Sometimes, reading is like the writing process: the reader revises responses to a work of art with each step of the reading process. When I started reading Valerie Tagwira's The Uncertainty of Hope, I quickly found discomfort in the transposition of Shona and English sentences since I thought this tendency served some interests of no … Continue reading Tagwira Update and Other Reflections on Writing →

<!--.quote {width:350px; padding: 6px; border: solid 1px #456B8F; font: 10px helvetica, verdana, sans-serif; color: #222222; background-color: #ffffff}.quote a {font: 13px arial, serif; color: #003399; text-decoration: underline}.quote a:hover {color: #FF9900; }-->Something Like a PoemGood Times Santa Cruz - Sunday, 28 October 2007© Good Times Santa CruzIn his essay, Gerber grips the reader's attention by exposing the … Continue reading "Something Like a Poem" by Dan Gerber →

I have emptied Chisiya Echoes of its 400 poems created between February 2006 and October 2007. It's editing time, but new postings will resume in November.

Maxwell Mutami's poetry collection has just been published by Timeless Avatar Press and is available at Amazon and other places online. The publisher describes the collection as follows: "This book is a collection of poems that cover politics, culture, religion, and the economic life of the ordinary man. The themes tackled have made and are … Continue reading Mutami’s When the Dust Has Settled →

I look forward to attending this rich conference hosted by Sac State. Here I am posting the conference schedule to give readers an idea of the kinds of papers that are going to be presented by scholars from across the Unites States. Post-Genocide Rwanda: Achievements and ChallengesDate & Venue: November 2-3, 2007 at Sacramento State … Continue reading Sacramento State University hosts Conference on Rwanda →

A Doris Lessing reader approached me yesterday and asked, "I didn't know Doris Lessing sort of grew up in Zimbabwe." Not only did I confirm this, but I was also quick to recommend The Grass is Singing as a good book to read. I have always treated Doris Lessing as a Zimbabwean writer, although she … Continue reading A Nobel for Zimbabwe? →

I just received my copy of the Weaver Press-published novel, The Uncertainty of Hope. The first two chapters I have read present a promising plot. What I have begun to notice is the uncertainty of language in the novel. The characters use the Shona language once in a while, then each Shona sentence is usually … Continue reading New Dialogue on Valerie Tagwira’s novel →