BULAWAYO publishers ’amaBooks, who published Tendai Huchu’s second novel The Maestro, The Magistrate and The Mathematician on Friday last week, are set to publish a poetry collection Textures by Togara Muzanenhamo and John Eppel today.
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Textures is a collaboration between two of Zimbabwe’s poets Bulawayo’s John Eppel and Norton’s Muzanenhamo.
Eppel is a prolific, prize-winning writer who teaches English. He has published novels, poetry anthologies and collections of short stories and poems. His recent collaborations with other writers include Together, with Julius Chingono, and Hewn from the Rock, with Philani A Nyoni.
Muzanenhamo’s debut collection of poems, Spirit Brides, was shortlisted for the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. The Times Literary Supplement welcomed the poet as a young writer of solid distinction.
In 2012, Muzanenhamo was chosen to represent Zimbabwe at the Poetry Parnassus in London, which is the biggest gathering of poets in world history, where he read at the gala event at the Royal Festival Hall. Poetry Parnassus was part of the Cultural Olympiad that preceded the 2012 Olympic Games.
Drew Shaw writes in his introduction to Textures: “Eppel and Muzanenhamo epitomise the ideal of the poet dedicated to excellence in form as well as content.
What connects them is meticulous attention to the craft of poetry, particularly to its musical elements. Eppel’s poems in this collection are mostly set in his hometown of Bulawayo and, in his own words, are very rooted here in Matabeleland.”
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’amaBooks director Brian Jones said Muzanenhamo’s poems were different from Eppel’s in that they have more of an international bias.
“This is one of the most noticeable differences between him and the more international Muzanenhamo,” he said.
“With their great attention to poetic craft, however, and their study of universal themes such as life and death, love and loss, the poets have many common concerns.”
According to Jones, Huchu’s book The Maestro, The Magistrate and The Mathematician published last week is set mainly in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
His narrative follows the lives of three very different Zimbabweans defined by their portfolios in the title of the novel. In their distinctive ways, the three men attempt to settle in the foreign capital and adjust to Scottish culture.
“After a previous prestigious career in Zimbabwe, the magistrate struggles to find a niche for himself in the new world,” Jones said.
“The music of his homeland plays constantly in his mind, leading to his explorations of Edinburgh. The maestro, a despondent, alienated, angst-ridden character, seals himself off from reality obsessing on novels and fantasy. The mathematician, a self-indulgent character, pursues a hedonistic lifestyle in addition to his studies. The universes of the three main characters eventually collide.”
Earlier this year, Huchu’s short story, The Intervention, was shortlisted for the prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing. The story features in the 2014 Caine Prize anthology The Gonjon Pin and other Stories, published by ’amaBooks. The anthology has had print runs in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and the UK.
Jones said of the book: “It outlines the lives of three distinctive characters who wrestle with notions of belonging, loss and identity as they try to find a place for themselves in Scotland.”
