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Writers keep check of the heartbeat of our nation: Interview with Tinashe Mushakavanhu
Upenyu Makoni-Muchemwa, Kubatana.net
March 23, 2010

Read Inside / Out with Tinashe Mushakavanhu

Tinashe Mushakavanhu characterises himself as a ‘born-free,' that is belonging to that generation of Zimbabweans that was born shortly after independence. He is an author and poet. His short stories are published in Short Writings from Bulawayo 2 and 3 published by Amabooks in 2005 and 2006 respectively. He has edited several anthologies, the most recent of which is State of the Nation (Conversation Press, 2009). He is also the editor and publisher of Zimbabwe's literary magazine Mazwi.

How was Mazwi started?
Mazwi or the concept behind Mazwi had always been a seed growing in me for a long time. Perhaps working under Irene Staunton at Weaver Press resulted in the germination of the seed. I plunged into publishing without know-how or contacts. Weaver Press has kept the publishing industry in Zimbabwe alive despite the economic downturn. When I joined them, my ‘office' was the verandah of their house and when the elements of nature such as rain or too much sun were against me, I always found a corner in their house and naturally became part of their furniture. In many ways it was an ideal place to learn about publishing. In a small publishing house, the divisions as to who does what are not very rigid. Things have to get done and if you are the only pair of hands available, then you sometimes get to do them. I was not an office dog running around with spilling cups of coffee. It was hands on experience. The time spent at Weaver Press culminated in an invitation to a regional writing conference at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I had just turned 21. Renowned poet and publisher, Mxolisi Nyezwa, organized the event. Afterwards, we then collaborated in producing a journal on Zimbabwean literature with writers like Nhamo Mhiripiri, Farai Mpofu, Ruzvidzo Mupfudza, Memory Chirere, Josephine Muganiwa, Joyce T Mutiti, and Mary Tandon. I believe that initial exposure gave me the confidence to want to get my hands dirty in the promotion and celebration of Zimbabwean literature.

When did you start writing?
It's very hard to say when I started writing. I began as many people do, using writing as a form of self-expression. I always found poetry to be a kind of fission, an area where I found, even in my worst times, some element of freedom. But, growing up the way I did, could have contributed to the writer I became. My childhood was a series of movements. We were always moving as maroja from one location to another. It was a very noisy upbringing full of talk about this and that, non-stop talk. In the locations everybody had a different version of every story and you would watch a small event become dramatised with each retelling until it had assumed epic proportions. You kept all the time looking for the truth but you realised that, in fact, it seemed to be not what happened that mattered but how you make a story or poem of what happened. So you transform what happens into something that entertains and engages those around you. I find those things more important in terms of influence on me as a writer than the academic training that came later.

Do you think Zimbabwe has a literary culture?
Of course Zimbabwe has a literary culture but one that has been in a protracted childhood. For so long our literature was a handful of writers, some of who doubled as critics on the subject. Zimbabwean literature is small and this can be very claustrophobic if everyone is working out of the same mould. The land itself has been sowed and owned and fought over. Every little inch is named and placed. The emergence of a new Zimbabwean literature is now on show. It is a clear break from the earlier phase which preceded it, a phase that focussed on questions of nationalism and decolonisation and was more concerned with telling us who we are and where we came from. Our literary culture is very "male." There have not been many women writers in Zimbabwe at any stage. If you look for women writers in English or Shona or Ndebele they are very few. Only in more recent times do we begin to see them flourishing - Valerie Tagwira, Luta Shaba, Petina Gappah, Blessing Musariri, Gugu Ndlovu, and Bryony Rheam. But, whatever cultural, political, economic delimitations mark our literary growth; Zimbabwe is a country of poetry and stories.

What do you believe is needed to encourage more writers?
Firstly, we need a proactive Ministry of Arts and Culture whose definition of art and culture is not limited to music and paintings and dance but to creative writing as well. Secondly, our universities need to introduce creative writing as a course just as journalism is included. While, I do not necessarily believe that writing is something that can be taught, or learnt, I also do think that all writers can improve if they learn certain things. What they must learn is discipline and, however you acquire that discipline, that's where creative writing courses will come in. And thirdly, we need vibrant writing organisations to foster a sense of community and workmanship. Zimbabwe Women Writers (ZWW) and Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe (BWAZ) are examples but they only have a limited reach due to their demographic targets. Fourthly, we need more book reviews, writer's profiles, literary opinions in our mainstream newspapers to remove the tag that literature is an exclusive club; but rather a club for all. That way people will be able to appreciate writers and their work.

It has been said that established authors like Shimmer Chinodya and Charles Mungoshi do not make enough to live on by publishing in Zimbabwe. Why do you think this is so?
The Zimbabwean attitude to writers is this: marombe and yet writers keep check of the heartbeat of our nation. Obviously, the state of our political economy does not offer many opportunities for writers. The only ways for these writers to make money is attending conferences, workshops, residences, and festivals overseas and get nominal appearance fees, which are often not big. As Zimbabweans we are big talkers and non-readers. People never buy books for pleasure; only for school purposes and as a result local writers get no income from their books.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
The literature I like as a reader is the kind of literature that does not close things down, that does not have its answers worked out before it begins, but that through its characters, and through the situations that the characters find themselves in, tries to work through some of the ideas and preoccupations of our time. And given that our society has been dominated by politics and political violence, then if young writers choose to set their fiction in Zimbabwe, I think they can't help but engage with it, consciously or unconsciously. There are pressures; especially when you are younger, as a writer, to want to speak on behalf of other people, but you cant actually do so until it comes from your experience of life and people.

Besides Mazwi, are there any other projects you are working on?
Besides Mazwi, there is Mazwi. It is the branding of a philosophy, of a way of thinking and appreciating the diversity of literary voices in and out of Zimbabwe. My ambition is to have a print journal specifically dedicated to Zimbabwean literary studies and two universities, one in Zimbabwe and the other in the UK could soon host Mazwi. As a young ambitious spirit, I tend to have three or four projects at one go. I have several books I am working on - a reader on Chenjerai Hove, a monograph on the Zimbabwean short story, an anthology of young Zimbabwean poets, and a short documentary. Besides my creative enterprise I am also developing a career as a University teacher. Do all these activities collide? I only have practical problems of finding enough time to write but I do take steps to keep them separate. I do not, for example, teach Zimbabwean literature to students. I teach English Romantic Poetry and this makes it possible for me to keep things completely separate.

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