Harare Open Book Festival 2023
Harare Open Book Festival – Becoming The Muse
Book Fantastics hosted its second edition of the Harare Open Book Festival on 14 October 2023 at Ela The Garden, Newlands Harare. The book festival ran under the theme: Telling our stories; securing our futures.
Book Fantastics is a Mobile Bookshop and Literary Advocacy movement run by the Advocate Of Unpopular Opinion, Brain Garusa. From my experience in the literary-scape of Zimbabwe as it currently stands, Book Fantastics and Carnelian Heart Publishing could be single-handedly doing the most for the Zimbabwean book ecosystem.
Since 1983, Zimbabwe used to enjoy an annual Book Fair which at one time was one of the main Book Fairs in Africa.. Over the years the Zimbabwe International Book Fair lost its prestige, becoming a pale shadow of its former self, coupled with economic challenges, the COVID Pandemic and Lockdown, it eventually disappeared completely and is still finding its way back.
In the meanwhile, the Harare Open Book Festival is a small but growing movement filling the space left by the dearth of literary spaces where readers, authors and other players in the book world can converge and shape the future…
Harare Open Book Festival
Naturally after the welcome address the programming begun with a round of storytelling, Ngano i.e folk tales to set the atmosphere. I found it a fitting tribute to our heritage where oral tradition has played a key role in the passing down and preservation of knowledge from generation to generation. A story is never just a story…..
The importance of translation in our literary-scape
Memory Chirere in conversation with. Dr Ignatius T. Mabasa, Tinashe Muchuri and Petina Gappah
Dr Ignatius T. Mabasa who translated Tsitsi Dangarembga’s acclaimed novel Nervous Conditions into Shona read a passage from the book and then read from his translation… His translated version brought the story to life in ways that would make it relateable to a Shona reader.
During the discussion, he talked about how the translation process brought out nuances that otherwise skipped the reader. As a man, translating a text with feminist themes, he also said that the process “demasculated” him and had him questioning what it is to be a good man, father and husband…
While he had initially appreciated the book and its themes, the translation process made him slow down and savour each word choice and the meanings it carried and how to best convey them.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a team of Zimbabwean writers had worked on translating George Orwell’s classic novel Animal Farm into Shona. Tinashe Muchuri and Petina Gappah who were a part of this project, read from the first chapter of Animal Farm, alternating between the original version and the translated version.
Once again, I was impressed by how the book Chimurenga Chemhuka became more relatable and even funnier, especially on account of how they infused the characters with local dialects.
Speaking about the project Petina Gappah mentioned that sometimes in the translation process they had to invent new words as there were no Shona words for some of the things, for example Windmill which became Chigayo Chemhepo.
Language is fluid and each day people create new lingo on the streets, so they gave themselves a bit of creative license in the translation process.
Book Clubbing In Zimbabwe
In this conversation moderated by Thembe Khumalo with Grace Zichawo of Elite Book Club and Tonderai Mudambo of Harare Book Club, they discussed the role of book clubs in fostering a culture of reading.
Elite Book Club is pivoting its book club into more than just reading but a lifestyle, bonded by pages and bookmarks… Harare Book Club which I am a part of supports authors by organising author meet-ups and discussions.
Writing in IsiNdebele challenges and opportunities.
Rutendo Chichaya had a conversation with Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya which has also been uploaded onto her podcast Ihwi (click below to go to podcast)
One point raised was that although books written in local languages don’t get as much attention as those written in English, it doesn’t mean that there arent opportunities for our own stories and our voices to be heard, read and shared.
Writing off silence: Poetry
Tariro Ndoro had a conversation with Batsirai Chigama and Tanaka Chidora on poetry, inspiration, expression and the pressure to deliver.
Apparently of all the writing genres Poetry is one of the most difficult to make book sales, and Batsirai Chigama to whom poetry has been a mother, has managed to sell over 900 copies.
Batsirai puts a lot of work into her Book Launches with her last one for the book For Women To Trying To Breathe becoming a stage production bringing together a team of creatives. I attended her book launches and also saw the production at the 2022 edition of Intwasa in Bulawayo.
"People will pressure you to write a book... to publish. Write that book we want to read it they tell you. But when you have published, those people are nowhere to be found..." - Tanaka Chidora Harare Open Book Festival
Reading Zimbabwe: A neighbour’s perspective
Harare Open Book Festival may not yet be an international festival but it certainly has gone regional and there was a panel with guests who had come from Zambia and South Africa to talk books.
An interesting observation raised particularly for the cases of Zimbabwe and Zambia, was how some books and authors got accolades everywhere else except their home country… for example The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell which doesn’t get as much recognition in Zambia as it does elsewhere…
This session was also a testament to the power of the internet and social media as online conversations and interactions led to this moment.
The next book on my To-Be-Read list is Treasonous Paragons by Pauline Manze as recommended by Sumili Chanda when asked to list books a non-Zambian should read about Zambia.. Hows that for influence?
Writing the spirit
The final session was a conversation between Vuso Mhlanga and Cynthia Marangwanda around her National Art Merit Award winning book Shards. The book which has been on my To-Be-Read list has been bumped up after this hilarious conversation between people who share a disdain for the structure of formal education which stifles imagination and creativity.
While the discussion was centred around Shards, Vuso constantly stole the show and had the audience in stitches with his anecdotes and personal reflections from his reading of the book… I don’t ordinarily read autobiographies and memoirs but if he has written one I’d read it.
The Harare Open Book Festival was a fun and insightful event, got to meet people and have bookish conversations. Cant wait for the next one and hoping it will be bigger and better.
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?