adminLeroy Dzenga Features Writer
Two Great Zimbabwe University lecturers are setting up a publishing house in Masvingo to encourage the documentation of indigenous stories. The publishing house is billed to become the first of its kind in the country’s oldest town. The two lecturers, Professor Munyaradzi Mawere and Mr Tapuwa Rubaya are now putting final touches ahead of the establishment of Africa Talent Publishers.
Africa Talent Publishers’ birth is a response to concerns by various stakeholders over the gradual death of the reading culture in Masvingo and the entire country. Prof Mawere last week said work on the project has already commenced with the stable set to release its first publications soon. “We are a publishing house headquartered in Masvingo, whose main objective is to serve as a cooking pot for the promotion of talent,’’ said Prof Mawere.
“We seek to promote and nurture talent, especially that of people from marginalised communities whose voice has failed to reach the corners of the world due to lack of publicity.’’
He said Africa Talent Publishers was eyeing a continental reach. “We are looking to work with talented people, especially those from humble backgrounds and may struggle to have their high quality work published. We have noticed that, many books by African writers are unavailable to Africans living on the continent. This is the gap we aim to close,” he said.
There are also prospects of creating content for the new curriculum, which has been plagued by an apparent shortage of material. “In terms of areas of specialisation, we publish curriculum textbooks (we are also participating in the writing of the Zimbabwe Updated Curriculum), and educational textbooks, non-curriculum books like novels, poetry anthologies, autobiographies, and general textbooks,” said Prof Mawere.
Prof Mawere is a full professor in the Simon Muzenda School of Arts, Culture and Heritage Studies at Great Zimbabwe University.
He teaches African Philosophy and Thought. Mr Rubaya is the chairperson of the Department of Heritage Studies at the same university.
Online Reporter