Article
Welcome to Zimbabwean poetry - July 2004
January 18, 2006
His poetry, collected together in Cemetery of Mind, was published posthumously in 1992. His work, his ideas and his defiance live on in Zimbabwe, particularly amongst the youth, who find inspiration in his willingness to be the lone outsider, challenging conventional and authoritarian views.
The next issue of the Zimbabwean magazine will appear on October 1.
Zimbabwe is a country of poets. Zimbabweans write poetry, speak it and sing it in Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Shangaan and other minority languages; we have poetry in English, praise, performance, oratorical, and declamatory poetry. Perhaps as many as one in six people writes poetry or takes pleasure from trying to do so.
In this issue of the magazine we are pleased to introduce one of Zimbabwe’s most known poets, for wherever he went, his reputation preceded him. Dambudzo Marechera was born in Rusape in 1952 to a poor family. However, he won scholarships to St Augustine’s Secondary School, to the University of Zimbabwe and to New College, Oxford. He has the distinction of being expelled from all three.His first novel, House of Hunger (1978), won the 1979 Guardian fiction award. It was followed by four other novels, Black Sunlight (1980), The Black Insider (1990) and Mindblast (1884).His poetry, collected together in Cemetery of Mind, was published posthumously in 1992. His work, his ideas and his defiance live on in Zimbabwe, particularly amongst the youth, who find inspiration in his willingness to be the lone outsider, challenging conventional and authoritarian views.
The next issue of the Zimbabwean magazine will appear on October 1.
© Irene Staunton
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