Gather the Children captures the vicissitudes of contemporary life in Zimbabwe.
    • These strictures insinuate themselves into the ambience of everyday life and language, something that Chigama observes with careful attention.

The power (and limits) of literature

    • Despite its power, reading remains a luxury that many Zimbabweans cannot afford.
    • Books are extremely expensive and few people have disposable income to read for pleasure.

Animal Farm has been translated into Shona – why a group of Zimbabwean writers undertook the task

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, June 11, 2023
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In Zimbabwe, the revolution was against colonialism and its practices of extraction and exploitation.

Key Points: 
  • In Zimbabwe, the revolution was against colonialism and its practices of extraction and exploitation.
  • The lead characters in Animal Farm have the propensity for evil and the greed for power found in despots throughout history, including former Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe.
  • And visual artist Admire Kamudzengerere founded Animal Farm Artist Residency in Chitungwiza as a space for creative experimentation.
  • It’s within this context that a group of Zimbabwean writers, led by novelist and lawyer Petina Gappah and poet Tinashe Muchuri, have translated Animal Farm into Shona, the country’s most widely spoken language.

The translation project

    • Gappah kickstarted the translation project in a private post on Facebook in 2015:
      A group of friends and I thought it would be fun to bring the novel to new readers in all the languages spoken in Zimbabwe.
    • This is important to us because Zimbabwe has been isolated so much in recent years, and translation is one way to bring other cultures and peoples closer to your own.
    • This is important to us because Zimbabwe has been isolated so much in recent years, and translation is one way to bring other cultures and peoples closer to your own.

Chimurenga Chemhuka

    • Though Chimurenga Chemhuka is mainly in standard Shona, its characters speak a medley of different Shona dialects – such as chiKaranga, chiZezuru, chiManyika – plus a smattering of contemporary slang.
    • The title, Chimurenga Chemhuka, is poignant and a direct reference to Zimbabwe’s liberation war.
    • Chemhuka (animal) Chimurenga (revolution) is not a literal translation of Animal Farm, but here the writers take liberties to connect the book to the country’s larger struggles for independence, commonly known as Chimurenga.

Why this matters

    • It’s done by an eclectic group of writers who are passionate about language and literature.
    • They use Orwell’s book and its satiric commentary as a way to creatively express themselves collectively.
    • If this was a choir, the choristers Gappah and Muchuri do a good job of leading a harmonious ensemble.

Celebrated Author and Kalamazoo Valley Alumnae NoViolet Bulawayo to Read from Her New Book During June 3 Art Hop

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
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KALAMAZOO, Mich., June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Kalamazoo Valley Community College alumnae NoViolet Bulawayo, the author of two books, "We Need New Names" and "Glory," is returning to Kalamazoo for special programs on June 3. Her first book "We Need New Names" was a finalist for the Booker Prize and won the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and numerous other literary awards.

Key Points: 
  • Kalamazoo Valley Community College alumnae NoViolet Bulawayo, the author of two books, "We Need New Names" and "Glory," is returning to Kalamazoo for special programs on June 3.
  • KALAMAZOO, Mich., June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Kalamazoo Valley Community College alumnae NoViolet Bulawayo, the author of two books, "We Need New Names" and "Glory," is returning to Kalamazoo for special programs on June 3.
  • Bulawayo moved to the United States from Zimbabwe and graduated from Kalamazoo Valley in 2003.
  • At 5:30 p.m. during Art Hop at Anna Whitten Hall, Bulawayo will present another reading from "Glory."