Harare Open Book Festival 2024
Book Fantastics hosted its third edition of the Harare Open Book Festival on the 19th fo October 2024 at Ela The Garden, Newlands Harare. The book festival ran under the theme: Necessary Conversations.
The festival has grown in patronage and impact, attracting sponsorship and partnering with various stakeholders to deliver a programme aptly themed Necessary Conversations, which invited critical discourse on Zimbabwe and Africa’s literaryscape. Harare Open Book Festival was born out of need to create a safe space for authors, readers, publishers and those interested in celebrating our literature richness.
The 2024 Edition of Harare Open Book Festival curated by Book Fantastics roped in poet, author and self-publishing consultant Batsirai Chigama whose debut poetry anthology Gather The Children is on its third print run. The edition also saw the introduction of spoken word performances from Kuda Rice and Takudzwa Goniwa and performances by gwenyambira Ariphileng Munashe Kwela.
The Busy-ness Of Books: Brain Garusa in Conversation with Margaret Chideme.
Margaret an author and publisher highlighted experiences from her journey and shared some insights from the publishing research, “Publishing Futures: A Study of the Publishing Landscapes in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.”
Key in this research is how the publishingscape is dependent on digital platforms as a marketing tool and a shift towards digital publishing which also comes with its limitations for locally based authors.
My story matters: Memory Chirere in conversation with Mono Mukundu
Mono Mukundu spoke like that uncle who has made his fair share of mistakes, learnt from them and now uses his experience to guide the younger generation and not one to air brush the truth.
Mono shared about how the difficult parts of writing his biographical book had been the embarrassing bits such as when he contracted an STI and the most exciting its were about meeting the love of his life, his wife of 30 years.. Despite the naysayers advising her to stay away from a musician as they are without prospect and morals and would end up dying of aids—which used to be an occupational hazard for musicians of the yesteryear era.
Mono also shared on he started working for renowned musician the late great Oliver Mtukudzi and equalled the experience to working for the National Team as Oliver was one the country’s greatest musical export and he learnt a lot from the man especially how to treat team members.
Key Note Address: Sue Nyathi
Sue Nyathi gave a keynote address which touched on the various inspirations behind her bodies of work which include The Polygamist, The Gold Diggers, A Family Affair and An Angel’s Demise. Sue has been using her craft to have difficult conversations and kill off characters. Books are an important platform in tackling necessary conversation, they show one is not alone, someone has also experienced what you have.
Zimbabwe often cloaks itself as a religious and Christian society but our morality is sometimes questionable, hiding experiences away behind a religious façade which makes some conversations taboo yet these are things happening as explored in A Family Affair. The Gold Diggers tackles migration in the wake of xenophobia, colonisation and its mass displacement. A Family Affair is about families and the things swept beneath the carpet, the trauma and pain. An Angel’s Demise interrogates the history of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle
Beyond the making of an African City: Selina Zigomo in conversation with Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu.
Siphiwe shared on community from the context of her City Of Kings Trilogy novels. We capture stories the way we were told them and the fantastical things our fore bears encountered, the journys are different but its all connected. Colonisation was a violent crime stealing our identities in an exploitative the land.
While the books might seem rooted on the land at their core they are a story about belonging, the past 200 years of our history and genealogy has been movement and migration, at the end of the day, all we are searching for is a sense of communal belonging.
Legends Hour: Tinashe Muchuri with Aaron Chiundura Moyo
In a quest to not forget our literary heritage Harare Open Book Festival also included a reflective segment with veteran author Aaron Chiundura Moyo. The author has a tell-all documentary that will be revealing most things people want to know about his journey.
Desire Aesthetics: in conversation with Placidia Chiwita and
Zukiswa Wanner.
Award winnning author Zukiswa Wanner and debut author Placidia Chiwita captivated the audience with reading from their respective works Love Marry Kill and Poisoned Passion as they explored some of the meaning behind their names and the aesthetics behind their bodies of work – Zukiswa means she who is loved” or “beloved and Placidia is of Latin origin meaning placid, calm, peaceful, meek.
Encounters With Zimbabweans On The Pages: Sista Zai Zanda in Conversation with Bene
There’s a running joke on how cause of migration if you throw a stone somewhere in the world it will land on a Zimbabwean… how do we then as Zimbabweans portray our identity and stay true to it given the cultural appropriation the stemmed from colonisation
Writing residencies Challenges and Opportunities: Beaton Mabaso in conversation with Togara Muzanenhamo
I was scheduled to have a conversation session with author and poet Togara Muzanenhamo which unfortunately didn’t happen due to unforeseen circumstances. I had practised my opening remarks which would reflect how my initial reaction had been to decline the honour as I felt unqualified to be part of such a high-profile discussion and anyway what do I know of residency programmes?… Imposter Syndrome much.
Shortly after being picked to be part of the Harare Open Book Festival, I found myself as a lead facilitator of a Creative Residency Programme run by Teakisi. The world moves in mysterious ways.
One question I would have loved answered was how do you balance between gaining new experiences and staying grounded in your own identity?
That’s pretty much a wrap for the 2024 edition of the And of course its always a pleasure meeting connections you “know” from the internet in real life…
So shout out to Sue Nyathi, Shonatiger, Madzitatiguru, Nkosi and to the new connections made. ☕
~B
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?