Arts Focus: Where does one find zimbabwean literature?

Raisedon Baya

RECENTLY I travelled overseas. My journey began in Harare. There I was at the Harare International Airport with over two hours to waste. I had come to the airport too early. So while waiting for my flight I decided to look for something to read. Reading is the best way to push time. I moved to the only bookshop I could see and found the shelves at the duty free bookshop full to the rafters with books. New books! There is always something exciting about the smell of new books. I started looking around, looking for something interesting to read. Most of the books on the shelves were European and American best sellers. After a while moving around I decided to ask for her from the shop assistant.

“Excuse me?” I said.

“Yes. How can I help you?” The shop assistant said, smiling at me like a trained air hostess.

“Where are your Zimbabwean books? I don’t see any here.” Still smiling she pointed me to a corner at the far end of the room where there were only three publications; Tsitsi Dangarembwa’s anthology of short stories about breaking the silence, some book on Great Zimbabwe whose title I have forgotten and a third publication about President Robert Mugabe. That was all. I didn’t buy anything. I remember going away wondering why a Zimbabwean bookshop looked more foreign than local. Where were Zimbabwean books? Where were books by the likes of Petina Gappa, NoViolet Bulawayo, Sue Nyathi, Tendai Huchu, Christopher Mlalazi, Brian Chikwava? New writers and new stories? I wanted something current.

From Harare to South Africa I had nothing to read except the magazine I found inside the plane. Again the magazines were not about Zimbabwe. So I just ran my eyes through the pages. In Johannesburg I had about five hours to kill. So I went book hunting. The bookshops at Oliver Tambo Airport are well stocked. You could easily tell you were in South Africa. The majority of the books were by South African writers and about South Africa and its stories. Again I began my search for Zimbabwean authors and their works. This time I was a bit lucky. I came across NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names. There was Tsitsi Dangarembgwa’s Nervous Conditions, a biography on Morgan Tsvangirai, and one or two other books whose titles now escape me. At least it was better than what I had seen in Zimbabwe. Again I left the airport wondering whither to Zimbabwean literature and its publication. Perhaps the current state of Zimbabwean literature is symbolic of the current state of affairs in Zimbabwe. Comatose.

While in Scotland, London and Birmingham I continued with my search for new Zimbabwean literature. In Scotland I visted about five bookshops. I found nothing except Nigerian authors. It was the same in London and Birmingham.

There it was worse just trying to find African writing. The truth could be I was going in the wrong places or I didn’t give myself enough time to do a proper search. My observation is more an opinion than true fact. But the point here is that Zimbabwean literature is not as accessible as it should be, both here and internationally. And we must do something about.

I have said this before and I will say it again. New policies need be created to resuscitate Zimbabwean literature and its distribution. There must be incentives for both writers and publishers to come up with new inspiring works and making them accessible to the public. A simple glance at how the now defunct literature bureau inspired writers through competitions and other initiatives will tell you the formula that works. The Literature Bureau through literary competitions discovered the likes of Charles Mungoshi, Ndabezinhle S. Sigogo, Barbara Makhalisa, and Aaron Chiwundura Moyo. And since its demise local literature has been dying a slow death. It is public knowledge that during its short existence the Literature Bureau was responsible for hundreds of volumes of poetry, proverbs, riddles, and other cultural materials.

Maybe, just maybe, one of the main priorities of the Ministry of Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Heritage and Culture should be the facilitation of the immediate return of the literature bureau. Food for thought.