Dambudzo Marechera

(Zimbabwe, 1952)

Biography

Dambudzo Marechera was born in Rusape 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 having been expelled from all three.

Marechera’s 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. After his departure from Oxford, he lived and wrote in London until his return to Zimbabwe in 1982.

Marechera’s 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.

Bibliography:
Veit-Wild, Flora, ‘Dambudzo Marechera: A Preliminary Annotated Bibliography’. Zambesia, 14:2, 121-29, 1987.
Veit-Wild, Flora, Dambudzo Marechera: A Source Book on his Life and Work. London, Hans Zell 1992. Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications 1993.
Veit-Wild, Flora and Anthony Chennells (eds), Emerging Perspectives on Dambudzo Marechera. Trenton, Africa World Press 1999.

Poems

WHO'S USED MY NEW RUCKSACK!? DID YOU ASK WHAT'S WRONG WITH WAR? PUNKPOEM FOR BETTINA, A TUESDAY PROLOGUE SHOCK: FOR BETTINA I USED TO LIKE TOMATOES TO BETTINA, WITH ANGRY TENDERNESS LIBERTY WHERE THE BASTARD IS GOD? THERE'S A DISSIDENT IN THE ELECTION SOUP

Poems

Poems of Dambudzo Marechera

Partners

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Dambudzo Marechera