WEALTH OF IDEAS

Submit Your Poems to Tule Review

2009-12-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

I am one of the editors of The Tule Review, a publication of the Sacramento Poetry Center, which welcomes submissions for the next issue — now 40-50 pages and perfect bound — with an anticipated publication date in June 2010. We consider poetry of all styles and forms (except Haiku).

Submission Guidelines:

• Considers poetry of all styles and forms (except Haiku).
• Send up to six poems, maximum 96 lines per poem.
• Submission deadline for the June 2010 issue is Feb. 27, 2010; submissions received after that date may be considered for a future issue.
• Include name, street and e-mail addresses on each page of submission.
• Provide a short bio, not to exceed five lines.
• We prefer submission via email with poems attached in a single MSWord document (.doc or .docx format).
• E-mail submissions to tulereview@sacramentopoetrycenter.org Please specify "Tule Submission" in the subject line.
• Hard copy submissions are also accepted. Mail those to:
Sacramento Poetry Center
c/o Tule Review
P.O. Box 160406
Sacramento, CA 95816.
• No simultaneous submissions. However, published poems are considered; please specify prior publication.
• Pays one contributor copy. Submission does not guarantee publication.
• We prefer to make notifications via email, but will do so via US mail if an SASE is provided. Submissions will not be returned.

If you wish to see The Tule Review archives, please visit our website at http://www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org/tulereview.htm

My Favorite Books (2009)

2009-12-16T17:53:00.000-08:00

I will not list my favorite books this year. I doubt that I have ever listed favorite books on this blog ever. It's often a hard decision, but I tend to be too busy when everyone is listing their favorite books.

Shortly, however, I will talk about my reading adventures of 2009, dropping names excessively, because this has been a year of discovering many writers. Then I will probably share a list of the books I am scheduled to read by, let's say, January 14 Fiction books mostly, although there is a thick collection of essays on American architecture on the pile.

I may blog about other people's favorite books though; a few of the ones I have seen are worth blogging about. I smile as I write this because I like it when people read, especially if they happen to have read what I read as well....

Chenjerai Hove on Zimbabwe and its Diaspora

2009-12-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

"Some people think Zimbabweans are on the cowardly side when they employ what I call survival strategies. Faced with extreme danger to their person, Zimbabweans use two major approaches: run away or fall silent. So, the diasporans took the first option, to escape "to live to fight another day", as Bob Marley says. It is pointless to be a dead hero. No Zimbabwean will engage in "suicide bombing", writes Chenjerai Hove in his new essay published in the Mail & Guardian of South Africa. Read the rest of the essay here.

Nnorom Azuonye Critques Chimamanda Adichie's Presentation on "the Dangers of the Single Story"

2009-12-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

Read the essay here.

Book News: about Short Stories, and Mentioning J.G. Ballard, Raymond Carver, Orhan Pamuk and others

2009-12-05T11:37:00.001-08:00

There is general agreement, in my book circles, that 2009 is the year of the short story. Of course, this is not to say that we are not prepared to accept 2010 as a short story year if it becomes one. I asked the question somewhere, perhaps in one of my classes, about why it would make sense for 2009 to be a short story year, and the answers were practical: "Global warming", "shortening reading spans", and "a rediscovery of the short story".

So perhaps the Melvillean big American novel may go out of fashion on the basis of green thinking. I like that reason. There is nothng wrong with being concise out of necessity. Then once in a while you hear that a 1200 page collection of J.G. Ballard's short stories has been published, then you say, "short stories!"

"That's not all," you are told, "they just came out with another collection: Raymond Carver's stories in one volume."

You start doubting whether the size of the book does or does not matter.

But whatever the reason, surely, 2009 is the year of the short story. In my circles (readers, bloggers, etc) that may simply mean that the people we know have been successful in their short story writing and we ended up just focusing on reading short stories, and maybe elsewhere, in the world of speculative fiction, sci-fi, horror, it might actually be the year of the novel, but that doesn't matter now because I have been seeing a lot of evidence that points to the success of the short story. For one, major novelists have made it a point to publish a volume of short stories. I have mentioned names like Kazuo Ishiguro, Chimamanda Adichie, etc in previous posts.

We have to consider publishing decisions too: at first, it's the decisions publishers are making that can, in the first place, lead to the popularity of a genre, and remember, no sound publishing decision is made without putting the reader in the mix. Someone saw the reader interest and said, "Bingo! Let's do short stories!" Or the short stories themselves are so good that no one can ignore them.

People are reading short stories this year, which explains why they have won awards and have gotten on national and international bestseller lists. I have heard it said that an award does not necessarily mean that a work is being read or will be read. Now, how does that work? We may not consider judges readers, in the sense of the readers who walk into a book store to purchase a copy, but when I see a book on BBC or CNN, the NYT, or San Francisco Chronicle because it's been shortlisted for something, believe me, I will be in Barnes & Noble asking for it. Then as I look for these books, I usually end up finding another work, perhaps by a small press, which grips me with its first sentence.

I have read more short stories this year than I read in my literature courses, and believe me, I have come to understand my own writing in a different way.

As the year ends though, I am slowly returning to the novel. The return has turned out not be that slow--there is something about reading Orhan Pamuk that speeds up things a bit; you know you are reading The Museum of Innocence, but you find yourself trying to read Snow and My Name is Red. It becomes very clear again that while there has been much activity in the short story, things seem not to have slowed down in the novel genre.

Still....

Petina Gappah Wins 2009 Guardian First Book Award

2009-12-02T21:54:00.000-08:00

I would like to congratulate Petina Gappah for winning the 2009 Guardian First Book Award with her hard-working short story collection, An Elegy for Easterly. Yes, hard-working, because this book has been very active since its publication in May; it has sent its author to an international book tour, has been on the short-list of the Flannery O'Connor Short Story Award (2009)and has touched the hearts of many readers worldwide.

The £10,000 prize is well-deserved, and I get the feeling that this is just the beginning of many things to come.

Here are the words of The Guardian's Mark Brown breaking the news December 2:

"Geneva-based international trade lawyer whose poignant, humane and funny collection of stories about her home country, Zimbabwe, has impressed critics was tonight named winner of the Guardian First Book Award.

Petina Gappah became only the second short story writer to win the award in its 10-year history, the first being Yiyun Li in 2006. Gappah's collection of 13 stories, An Elegy for Easterly, tells of the lives of people, rich and poor, caught up in events over which they have little control." Read more at the The Guardian.

Memory Chirere Reviews "State of the Nation"

2009-12-02T00:18:00.000-08:00

Title: "State of the Nation: Contemporary Zimbabwean Poetry"
Publisher: Conversation Press (UK)
Editors: Tinashe Mushakavanhu and David Nettleingham
Reviewer: Memory Chirere

When I received this book, ‘State of the Nation: Contemporary Zimbabwean poetry’, its very pointed title hinted that it is a project on Zimbabwe now as seen by its various poets.

I know that the state of our beloved but beleaguered nation, Zimbabwe is now well known. Now a term ‘Zimbabwean crisis’ has even been spawned. Whatever way you look at it, the Zimbabwean crisis is characterized by serious food shortages, lack of jobs, rampant underpaying of civil servants, acute brain drain and the general collapse of public amenities.

Definition(s) and causes of this crisis, in Zimbabwe, fall desperately and untidily too, between an oppositional view and the establishment/government view.
A particular incident associated with the genesis of this crisis is the giving out of hefty gratuities to the liberation veterans from ZANLA and ZIPRA, resulting in the first substantive fall of the Zimbabwean dollar in 1997.
In 1998 Zimbabwe intervened in the Congo war on the side of the government of Laurent Kabila against some rebels and this too had very negative impact on the Zimbabwean economy.

In 1999 the Zimbabwean government embarked on what its opponents in the opposition and the West have called the ‘chaotic land reform.’ The ‘new farmers’, as the land reform have come to be known in Zimbabwe, have not been able, within the interim; to produce enough for the nation to consume.

The West hit Zimbabwe with what they have been calling ‘targeted’ sanctions, stopping government leadership of Zimbabwe from traveling abroad. However in due course and as categorically admitted in Article IV of the Zimbabwe Global Political Agreement document of September 2008, the sanctions are not necessarily targeted (as Zimbabwe cannot receive the balance of payment from the IMF and institutions related to Britain.)

But the Zimbabwean government has always projected their own side of the story. First, they argue that the international diatribe against President Mugabe is basically because he took land from the former white settlers and distributed it to the African people to fulfill the long standing cause of the 1970’s war of liberation. They argue, further, that the British colonial policy created the cases of social imbalances in Zimbabwe in the first place and that the problem in Zimbabwe is not about the rule of law because in some countries on the continent, worse methods of suppression have been used but the West has remained quiet. They also claim that the opposition is a puppet of the West meant to help further the disfranchisement of the black people of Zimbabwe and that through the invitation and persuasion of the opposition; the west has slammed Zimbabwe with sanctions.

Therefore, any book as this one, ‘State of The Nation’ that boldly positions itself to look at our woes in the eye, raises great expectations. Poets are seers and from them we want to know ‘where and when the rain began to beat us.’ The editors did well to ask the poets to start with each a testimony on what it means to be a poet, and sometimes a Zimbabwean poet. If you cannot read the poems, you go for the narratives and sometimes, as in the cases of Emmanuel Sigauke, Nhamo Mhiripiri, Ignatius Mabasa and Ruzvidzo Mupfudza, you go for both.

But then I must state that this cannot be an out and out book review because I know and am known to most of the poets in here. I know the fires that beget the red brick. Reading them is like meeting again in a new country under a new sky. To me, most of these are both poets and people.

Probably the most unique thing about this book is that it has poets from Zimbabwe who are still very active. For instance Christopher Mlalazi has just won an ‘honourable mention’ in the latest Noma awards with his book: Dancing With Life: Tales from The Township. Noma is a greatly prized literary award in all Africa. Mlalazi is also a recent winner of NAMA, a prestigious national award. When I wrote him to say congratulations for Noma and pointed that he has now won both Nama and Noma, he wrote back: “Ngiyabonga baba… Now I want MANA (money).” Even his poetry is like that, spontaneous and hard hitting. In ‘A soundless song’, a goat is described as ‘mercilessly tearing at the petticoats of a tree unable to flee’.

I see that Ruzvidzo Mupfudza’s personae have not, unlike us, left the bars. In the first two poems I see it and agree with Ruzvidzo that the thin board between wakefulness and sleep is a zone during which one sees further than the eye. At that moment, one’s sins (and of those people behind and ahead of us) coagulate into one event. And, ah Ruzvidzo still sees Nehanda too!

Ignatius Mabasa’s ‘problem’ about which language to use (or not to use) is not a problem. Good translations (as Mabasa has done with poems like ‘Cavities’ and ‘Concrete and plastic’) will serve us well. Having seen these poems before in the original Shona, I dare say they have even gained an extra amount of subtlety. Consider Mai Nyevero’s ‘tan thighs’ and how she ‘laughs like a hyena.’ I actually see her and suffer. Harare is teeming with such women. I wonder why Mabasa did not include a piece on ‘baba vaNyevero’. Of course, I cannot run away from the fact that Mabasa’s strong point is the Shona language, rendering him one of the more successful writers of our generation with his novels, 'Mapenzi' and 'Ndafa Here?'

Nhamo Mhiripiri and his wife Joyce Mutiti are Zimbabwe's writing couple. I do not know if we have another. We must have more. In college we saw them courting, writing and smoking together. We wondered why they didn't fall on each other and fight because discussions at the Students Union tended to end in fistfights. They didn't give us that opportunity. Nhamo's pen is conscious of ideology and theory. Joyce is private. Today you still see them together either at the Book fair or the book launches in Harare.

In his own testimony, John Eppel makes the crudest series of claims and accusations that I have ever heard from one of us. First, Eppel says the late Yvonne Vera, ‘like all Shona writers with ZANU PF sympathies (was) still in too much denial to tackle the shameful period” (of Gukurahundi) and therefore Vera’s The Stone Virgins ‘is abject cowardice.’ Really?

I have quietly noticed, over the years, that John Eppel is decidedly anti Shona. Most of his bad characters have to be Shona! Everywhere Eppel’s Shonas are senselessly clobbering and haranguing either a white man or a hapless Ndebele.
Eppel also says that nobody includes him in the bibliography of Zimbabwean writers. He even claims that no contemporary of his; Mungoshi, Zimunya, Hove, Chinodya, Dangarebga, Chirikure… ever notices him except Julius Chingono! But then Eppel admits, strategically: ‘generalisation is a tool of the satirist.’ Maybe.

The five poems by Charles Mungoshi crawl all over you like ants from the underworld. As you read his poems you have a feeling that you are working your difficult way around boulders, towards some treasure. In 'A Kind of Drought' the spirit is weak because one has been lied to, cheated and finally deserted by fellow humans (and maybe especially by the leaders) and what remains are roads, because they do not lie and trees too, because they remain the same old faithful parents and one can do many things with trees, including going round and round and finally dying safely under them. And as the spirit wonders, you wish you could come to a river.

Dambudzo Marechera’s poems, given to the editors by one Betina Schmidt, are dedicated to Betina and are about Betina. They remind one of Marechera’s earlier poems, the Amelia poems. Of them Marechera once said: ‘Amelia’s presence in the flat inspired me to write the sonnets. When she had been in the flat and then left, I would still feel her presence, and any item she had touched could give me the first line for a poem. Or just the emptiness… the flat felt so completely empty, and it is this emptiness which is all around me which I have to grab by the collar and put into a poem.’

Nearly all the poems about exile in this book seem to insist on the fact that exile is more dangerous than home. These poems seem to be in the majority with the outstanding being Chenjerai Hove’s ‘Identity’, NOViolet Bulawayo’s ‘Diaspora’, Tinashe Mushakavanhu’s “Tomorrow is long coming’, Kristina Rungano’s ‘Alien somebody’ and Amanda Hammar’s ‘Exiles’. If it is not the loneliness, it is the anxiety or the downright confusion that comes close to declaring that one has no country because things are currently unwell in one’s country.

Amanda Hammar’s reminisce is the most uplifting narrative in this book, if you do not get confused easily. What is a Zimbabwean poet, Kizito Muchemwa once asked Amanda Hammar in Uppsala in 2009. ‘Does location matter; does exile/proximity make one less or more Zimbabwean; what it is we can or should, or should not, write about, or should that even be a question at all?’ And Amanda Hammar’s answer, which comes after a long search is: ‘I am no longer solely defined by my Zimbabweanness. While for some, such a condition may seem unremarkable, for me it is both a new sensation and a big and painful admission.’

Then you realize that this book is also about identity. In Europe, Mushakavanhu’s persona feels like ‘a dark presence’ and his ‘coal black hand tightly clasping’ the long white fingers of a half desired white wench cause heads to turn on the streets of Europe.

In her narrative, Jennifer Armstrong says she writes as a poet and not as a white girl. She says 'the black white history of Zimbabwe (and Rhodesia)' has given us 'the remarkable and highly dubious gifts of race and gender.' And her shortest poem goes:

I don't think
my race
will win
this race
although it might
come second

It is refreshing to come across the new voices; Beavan Tapureta, Tinashe Muchuri, Batsirai Chigama, Josephine Muganiwa... voices associated with the spoken word at the Book Cafe and the Zimbabwe-Germany society.

Maybe Emmanuel Sigauke's poems stand out for not going necessarily for the 'state of the nation'. They are not about what I need from my country and government but are about what I did and may do. His poems as in his book 'Forever Let Me Go' are about personal journeys from the past to the present. Poems about what could I have been had I not been married to you and about the dramatic happenings in distant villages and the zinc roofed houses that we didn't and have forgotten to build.

My worry though with most Zimbabwean poetry since ‘And Now The Poets Speak’ of 1982, is the prevalence of melancholy. Our poets are yet to find an idiom that redeems, regardless of the well known woes. The poetry of Jorge Rebelo and Jose Craveirinha are an example of poets who, while chronicling the ills of their society, reflected also on what they should offer. They went beyond the realm of 'look what they have done to me' and began to show 'what we have to do about it'. I honestly believe that Zimbabwe is not the worst and last place God made. We shall overcome.

Nevertheless, Poets Tinashe Mushakavanhu and David Nettleingham have done well to put together the first major anthology of Zimbabwean poets writing in English since And Now The Poets Speak. And in both cases, the poets are concerned about the sate of their nation. Mushakavanhu walks with a spring, head up, chest out and before he talks, he rubs his hands together like the soothsayer that he is. Somewhere in some uncomfortable weather we once talked about how, one day, he is to become Zimbabwe’s youngest publisher.

Memory Chirere is a Zimbabwean short story writer. He works and lives in Harare.

KwaChirere now open

2009-12-01T22:50:00.000-08:00

Memory Chirere has opened a blog. Most know him as a short fiction writer from Zimbabwe, who sometimes travels to places like Oxford University to present papers on Dambudzo Marechera, or to Namibia to lecture on poetry. He is also a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Zimbabwe, and, in addition to what he calls his "occasional" short fiction writing, he is a poet, a critic (one of the best reviewers in Zimbabwean literature), and a voracious reader of world literature. He is, in short, a good friend of mine.

I am happy that he now has a blog, a site that might turn out to be a place for many to hang out.... Check it out at KwaChirere and read the flash fiction piece he posted.

Young Writers to Meet at Sacramento State University

2009-11-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

California's Capitol City Young Writers, a group whose operations are similar to the Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe, are meeting at Sacramento State University on December 5. The Discussion topic is on the art of non-fiction writing. The young writers will attend workshops by the following writers:

JENNIFER BASYE SANDER

Jennifer has been creating successful book products since 1983. She has worked in all aspects of the book publishing business, everything from book retailing to book publicity, from authoring New York Times bestselling books herself to acquiring them for a large trade publisher. She is also the author, co-author, or ghostwriter of more than a thirty books herself, including the recent gift book hits Wear More Cashmere and The Martini Diet. Along with the New York agent Sheree Bykofsky, Jennifer authored The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published, which is now in its 4th revised edition and has over 100,000 copies in print. A graduate of Mills College in Oakland, California, she has also attended professional publishing programs at Stanford University and the University of Chicago.

KOULA GIANULIAS

Koula is thrilled to be reporting in her hometown of Sacramento. Her first news internship was right here at KOVR when she was a senior in college. After graduating from UC Davis and working in public relations, Koula went back to school to pursue journalism. She interned at Fox 11 in Los Angeles and Sky News London as she worked towards her masters degree at USC. Koula also picked up some print experience writing for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Her first television news job took her to Northern California where she worked for KRCR-TV as a "one-man-band" reporter, shooting and editing her own stories. Then she was off to Nevada to report for the ABC affiliate in Reno. She covered everything from wildfires to politics - her favorite topic. Koula joined the CBS 13 team in October of 2006. Her gigantic Greek family welcomed her home with open arms and a lot of food.

JT LONG

JT Long is a freelance editor and reporter for business, political and financial publications. Her work has appeared in Fortune, Engineering News-Record and Comstock's magazines. She started in community newspapers and has launched six magazines in her career for audiences as diverse as school administrators, real estate agents and stay-at-home mothers. As Director of Content for a group of publications, she led the movement to digital content including adoption of social media and variable content creation.

WRITING WORKSHOP

JT LONG

"The Write Audience"

Did you know that you can pitch journalistic story ideas in a multitude of ways? In this workshop, JT will help you brainstorm magazine story topics and then create different leads for different publications based on an understanding of the audience. You'll understand the importance of The hook, The voice, and The spin.

LOCATION: Sacramento State University, Student Union, Hinde Auditorium.

PARKING: Parking in designated lot during the course of the event and you will incur no charge during the course of the event. Park in Structure II, adjacent to the Student Union and the University Bookstore.

Trusting Your Narrator

2009-11-27T00:45:00.000-08:00

When you become serious with fiction writing, you begin to understand that there is a difference between you and your narrator, even in stories that you consider autobiographical. The writer just becomes the facilitator of what's told, but how its told may be completely dependent on the narrative POV you have selected. It is very important to let this narrator have an independent voice.

I am reading Orhan Pamuk's The Museum of Innocence, whose narrator shocked me by "abandoning" the story and telling the reader that Orhan Pamuk himself will finish the story, and as you read along, you can see that the author agreed to do so. Here is a narrator so self-aware and independent that he knows his limits, knows where he can stop and authorize or trust the author to finish telling the story.

Lately, I have been writing stories told by female narrators and this has become an example of writing what I don't know, to open new possibilities, and I have found myself worrying about whether or not my POV was accurate. I am satisfied by what the characters have turned out to be, especially where I have allowed them to be themselves.

In instances like these, the role of the writer becomes that of recording what the narrator is saying. Trusting our narrators then is very important if our stories are going to be authentic.

A Time to Be Thankful

2009-11-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving I am thankful that I received my contributor copy of State of the Nation. It is a collection of thirty poets' works, edited by Tinashe Mushakavanhu and David Nettleingam. I haven't read all the poems, but I like how each poet was allowed to submit a short essay on craft or the process of writing. Mine, for instance, focused on my poetic journey, which, as you can imagine, tried to cover details about the many writing activities I was involved in growing up. It is an opportunity to get the writers to talk about their writing, something that most of us try to do in the wrong places...[like a friend just warned me against trying to talk about writing at the Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, and I will comply].

I am not going to review this book, since I am in it, but check this blog next week for a review from Memory Chirere. Featuring his review here will be an honor.

I can tell you that there are many good things about this book, especially the essays by Ignatius Mabasa, Nhamo Mhiripiri, Joyce Mutiti, and others.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu is doing great work. His dedication to Zimbabwean literature is evident in much of what he does. His next publication will center on Chenjerai Hove.

The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard, in One Volume

2009-11-23T00:09:00.000-08:00

At 1196 pages, The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard has to be the longest short story collection I have ever read. It contains 94 stories, and comes at a time of renewed interest in the short story. I am going to review this book for the Sacramento or San Francisco Book Review, but for now, here are some details from W.W. Norton & Company, the publisher.

Ballard passed away in April after a long battle with cancer, so this book comes as a perfect way to commemorate his fiction career. The stories span from 1956 to around 1996. Admired by authors like kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, Graham Greene, Anthony Burgess, Susan Sontag, Ballard is credited with having invented cyberpunk and his novels and short fiction have influenced speculative fiction, but there is a literary quality to his "earnest, thoughtful, and elegant" (Norton) use of the genre.

He was obsessed with human life in the face of rapid change, the concept of the near future reigning in all his works, which tend to be apocalyptic, but his gaze was on man-made brutalities like war and other forces like fame, technology, and power.
His works are dystopian, yet are quite anchored in this concrete world of ours.

Born in Shangha in 1930, Ballard was imprisoned in an internment camp in 1943 after Japan invaded China in 1937. He was later to base his famous novel, Empire of the Sun, on his experiences. He died in England in April 2009, and his compendium of short fiction was published on September 21. I received the book last week, together with Orhan Pamuk's Museum of Innocence.

My browsing of Ballard's book shows me I will enjoy some of the innovations in his writing, and I may finally develop an interest in speculative fiction. The book was contains an introduction by Martin Amis, which is a concise study of Ballard's short fiction career. In his 2001 introduction, Ballard said these things about the short story:

1. They are the loose change in the treasury of fiction, easily ignored in preference for the "wealth of novels available"

2. Handled by a master ( he mentions Borges, Ray Bradbury, and Edgar Allan Poe), "the short story is coined from precious metal, a glint of gold that will glow for ever in the deep purse of your imagination."

3. Short stories have a "snapshort quality, their ability to focus on a single subject".

The Short Story & All Things Carver

2009-11-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

I am a new-comer to the American short story writer and poet, Raymond Carver, but from the moment I read "Cathedral", I have been hooked. I was drawn to him first by what he says in "Principles of a Story", his 1989 essay, which talks about the ease with which he approached short story writing ("Get in, get out"). Ease in the sense that he had to learn to demystify the writing process and aim for specificity, realism, clarity, and the sheer joy of the writing process (even where it may seem exhausting and time-consuming, the writer was trying to make an honest effort of producing a story, not because it was a special, world-changing story, but a creation, free of gimmicks and pretentiousness).

After I finished reading this short essay and sharing it to a writer's workshop last April, I felt liberated, I loosened up in my approach to writing and lost some of the seriousness and faithful belief in the mystery of writing that had for years pursued me. When it comes to writing, Carver seems to say, just write. And revise. Many times, until the story is pulled out of your control, and revise it again if another opportunity comes.

Carver is considered one of the most influencial American short fiction writers, and for me, his name has come up when I least expected. Like when I was helping with the compiling and editing of the Sacramento Poetry Center publication, Keepers of the Flame. I discovered (perhaps in the way David Livingstone discovered Victoria Falls, or how Columbus discovered America) that the Poetry Center had worked with Raymond Carver in one or two occasions. He was a Northern California guy. It was fascinating to discover that he favored poetry and the short stories, and he explained in his essay that this was because of the no-BS conciseness the genres afforded him. I was prompted to seek more of his work, and I have since acquired two collections of his short stories, one of which is Cathedral. And he keeps appearing in much of what I read these days.

On this blog we have already declared 2009 the short story year. It is thus fitting that there is renewed interest in everything Carver. The Library of America has published his collected stories in a volume of 1019 pages, and Carol Sklenicka has just published RAYMOND CARVER: A Writer’s Life. Two books worth checking out.

Some of the essays being written about Carver keep referring to his editor Gordon Lish, whom some critics believe did excessive editing of Carver's stories, leading to the question: "How far can editor go in making changes to a writer's work?" It's a controversy I know little about, but the questions it raises are very important to every writer and editor.

For a taste of what's being written about Raymond Carver, see this New York Times review of his biography.

Feature: Lawrence Dinkins (NSAA), Sacramento Poet

2009-11-17T10:39:00.001-08:00

NSAA

Today we feature a spoken word whose works I find moving. I have attended many of his performances, and we have shared the stage on several occassions. He is also a regular in the Sacramento Poetry scene, particularly at the Sacramento Poetry Center, Luna's Cafe, and the Mahogany poetry series, where he is a host. Please meet the poet known as NSAA.

1.Thank you for agreeing to do this interview. First, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My stage name is NSAA pronounced (en-sah-ah). It’s an African adinkra symbol that basically means quality, as I understand it. It’s like saying "The real McCoy". What I like about the word/symbol is that it is based on the quality of cloth, for example; this cloth is hand made nsaa.

I’m a bit of an odd duck I’m afraid to say, my stage name is a case in point, how odd I will keep on the low-low, very political too. I love NPR, BBC and Democracy Now. My pet peeve right now, driving me insane, is what’s up with congress not fighting for universal healthcare. In the past the Democrats said the reason why they couldn’t do it was because the Republicans had the majority, boo-hoo, but now that the Democrats are in the majority they still don’t fight for it, why? I fear what will happen if they pass the bill that is currently in the house right now. I see a terrible shift in American society, a shift of putting more and more burden and responsibility on individuals and less on corporations. There is only so much an individual can do before they hit information overload, in the house bill we will all be required to buy health insurance or it will be a federal offense, does every answer to every problem require putting more on citizens whose plate is already full? If America was a club I would turn in my membership and ask for my money back because this club has no perks, opportunities yes, if you have money, but perks? No. Unfortunately, this is not a club this is my home; I digress, sorry about that. But this is a great example of what I write about.

I consider myself a free verse conscious poet. In my opinion poetry is the soul of the people and is as important as architects, politicians, and religious leaders. Poets throughout history pushed society and civil-thought forward, questioned the status quo and allowed us to look at issues from the human-condition perspective. It is the responsibility of the poet not to stand silent in times of crisis; we are the “sacred order of voice”, kind of like verbal super heroes, without the capes of course.

2.I have hosted an event at the SPC in which you were one of the features. You also have frequently participated in open mic sessions during most of my readings. How does participation in poetry readings help you in your art?

Open mic is one of the unique things about the poetry scene, very democratic. The open mic for me is more about catharsis rather than being about perfecting craft, cheaper than a shrink I tell you. It allows me to share artistically how I feel about issues, life and complex emotions like ambiguity. But, I must say this, poetry readings do give me incentive to write just like gallery showings incentivize art creation for a painter.

NSAA at the SPC

3.You host performances at the Ethiopian Restaurant on Broadway. Tell us a lot about that.

Mahogany is a local institution. Mahogany Urban Poetry Series is held at Queen Sheba Restaurant on 17 and Broadway and it goes down every Wednesday at 9 pm all thanks to Khiry Malik, local poet. It’s a mature free speech after-hour HBO style poetry venue. I host Mahogany every 3rd Wednesday. Khiry, one of my favorite poets, has been the curator of Mahogany for years now; he allows me to torture his audience once a month.

Every 3rd Wednesday DJ Supe puts down the music, dim lights sets the mood, the audience sip honey wine while listening to great poetry,and every time I host I think this is a great scene. Instead of going out dancing or to the movies people come to Mahogany to think and empathize. It is my pleasure and honor to be one of the hosts of one of the oldest poetry venues in Sacramento. I feel if there were more places like Mahogany we would have a better, well-informed Sacramento.

4.You are also a graphic artist. Would you like to say something about that?

Yep, I am a starving artist and business owner. I design business cards, chap books, cd covers and tray cards, simple websites, flyers and logos. Give me a “holla” at MyTbx if you need some work done.

5.Who are your favorite poets?

Oh that’s easy. Hands down, it’s “Straight Out Scribes”, a local mother-daughter poetry team. These poets are activists, smart and purposeful, known for their tireless campaign to free American political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. You can’t help but dig these two sistahs, watching them is what made me feel like I could share my words. I always wrote, but until I saw them I didn’t know you could write and share such politically-charged poetry. They are no longer together though. Staajabu (the mother), went back east to be with family. Every once in a while Staajabu comes back and they do a local tour. Best believe I’m in the front seat, ears wide open. Also, I hear there might be a new CD in the works. Keep that under your hat, and keep your fingers crossed.

6.How has the internet helped your art?

It make research easier, that’s for sure. I think I owe the library money, yikes. Also the internet has made it easier to share work and advertise poetry events. I have a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/mywordout, just started blog last month: http://thedeskofnsaa.blogspot.com, and an event page: http://mywordout.com. Sometimes you have to stop setting up pages because you can waste your whole morning checking emails, friend request and hits. And facebook is digital crack. I get on there and hours go by without me noticing.

7.What is the place of politics in your poetry?

Central. Politics is very important in my work, politics can make our lives easier or harder, fairer or punitive, if we are not involved, not sounding a hue and cry we will lose slowly our free speech and everything we’ve fought so hard to obtain. We must protect what we have won and push forward to higher ground.

8.Last Friday [November 13] we shared the stage at the Sacramento Guild Theatre. How did you like that event?

It was great. Most of my favorite local poets were there and some new poets I’ve never heard before. I think I found some new favorites too. The poetry festival is an outstanding idea, two thumbs up for Terry Moore and Bob Stanley for pulling it off. I hope it it’s an annual event.

9. What are your plans for the future?

Right now I’m preparing my new chap book, “PoeticBlastastic”, for release by the end of this year.

10. This blog is read by poets in places ranging from Zimbabwe to Afghanistan. What words of encouragement would you give to aspiring poets, especially the spoken word ones?

Don’t stop pushing the status quo. Challenge yourself not only to write about pretty things, or about relationships and love, but see your role in society. You are the soul; better yet, the conscience of your community. We must use our gifts to make this world a better one: more tolerance, greener, merciful, peaceful and artful. Long live free speech. Poet or die.

Guest Blogger: Veronica Henry of MyAfricanDiaspora.com

2009-11-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

This post features MyAfricanDiaspora co-founder, Veronica Henry. In this blog she introduces the organization and its mission, and provides information on the group's first Annual short story competition. Enjoy.

Our website: www.myafricandiaspora.com, provides news and information aimed at reconnecting the African Diaspora. My partner and I launched the site after tracing our African ancestry to Sierra Leone and deciding to use the power of the Internet to help foster the reconnection between people of African descent and their ancestral homes.

We're sponsoring a Short Story Writing Competition - open to anyone, any country or continent, but the main character must be of African descent. I believe this is a first of its kind, an international competition focused on providing positive, diverse images of people of color in literature. I'd like to invite all writers to participate and hope you'd like to help us spread the word. Full contest details are available here and included below.

Introducing the 1st Annual
MyAfricanDiaspora.com
SHORT STORY COMPETITION
In our ongoing effort to promote positive images that reflect people of African descent, the website that connects that African Diaspora is pleased to announce our first annual Short Story contest.

We're looking for fiction that is unique, stories with characters we'll remember, plots that leave us thinking. The contest is open to anyone, any race, any country, any continent. The only caveat? The main character must be of African descent.

Rules
1.The contest runs from October 1 – December 31, 2009, winner announced February 1, 2010
2.Entries must be 1500 words or less
3.The entry fee is $10 (via paypal or money order payable to DreamDeep LLC.) Address: DreamDeep LLC
9360 W. Flamingo Rd.
#110-117
Las Vegas, NV 89147
4.Main character must be of African descent
5.Story must be previously unpublished
6.Submit entries to info[AT]myafricandiaspora.com, with the words “Short Story Contest: (input name of your short story and genre)” in the subject line. Ex. Short Story Contest: Mystery My Story. Copy & Paste into the body of the email. No attachments.
7.Be sure to include your contact information and word count with submissions
8.There will be one overall winner and one winner from each of the following genres: Literary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery, Romance (we prefer stories without gratuitous sex or violence)

Prizes
1.First Place: $500 Genre Winners: $25 Borders Gift Card
2.Each winner will have their story and a feature article published on myafricandiaspora.com
3.The winners and top three entries in each genre will have their short stories published in a short story collection

Veronica Henry is co-founder and webmaster at www.myafricandiaspora.com - a news and information network aimed at reconnecting the African diaspora. Her 20 year IT career came to an end when her inner writer and entrepreneur inexplicably besieged her to give it all up. Born in Brooklyn, NY, she now calls Las Vegas, NV home. For more information, contact Veronica at info [@] myafricandiaspora dot com.

Chielo Zona Eze's Blog and Some Thoughts on Chinua Achebe and African Literature

2009-11-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

Chielo Zona Eze, author of The Trial of Robert Mugabe, blogs frequently on African Literature News & Review ,and I follow his news updates on African literature. Brief postings that link you to the source. His latest post is on Chinua Achebe's rejection of the label "Father of African Literature", which has been reported on the Guardian and is based on an interview done by the Brown University newspaper, the Brown Daily Herald.

Eze's blog will lead to other news about African literature, interesting reviews on such books as Harare North, An Elegy for Easterly, The Thing Around Your Neck, and many others. Although short, his entries show a devotion to African literature, sometimes pure excitement, as when the announcement was made about the Oprah selection of Uwem Akpan's short story collection. Eze's entry celebrated the moment as great for African writers, pointing out that some agents and editors there may realize that they can profit from African writing. And indeed, Say You're One of them has been featured on The New York Times best seller list, a good indicator that the book is being bought. Eze's is a good blog to follow.

Now, let me blog a bit about Chinua Achebe. I used to teach Things Fall Apart (TFA) in San Francisco. I would ask my students to read Heart of Darkness , and excerpts of books on Africa, first; then we would move on to TFA, but not before we studied W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming", where the phrase "things fall apart" was borrowed.

It was a composition class, so we could not do with much with the literature stuff, but Things Fall Apart never failed to interest the non-major English students, despite the initial cultural distance. Positioning some aspects of Things Fall Apart as a response to Conrad was perfect for the students because they could see how literature was used to argue a point, and they had fun (in my faithful judgment) writing a comparative essay on the two authors' approaches. It was always nice talking about Achebe, sharing my childhood exprience reading it.

That's the thing with reading. Not only will you associate the book's setting with places you actually know, but you will also remember where you were when you first read the novel. When I first read William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, I was at Machipisa in Highfield, Harare, waiting for an Emergency Taxi to Glen View. That was in January, 1988; then when I went back to the rural areas during the school break (I was in Form 5), I read parts of the book to my village friends who had asked me how A-Level was, and my answer was to share with them some Faulkner, D.H. Lawrence, and a little Shakespeare (Measure for Measure, etc,) never mind that some had failed O-Level literature. I remember we were walking along the Gwavachemai Mountain ranges, headed for the small hill known for its sweet baobabs,but on the way we would stop and I would read, trying my best to explain the mysterious Benjie.

As for Things Fall Apart, the setting of the novel was not too different from Mazvihwa, the place I was when I read it for the first time. So when I think of how I first read it, I also remember the associations I made between its characters and real people in our village. There was an Okonkwo, a Nwoye, an Obierika, and so on. And all the spirituality in the novel was quite routine for the village; we may not have had egwugwus, but we had masvikiro (spirit mediums), and there was nothing to stop us from calling them egwugwus. The book was depicting things that we saw everyday.

Things Fall Apart, which I read later than books by Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, was different in many ways from the British authors. The Dickens and Hardys, which I read in the same village setting, had transported me to distant places, but still, there was a certain familiarity, because I could picture and localize the setting and experiences, whereas with Things Fall Apart, I located the setting within the village. I was lucky that at first, Achebe was taught to me from a comparative angle, as one of the writers in a syllabus that also covered Hardy, Dickens, Shakespeare. Lucky because I realized early the diversity in literature. But I would meet the real Achebe in that first year of univeristy, where we started by reading books like Toward the Decolonization of African Literature, or Decolonizing the Mind, or the West and the Rest of Us, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, and many others.

Then suddenly, Achebe became the father of African literature (in English), and the evidence was there in front of us: the literary activity in the year the book was published and the prominent position the college syllabi accorded Achebe's books. You read Things Fall Apart, then you desired No Longer at Ease, and soon you would discover Arrow of God, alongside the Francophone God's Bits of Wood, Xala, and The Old Man and the Medal, without, of course, leaving out Ghana's Ayi Kwei Armah. A door was opened to Kenya's Ngugi waThiongo: The River Between, The Grain of Wheat, Devil on the Cross. Then you zoomed back to the land of Achebe, quickly to be exposed to Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel, but not his The Interpreters (it's language was too opaque, its style too Eurocentric).

This went on for a while, until we finally came back to Zimbabwean literature. If one hadn't read them already (shame on you) here were the authors: Chenjerai Hove, Charles Mungoshi, Dambudzo Marechera, Musaemura Zimunya, Chenjerai Hove, Charles Mungoshi, Dambudzo Marechera. Fathers of Zimbabwean literature? Why not? In my poem "Like the Poets", written during that first year, I called them "fathers of the literature". Some worked in publishing, and you knew they were involved in the shaping of Zimbabwean literature. But when you wanted to raise things to the bigger picture, to African Literature, you went back to Achebe. He had essays defining the literature. So did Ngugi. Defining and practising the form. The writers were the fathers of the literatures, the writers were the teachers in society, the writers were responsible (a very big word then). Some of us began to write poetry that sounded like that of Okot p 'Bitek, Jack Mapanje and Steve Chimombo, taking the role of all the poets "that came before me: Zimunya, Marechera, Mungoshi, Hove, Diop...." It was great to learn that lovely phrase, afrocentic sensibility. The syllabi argued one point: All along you have been reading Eurocentric literature, now is the time to return home, to these fathers, and occasional mothers (Mariama Ba, Ama ata Aidoo), of African literature.

Now African literature has expanded. We have a new generation of writers and publishers (This should by now be obvious, but we really feel there is a rennaissance in African Literature. We: at least me.) The debates are changing. While the literature is not necessarily seeking to decolonize the mind,to free African language (but it occasionally does), it seems to affirm a new African (not necessarily Afrocentric) sensibility; we are now becoming aware of "the dangers of the single story", and, increasingly, the message is becoming that of saying "you're one of them". Taken out of context, this message seems to be saying that African literature is not a strange creature to other literary creatures, but that it can stand there with others when it's being considered for the Guardian Fiction Prize, or the Orange Prize for Fiction, or the Man Booker, the Nobel. Of course, this is not to say it has never stood there before. It has...many times, but there were times when it stood there because it was shockingly African. The creature now stands, still as African, but also simply as literary, with other literary creatures out there (or in here).

And why is Achebe rejecting the endorsement of "Father of African Literature"?

"It's really a serious belief of mine that it's risky for anyone to lay claim to something as huge and important as African literature ... the contribution made down the ages. I don't want to be singled out as the one behind it because there were many of us – many, many of us," he told the Brown Daily Herald.

In the meantime, universities have begun to set up Chinua Achebe Institutes, intiatives,colloqiums, etc, and Things Fall Apart is required summer reading for most high school students in (at least) the United States. You don't have to be a father of a literature for all this to happen. You just have to be an excellent writer.

UPDATE: an edited version of this article has been published by the journal Flatmancrooked. It was great working with the editor, James Kaelan.

Guest Bloggers Wanted

2009-11-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

I am trying to take Wealth of Ideas (WOI) to another level by encouraging the participation of other writers/bloggers. If you have a topic you would like to share with readers of WOI, please contact me at manu@munyori.com to express your interest, or just submit your blog entry to me using the same email address. Here is the range of possible topics:

1 Book Reviews: They don't have to be formal. Just your thoughts about a book you read recently, or one you read a long time ago.

2. Current issues and enduring questions: Yes, current issues, politics, etc. After all, we are called Wealth of Ideas. If you have new insights on an enduring question--what is love in the 21st century, what is beauty, etc, send us something.

3. Entries on tools for the writer's craft: You are an editor, a publisher, etc, and you want to give us advice on a craft issue--plot, point of view, detail, characterization, etc, send us something, help us out. I would do this myself, but I am trying to follow my advice: "Shut up and write".

4. Informative pieces: If you have some information on a project you are working on, informatrion about writing contests, etc,submit the details.

5. Author Interviews: If you want me to interview you (because I really love doing this), or you have done an author interview, we can post it here as well.

6. Author Profiles: You want the world to know about this amazing writer you have discovered,a writer you like, let us know, send something. I know if someone were to ask me to talk about Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Kazuo Ishiguro, I would not hesitate to do so.

7. Blog Book Tour: You have just published a new book and you want WOI to host your blog tour, I will interview you, post your book info and your answers to my interview questions, and I will ask WOI readers to ask you their questions through the comments section, etc.

If you would like to do any of the above, please let me know.

A World of Short Stories

2009-11-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

Many people have said 2009 is the year of the short story. And a lot of the short story collections published this year have won awards ranging from Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (which, of course, wouldn't be awarded to a novel or poetry collection), the Guardian Fiction Award and many others I can't think of right now.

Only yesterday (Friday, November 6), CNN's Anderson Cooper and Oprah's Oprah Winfrey admitted that this had been the year they fell in love with the short story through their reading of Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them. For this reason, they have decided to co-broadcast a discussion of the book on Monday (9pm Eastern/8pm Central Time). This is a huge event for a short story collection. If all goes well, I may participate in some small way in the Webcast.

Say You're One of Them has already been on the New York Times best seller list for weeks, and what that means is that Americans are buying (and reading) this book in great numbers. I have even begun to receive emails from old friends and former co-workers saying they are reading Uwem Akpan's book. That's good for the short story genre, but most importantly, for the exposure of literature set in Africa.

This year I have focused my reading on the short story because my own writing is also centered on the genre, but I have found myself saying things like, "I want to discover the secret of the short story." That's just because once I started, I couldn't stop.

I haven't discovered the secret yet, but I am enjoying the discovery of writers (contemporary and classic) I never thought I would be reading this year. Short stories are addictive (especially if you make a point to make 90 per cent of your pleasure reading center only on them); reading one author has led to the discovery of another, and this has been going on non-stop since February.

Short stories have become fashionable. As I browse new titles in book stores, I see all these things publishers are doing with the genre. There are more collected stories by single authors, huge volumes like those by Ballard, Trevor, and Carver. Then estbalished novelists have also caught on to the short story bug (or opportunity). Kazuo Ishiguro just released Nocturnes, a collection of short stories; Ha Jin is coming out [in December] with A Good Fall (which I recently reviewed. Lives of Chinese immigrants in the United States),John Grisham's Ford County is a short story collection, and someone just did the most voluminous Raymond Carver collection, displaying multiple versions of the short stories side by side to show Carver's revision process (It's been termed a treasure).

The most fashionable thing now (or we can call it profitable), is publishing short story anthologies that contain works by different authors. The collections have hot themes ("one world", "new voices of the world", "our changing world", "new generations"). Short story collections everywhere, from anywhere. I am even scheduled to co-edit a book of short stories by Indian and Zimbabwean authors, and work is in progress on one of the most gripping collections of contemporary African
short stories, a collection entitled African Roar.

I am noticing that some of the collections by single authors are like novels, with stories unified by a central concern. Ha Jin's stories, for instance, are all set in Flushing, New York. William Styron's new collection, The Suicide Run, is about the Marine Corps, and the different stories center on the same protagonist, and Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them deals with the plight of children across Africa, with all his stories told from a child narrator. So there is always an amazing unifying element in the collection, which gives it a sense of continuity that readers can appreciate.

Perhaps what's happening to the short story genre has been happening all along; I just haven't been paying much attection. But the articles keep pointing to the revival of the genre. Steven Millhauser, for instance, has written on the ambition of the short story in his famous New York Times essay. Then the awards too: most of the books getting short-listed and winning awards are short story collections. For once, I am seeing short story collections on the New York Times Bestseller list. And my search for the secret of the short story continues, as I take it beyond Borders & Barnes & Noble to Amazon, used bookstores, library booksales, to Goodwill and garage sales. Call it a bargain hunt, and I can tell you, the trips have been worthwhile: I have discovered names I never thought I would: Now I don't have to turn back to the same Dubliners each time I crave a short story.

2009, the year of the short story. And if this continues to 2010 and 2011, those too will be years of the short story. But do I hear poetry calling for attention too? Perhaps 2012? Then we give 2013 to the playwrights? As for the novel, well, what can I say, hang in there.

At the end of 2008, and early this year, I was blogging about Ruby Magosvongwe's labelling of Zimbabwe as a short story country, and there was a little bit of debate on the issue as some writers argued it could also be called a novel or poetry country. But the debates made me pay more attention, first, to the Zimbabwean short story, then before I knew it I was reading Flannery O'Connor, Flaubert, and Maupassant. Perhaps now, as the year ends,I am tempted to say that our [literary] world is a short story world(this moment at least).

Mungoshi to Address PAWA in Ghana

2009-11-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

David Mungoshi, Vice President of PAWA.

Zimbabwean writer David Mungoshi, whose new novel, The Fading Sun, is forthcoming from Lion Press, will present a paper at the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) in Ghana. This event,running from November 4 to 7 and attended by writers like Chinua Achebe, Toni Morrion, Nadine Gordimer, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiongo and others, will focus on the theme: "LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND SOCIETY IN A FRACTURED WORLD". Wole Soyinka will deliver the keynote speech.

David Mungoshi will present a paper on HIV and its depiction in contemporary Southern African writing. Among other things, the paper reveals that there is "now a body of creative writing whose main driver is the HIV and AIDS pandemic." Mungoshi argues that "this writing cuts across all the literary genres (poetry, the short story, the novel and drama) and... the gender divide." The paper also examines "the language question with a view to suggesting how society can best go forward in what might be termed the age of the virus."

The Pan African Writers Association (PAWA),is a leading Pan African Cultural Institution accorded full Diplomatic Status by the Government of Ghana in 1992. It is made up of the 52 National Writers Associations on the African continent, and seeks to contribute its quota to moral, cultural and intellectual renaissance in Africa.

WORD: Sacramento's Big 2009 Spoken Word Festival

2009-11-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

Date: Friday, November 13, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Guild Theater
Street: 2828 35th Street
City/Town: Sacramento, CA

FEATURING:

Hour 1 (6 poets) 6-7pm

Jim Nolt
Emmanuel Sigauke
Bari Kennedy
Kate Asche
Danny Romero
Anna Marie

Hour 2 (4 poets) 7-8pm

Frank Withrow
Lawrence Dinkins
Sam Pierstorff
Quinton Duval

Hour 3 (Two dance groups, 1 band and one singer) 8-9pm

Vocalist Carla Fleming
Live band LSB
Dance group JUSTICE
Dance group TBA

Hour 4 (4 poets) 9-10pm

Kathleen Lynch
Brad Buchanan
Terry Moore
Supanova

Hour 5 (3 Poets) 10-11pm

Bob Stanley
Phoenyx Reign
NerCity from Oakland

Sponsored by the Sacramento Poetry Center & The Center for Fathers and Families.

www.sacramentopoetrycenter.org

www.fathersandfamilies.com

Noma Honourable Mention for Chris Mlalazi

2009-11-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

Chris Mlalazi

This is big. Congratulations are in order for Chris, for his impressive creative journey from NAMA (Zimbabwe) to NOMA (Japan).

His short story collection, Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township has won an Honourable Mention in the 2009 Noma Awards, one of the most significant book prizes in Africa. The book was one of the four books shortlisted for the 2009 Award, chosen from submissions by 43 publishers in 12 different African countries.

Sefi Atta of Nigeria won Noma Award, worth $10 000, for her short story collection Lawless and Other Stories, which is published in the USA as News from Home. Tunisian writer Sonia Chamkhi’s Leila ou la femme de l’aube, and Love in the Time of Treason, by South Africa’s Zubeida Jaffer also received the Honourable Mention.

The other members of the Jury in 2009 were Walter Bgoya from Tanzania (jury chair, Professor Simon Gikandi (a US-based expert on African literature), Robert Schirmer Professor of English at Princeton University; Professor Peter Katjavivi, Chairman of the National Planning Commission in the Government of Namibia, and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia; and Mary Jay, Secretary of the Jury. The Award is sponsored by Kodansha Ltd, Japan.

Dancing with Life

The judges said of Christopher Mlalazi’s book: "Mlalazi’s collection of short stories is an important addition to the new writing from Zimbabwe concentrating on the social disintegration of the country. The stories stand out by being set in Bulawayo, drawing on the distinctive identity of a provincial city, its Ndebele culture, and its marginal relation to the centre. The success of the stories lies in the experiences of ordinary people coping with violence, anger and angst, rather than any self-conscious sense of form."

These kinds of awards reflect well on the publishers of the books. Dancing with Life was published by Bulawayo-based 'amaBooks, which has contributed significantly to the growth of contemporary Zimbabwean writing in English. Brian Jones, a co-director of "amaBooks, said that he was ‘delighted for Christopher. It is a major achievement for Dancing with Life to be considered by the Noma panel as one of the best four books published in Africa last year, particularly as this is his first book. We’re proud that we were the first to publish Christopher with a short story in Short Writings from Bulawayo, and we have included his stories in each of the subsequent books in the Short Writings series. To me, Christopher’s strength as a writer lies in his keen powers of observation and in his writing remaining rooted in his personal experiences of life in the townships. Dancing with Life is available from many outlets in Zimbabwe and, outside of the country, the book can be obtained through the African Books Collective (www.africanbookscollective.com)."

More information about Dancing with Life and ’amaBooks can be found on the publisher's website. website and on its blog.

In a statement, Chris Mlalazi said, "I am ...confident that my next book, which I am working on right now, is going to win a big international award." Why not? Chris is one of the most hard-working contemporary Zimbabwean writers and a promoter of the arts.

For Six Weeks, One Ghana, One Voice Features Poetry on Zimbabwe

2009-10-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

For six weeks, One Ghana, One Voice will feature poems on Zimbabwe. The first featured poet is the vibrant Prince Mensah, whose poem centers on the history of Zimbabwe and highlight resilience through highlighting the idea that Zimbabwe is indeed Zimba Remabwe (house of stone).

The poem is accompanied by an author interview, in which Mensah displays his knowledge of the challenge bedevilling Africa. Here is an extract:

4. What lessons can Zimbabwe learn from Ghana's history? What lessons can Ghana learn from Zimbabwe?

Zimbabweans can learn the power of tolerance from Ghana. Trust me; we have had volatile situations that could have ended up in chaos. Yet, there is a cultural underpinning that rejects bloodshed as a way of solving issues. The way of Gandhi is better than the way of guns. In the end, the best person to change Zimbabwe for the better is the Zimbabwean who is ready to make sacrifices and take risks, in order to move the dream forward.

Ghanaians can learn the value of higher education from Zimbabweans. Getting either a Masters Degree or Doctorate is a rite of passage for Zimbabweans. This enables them to excel in and out of their country, enabling them to garner the experience and expertise to contribute to nation building. I do not mean that holding a graduate degree is the panacea to our problems. However, it opens up possibilities for the individual in a country where opportunities are few.

To read the rest of the interview, please go to One Ghana, One Voice and while you are there, check out their Writer's Service.

African Writing News

2009-10-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

A new short story contest is being offered by MyAfricandiaspora.

Petina Gappah's An Elegy for Easterly shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. See the whole story here.

The African Roar fiction anthology was in the news a couple of time this week, Books SA and in the Sunday News (Bulawayo).

What am I Reading these Days?

2009-10-29T02:05:00.001-07:00

Loads of student papers (essays and fiction pieces)--they keep flooding. Yet, my hunger for some leisure reading is insatiable too, so these are the books I carry around these days, hoping that maybe over lunch I may read several pages:

Philip Caputo: Crossers (I actually finished this one and reviewed it for the Sacramento/San Francisco Book Review),
Ha Jin: A Good Fall, which will be available in bookstores in December.
Lucy Howard-Taylor: Biting Anorexia (reviewing it for Sac Book Review)
Wil Wheaton: The Happiest Days of Our Lives (coming out in December); reviewing it for Sac Book Review
William Styron: The Suicide Run, a collection of short stories. I love the serpentine wriggle of the sentences in these stories; Styron knew his way in the jungle of language; remember Sophie's Choice?

I probably owe the poetry world ten to fifteen reviews, but nowadays I carry around A Tiara for the Twentieth Century by Suzanne R Harvey.

These are the new things out there, and there are more that I hunger for: Kazuo Ishiguro's new short story collection, Margaret Atwood's new novel, A.S. Byatt's Children's Book and many others.

Of the old publications, I keep within reach copies of Say You're One of Them (Akpan), Housekeeping (Robinson), Unaccustomed Earth (Lahiri), Cathedral (Carver), African Stories (Lessing). Just in case I get bored somewhere, or that I may end up getting some spare time, I may sneak in a short story or two. Reading, it's a lot of fun, I tell you.

New Fiction Journal (NFJ) Launch: A Brief Intro

2009-10-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

This post features an excerpt from Sunil Sharma's introduction to a new international journal called New Fiction Journal (NFJ). Here, in Sunil Sharma's words, is the information about this new journal:

NFJ is all about fiction and fiction writing. Old fiction written in a new way and challenging/defying our pre-existing conceptions about this most popular form of the world literature. It is dangerous stuff being composed by very mobile imaginative minds across a fast-shrinking globe by some very talented writers---old and emerging.

The NFJ wants screaming fiction: a piece of writing that is unhappy with the deterministic narrow framework of story-telling decided by previous generation(s) of writers, literary editors and academics---that is all the arbiters of tastes for you. The ideal New Writer (NW) for us at NFJ is typically impatient---the way our beloved Derrida was with the western logos and everything foundational, metaphysical and fixed. He was, as his comrades gleefully point out, unhappy with everybody except himself. So the poor chap deconstructed everything sacred, static and traditional in one single sweep---to the utter delight of the restive Americans in perpetual search for something new and challenging to replace the earlier pantheon of the new and exciting in their national culture of the instant gratification---and got himself installed as the new demi-god of the western cultural world. He spoke and everybody thought he as the official spokesperson held the secret keys to all the sacred civilizational truths till rediscovered Bakhtin demolished the French in the little arena of competitive ideas.

The NW is more or less like these icons, ready to demolish and then, willingly or unwillingly, become enshrined in the popular mythologies. Something cannot be helped. To-day’s radical is to-morrow’s conservative. Regis Debray syndrome? Yeah. All the Parisian intellectuals of some significance of the 60s and 70s were just that before the allure of the establishment caught up with them and claimed them as apologetic defenders of the faith. But this is the second painful part of being a successful public figure of a market economy.

For us, that early rebellion is still relevant and any way, youthful radicalism part is always better of a great career than the geriatric status quoits mindset of a failed revolutionary; better a reformed rebel than no rebel and die as a happy, complacent and wealthy organic man of the wicked world. Radicals change the world; some make it in their image, others, however, become its mirror-image. Some subversion is important for our mental health. It can be at purely thought level or formal or linguistic one…murder to create thing, you know. The idea is to break out of old moulds…and create new ones till somebody else comes and does it for you what you did to your holy predecessors. But that is life any way. Our kids always treat us as scum of the earth and rebel, only to get sucked in the same mire and become same as us. Little ironies of life!

It is New Fiction or NF we are on the lookout for our journal, preferably composed in English for varied audiences across the English-speaking world; restive audiences eager to sample shifting perspectives, dialogic voices and conflicting view-points; that startling solid Pound-like crisp image or powerful arresting visual; the haunting music of carefully-crafted lines near a sea shore or in solitude of mind or heart, in brief, white creativity originating and erupting forcefully in multiple cultural locations and active, feverish finer mindscapes that soar in places, whether you like it or not, only few can visit.

NF, by definition, is restless, cerebral, innovative, gravity-defying, Eureka-moment, multi-disciplinarian thing and is ready to challenge the overused dull lusterless decaying conventions and moribund boundaries of the art of fiction and fiction telling. It is to be edited by some very fine people: some venerable university dons, others about to become, while some young angry Osbornes wanting desperately to re-write their own histories in hot flushes of deep rage.

If you think you have all the mixed cultural genes of Monet, Borges, Ginsberg and Guevara, to name but a few, you are welcome aboard the New Fiction Journal for a long and exciting mental journey across varied colourful landscapes conducted by the best fictionists of the time. In an instant, the eclectic experience will change from monochromatic to pure psychedelic.

Send your shorts, micros, comments, interviews to our proposed half-yearly journal that is global in tastes and standards, and, of course, headed by an international editing team.

Indian journals will not look the same again. We will provide the epochal and the revolutionary. The rest depends on God and our valued patrons on terra firma. Amen!

Contact: drsharma.sunil@gmail.com