Poets partner on new book

Bruce Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
COLLABORATION is not a new phenomenon in the arts industry because for years artistes have learnt from each other.
Collaboration can give a work of art something extra, a fresh ingredient that would be missing if it had been worked on by a solo artiste.
Artistes have shared skills and knowledge in music, dance or sculpture. Artistes putting two or more heads together have managed to come up with fantastic products. However one field that is not usually blessed with such a spirit of collaboration is literature.

Perhaps due to the fact that literature, be it prose or poetry, is seen as an art form whereby the artiste is supposed to depict their own experiences and the world that shapes those experiences, very few have worked together to create works of art reflecting the state of two or more minds.

However two Bulawayo poets seem to have broken this stereotype. Philani Nyoni and John Eppel have collaborated on an anthology titled, Hewn from Rock. The anthology consists of 36 poems, 18 by each writer.

The two poets wrote their poems from different perspectives but what links their work together is their dedication to depicting the Zimbabwean environment accurately, particularly Bulawayo which is home to both writers. The subjects the two tackle range from social commentary, relationships, the changing times, HIV, God and politics.

The two are no strangers to the literary scene. Eppel has more than 40 years of writing and teaching literature at schools such as CBC and Girls College. He has earned numerous literary awards both locally and internationally, including the Zim-Achievers Literature Award, the Ingrid Jonker Prize and an M-Net Book Award along with 14 others.

Nyoni on the other hand boasts a Nama Award won last year and as a performance poet he has shared his work at esteemed arts venues such as Johannesburg’s Bassline, The Nunnery and Johannesburg Theatre among others.

He has also represented Zimbabwe at this year’s edition of the Caine Prize for African Writing workshop, which means his short-story written at the workshop is under consideration for Africa’s top writing prize for 2015.

Nyoni said the generation gap between the two helped to balance the interests of different generations.
“Our age difference made the book stronger. I represented youth while John spoke from experience. The poetry itself then becomes a dialogue between the two of us,” he said.

Eppel said Nyoni’s work could be in the category of distinguished writers like the late Dambudzo Marechera. “Of all the second-language poets I have read, including Marechera’s, none has Nyoni’s control of English rhyme,” he said.

Nyoni said that although they had faced many obstacles in the writing of the book, he believed the main one was in the creation of a work of art that would stand the test. Good poetry, he said, was timeless and he hoped that their joint effort would further cement this point.

“The book needed character and this had to come out in our arrangement of it. I suppose the main challenge we faced was coming up with a product that can outlive both of us,” he said.

The book coincides with the city’s 120 years anniversary.
The cover artwork was done by the celebrated Charles Nkomo while design and layout were done by David Herbert of Stavid Creations. The book is being published by Philani Nyoni’s PAN Books which also produced his first title, Once a Lover Always a Fool and is distributed internationally by Amazon, Createspace and other leading online booksellers.