Harare to host writers’ workshop

Entertainment Reporter
ASPIRING writers in Zimbabwe will join their regional counterparts in a writing workshop to be held in Harare early next year.
The workshop will be part of the Writivism 2014 workshops to be held simultaneously in five African cities. Set for February 8, the one-day workshops are planned for Abuja, Harare, Kampala, Nairobi and Cape Town. Applicants will attend workshops in the cities closest to their residence.

The Abuja workshop will be facilitated by Ukamaka Olisakwe, Beatrice Lamwaka will be in charge in Kampala. In Cape Town Rachel Zadok will be in charge while Okwiri Oduor is taking care of Nairobi.

Monica Cheru-Mpambawashe is the facilitator for the Harare workshop. Memory Chirere (pictured below) and other Zimbabwean writers will assist at the Harare workshop.

The workshops will include a short master class on fiction writing and a reading and writing exercise.

Each participant shall be assigned a mentor at the end of the workshop, with whom they shall work on a flash fiction story to be published in newspapers and a short story for submission to the Writivism African Short Story Prize.

The workshop aims at identifying previously unpublished African writers who are resident on the continent.

Harare facilitator Cheru-Mpambawashe said that the venue of the workshop will be announced later along with other information on the other writers who will be mentoring the participants.

“For application guidelines and other details interested writers should refer to the Writivism Facebook page. Selections will be done from a central point by a non-Zimbabwean panel to avoid patronage and favouritism.”