adminElliot Ziwira @ The Book Store
GIVE me a book anytime and take away everything else and I will survive; give me all and deny me access to books and I will die, for the written word is my life.
Gentle reader, it is true that the man who can read but does not read is no better than he who cannot read. A chapter or poem per day may be the prescription that the doctor ordered. A good book is as inspirational as it is refreshing, and will hoist you on a whirlwind voyage of suspense, intrigue and satiation; you will certainly not remain the same.
Do you sometimes relish those days you used to bury yourself in books; penned by your favourite writers or any other writer that you came across, when reading was the in-thing? Do you crave, like I do, that engulfing scent of a hard copy? Yes, for lack of entertainment options, perchance, we would enmesh ourselves in the books that shaped or informed our dusty ghetto existence with such zeal that one would think they were expiring.
The reading culture is in recession, or is it! Where are the books to read? Are writers still as sizzling as they used to be, or the muse has deserted them? A visit to our bookshops will bare a sad fact—there are NO books to talk about, yet writers are still writing. All our inspirational books in Shona, English and Ndebele have disappeared from the shelves.
Should we go to the National Archives to retrieve the great titles like “Pafunge”, “Inongova Njake Njake”, “Makunun’unu Maodzamoyo”, “Gonawapotera”, “Akanga Nyimo Avangarara”, “Tambaoga Mwanangu”, “Kusasana Kunoparira”, “Sajeni Chimedza”, “Stains on the Wall”, “House of Hunger”, “Waiting for the Rain”, “Farai’s Girls”, “Dew in the Morning” and others?
Who is to blame for the disappearance of our beloved books from the shelves, for some of us are not taken over yet to the concept of online publication, because it somehow debases our idea of a book.
Everyone should play their part for the reading culture to be revived. Publishers decry lack of profitability in the book industry, so they are not keen on taking new talent, or reprint books that would end up pirated, writers bemoan the media’s tendency to sideline them in preference to musicians, whom they believe are given more exposure at their expense, readers cry foul over the quality of some of the books that find their way on the bookshelves due to the proliferation of self publishing.
Recently the Zimbabwe Writers Association, whose secretary-general is the prolific writer Memory Chirere, had a public reading session at the Zimsec Music Centre grounds. This is one of the noble initiatives that the organisation has lined up to bring writers closer to their readers, as a way of harnessing talent, and arresting the fugitive reading culture which seems to be dissipating.
Writers, as the affable author, poet and critic David Mungoshi feels, should maintain their presence in the public glare not simply through their published works, but through previews of upcoming work as well as the creation of platforms that afford readers a chance to meet them. The creation of a Poetry Society of Zimbabwe , or a National Poetry Academy that ascribe certain roles for both published and upcoming poets, will go a long way in whetting readers appetites and foisting a rapport on both ends of the literary world; readers and writers.
Your column of choice has always played its part in promoting books and keeping authors in the limelight, but it will go a gear up, and give you, gentle reader, more than book reviews, but previews of upcoming literary works, as well as interviews and snippets into the lives of your writers.
This instalment will feature one of the greatest finds in the Shona tradition, Crymio Kutyauripo, whose book “Museve Usingapotse” (2014) published by College Press was once reviewed At The Bookstore.
The evocative, mesmerising and resonating repertoire of African pride and sensibility was selected as an O-Level Shona set-book. Kutyauripo’s storytelling prowess and command of language poises him for greatness in the literary sphere, at a time when there is a worrisome flight from the traditional Shona novel.
David Mungoshi has this to say of Kutyauripo: “He is a powerful Shona storyteller and writer with a great sense of reality. He is likely to be an important writer in the not too distant future. I have been translating a manuscript of his into English, and it is a dramatic story.”
Crymio Kutyauripo was born in Guruve in 1978, and did his lower primary schooling at Mushoshoma Primary School in Guruve, before moving on to Dulibadzimu Primary School in Beitbridge. After primary school, he returned to Guruve for his secondary education at Mushoshoma Secondary School. He is currently reading for a degree in Import and Export Management with the University of South Africa; and works in Beitbridge.
It was his rural background that chiselled him to be the writer that he is today: “I grew up in the rural areas and my late father was a great storyteller and traditionalist. As a spirit medium he was always consulted pertaining to any traditional rites that the ancestors wanted carried out. He was revered as he could foretell future events. He was my primary source of information into the way our people lived before the advent of colonialism, although I did some other researches on my own through books and other community elders,” he intimates.
The writer’s road to recognition was not a smooth one though, as he had to skirt around obstacles thrown his way: “Breaking into mainline publishing in Zimbabwe is not a stroll in the park for upcoming writers. After completing “Museve Usingapotse” in 2011, I embarked on the bumpy road to the press. Armed with the encouragement I got from Aaron Chiundura-Moyo, who edited the book, I approached Mambo Press, and thereon despondency set in; they rejected the book.
“I was downhearted but I was not defeated, for I had so much faith in my book. I gave the book to Mr Nathan Chikoka, a lecturer at Mutare Teachers’ College. He indicated to me that I was filling a void in the Shona tradition that could not be ignored. He thus recommended the manuscript to College Press, and they accepted it and published it in 2014. I owe a lot to him,” Kutyauripo says.
On the remuneration that comes with publishing with a major publishing house, especially when a writer’s efforts are recognised by selectors of academic books, the beaming author says: “Getting published, and given a platform to impart my ideas in the pursuant of the cultural norms and values that inform us as a people, is enough for me. The honour of having my book selected for study in our schools is as satiating as it is ennobling. I haven’t got a dime yet from my publishers but I am happy.
Kutyauripo has written two other books “Mwoyoweshumba”, which is with his publishers and will be published in 2016, and “Chidziva Chakadzikama” also expected to be out in the same year. The former follows the same trend as “Museve Usingapotse” both in setting and storyline, but the latter purveys the ignominy of avarice, deceit, hypocrisy and individualism at the core of modern society.
Indeed, gentle reader, Kutyauripo has arrived on the literary stage with gargantuan strides that will certainly kindle those great reading experiences you have always cherished.
“Chidziva Chakadzikama” will also have an English version as David Mungoshi is working on the translation, and speaks highly of the enthralling upcoming book: “I am translating Crymio Kutyauripo’s novel (“Chidziva Chisingapwe”) and will be done soon. The gripping novel is originally in ChiShona, and is set in the border town of Beitbridge, where shady characters drift in and out.
“A pastor makes his home there and leads a double life. He is involved in all manner of vices including armed robbery, adultery, murder and theft, while at the same time playing the saint to perfection. The book is full of twists and turns as well as suspense and is endearingly graphic.
“Kutyauripo is a master at this type of story and will be a writer to watch in the near future. This book is going to be a must read! Translating it is an experience in its own right.”
Indeed, gentle reader, Kutyauripo has arrived on the literary stage with gargantuan strides that will certainly kindle those great reading experiences you have always cherished.
Online Reporter