The Sunday Mail
Book Review
Edmore Zvinonzwa
Leadership author and coach Takudzwa Masapa is determined to break barriers.
The founder of Elite Leadership is working on a writers’ magazine that will feature African authors.
The first edition — set to be published on November 20 — comes on the back of the establishment of the African Writers Roundtable.
It will feature writers drawn from 10 African countries.
In an interview, Masapa said they are not reinventing the wheel.
The objective, he said, was to reaffirm the influential position of African literature in the young and old.
“Generally aimed at promoting African literature, the magazine emerges out of the realisation that the continent has great literary minds, which are largely unrecognised and underappreciated. It also affords the artists the opportunity to network with fellow writers from other countries.
“As the African Writers Roundtable, we seek to motivate young writers by bringing them together with seasoned published writers. That way, they get first-hand information on the challenges in the field and how they can be overcome,” he said.
The writer recently received an honorary award at the Global African Authors’ Awards held in South Africa on July 31 for his book “Amplified Silence: Birthing Leaders that Bring Solutions to Concealed Problems”.
The new magazine is expected to feature writers from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya.
“We do not intend to pre-empt the contents but some of the writers we have featured include Anthea Thyssen from South Africa, Pusetso Lame from Botswana and the likes of Florence Mudzingwa and Cynthia Chirinda from Zimbabwe, among others.
“We are planning to engage the Zimbabwe Writers Association (ZWA) and other bodies like the Zimbabwe Women Writers (ZWW) so that we have a bigger and richer edition in future.
“They happen to be established and have been around for some time, hence better experienced, especially on the earlier trends in the country, implying that their contributions will, without doubt, be invaluable.”
Masapa added that the writers featured in the upcoming edition largely write in English, although poetry by Botswana’s Lame is in Tswana.
“While the bulk of writers featured in this edition write in English, there are no limitations as to the language and genre that the writers use.
“We consider artists and works in any genre and in any language. Some of Zimbabwe’s best-known writers use local languages like Shona and Ndebele as well as English.
“In fact, Zimbabwe recognises — as spelt out in the Constitution — a total of 16 languages, including sign language. As such, writers whose works are published in the other 15 languages can be part of our future editions . . . We realise most artists are at their creative best when they write in their mother language.”
The young writer said the first edition of the magazine has been made possible through support from organisations such as Cinemart Media, Accurate Visionaries, Tendai Dara Incorporated and Get Inspired.
The magazine project is not the first of its type in the country.
There once was “Two Tone”, a poetry magazine founded by Phillipa Beryl and Olive Robertson and published in association with the then National Arts Foundation of Rhodesia and the University of Rhodesia.
“Two Tone” had a rotating board of directors whose focus was on “good writing”, “technical skills”, “stylistic innovation” and “authentic expression”, which provided the formative structures of the new writing that emerged in the 1970s.
The historical period during which “Two Tone” appeared signified a radical break with the conservative Eurocentric traditions that had dominated Zimbabwean poetry.
It published poetry by both black and white writers working predominantly in English, but in the indigenous languages of Shona, challenging divisions and creating a new open field for expression in diverse poetic voices and styles.
The poetry that emerged then was largely protest verse, which sought to challenge the settler subjugation obtaining then, at the same time trying to re-assert the dignity of the colonised black population.
Zimbabwean poets such as DF Middleton, Julius Chingono, Charles Mungoshi, Musaemura Bonus Zimunya and John Eppel, among others, began their writing careers and made their names with “Two Tone”.
Kizito Muchemwa was editor-in-chief and the magazine’s first black editor in 1971.
Sadly, the magazine went bust in 1981.
Masapa is currently studying architecture at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST).
