We’re excited to present a special, pre-recorded panel of Zimbabwean writers. We have the honor of publishing two (soon to be three) books by award-wining author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, and when she asked us if she could convene a panel of some of her writing community to talk about what they’re working on, what they’re reading, or as Siphiwe puts it in the conversation “We write from the continent, I think we do both the reading and the writing from Africa, and I just really want to capture us as a community, and then share that.”
This conversation features CM Elliott, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, Susan Hubert, Bryony Rheam, John Eppel, and Violette Kee-Tui. Moderated by Drew Shaw. Transcript to come.
Bios:
C.M. Elliott was born in England in 1950 and, at 17, immigrated to Australia where she completed an Honours degree in French Studies at the University of Western Australia. Elliott moved to Zimbabwe in 1977 (in the middle of the civil war) and, with her game ranger husband, Alan Elliott, pioneered a tourism business in the newly independent country, based in and around Hwange National Park. Elliott began writing seriously about three years ago – short stories to begin with and then moving on to what would eventually become Sibanda and the Rainbird. She now writes fulltime with the bit between her teeth!
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu is a writer, filmmaker and academic who holds a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University, as well as master’s degrees in African Studies and Film. She has published research on Saartjie Baartman and she wrote, directed and edited the award-winning short film Graffiti. Born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, she worked as a teacher in Johannesburg before returning to Bulawayo. Her first novel, The Theory of Flight won the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize in South Africa. In 2022, Siphiwe was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction.
Susan Hubert was born and has lived in Zimbabwe all her life. She has an English and Psychology degree from the University of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa, with Mathematics as a minor. She taught Mathematics for 16 years at high schools in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, before retiring so she could spend more time with her husband, who was working as a professor of Equine Surgery at Louisiana State University and then Colorado State University. It was during this time she started writing. When she was back home in Zimbabwe she tutored Mathematics and looked after her husband’s herd of cattle. She now lives full time with her husband on a farm just outside Bulawayo, where they are establishing a pecan plantation. She has one son, Jack Allard, who is a golfer.
Bryony Rheam is a Zimbabwean who lives in the second city of Bulawayo with her partner and two daughters. She has had short stories published in many anthologies and her first novel This September Sun won critical acclaim and topped the UK Amazon chart. It was chosen as the Best First Book at the Zimbabwe Book Publishers Association Awards and selected as a set text for ‘A’ level Literature in English in Zimbabwe. Bryony was one of the five Africans chosen for a Morland scholarship in 2018. An Agatha Christie enthusiast, she is a winner of the international Write Your Own Christie competition. Rheam’s detective story, ALL COME TO DUST, was chosen as one of ten top African thrillers in Publishers Weekly, who described it as a “stunning crime debut.”
In addition to writing short stories, John Eppel is also an award-winning poet and novelist. His first novel, D.G.G. Berry’s The Great North Road (1992), won the M-Net Prize in South Africa. His second novel, Hatchings (1993), was short-listed for the M-Net Prize and his third novel, The Giraffe Man (1994), has been translated into French. His first poetry collection, Spoils of War (1989), won the Ingrid Jonker Prize. Other poems have been featured in anthologies that include The Heart in Exile South African Poetry in English 1990-1995 (1996) and Intwasa Poetry (2008) while his short stories have appeared in anthologies that include Short Writings from Bulawayo (2003), Short Writings from Bulawayo II (2005). Writing Now: More Stories from Zimbabwe (2005), Short Writings from Bulawayo III (2006), Laughing Now (2008), and Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe (2008). His latest published novel is Absent: The English Teacher.
Violette Sohaili Kee-Tui was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Working as a journalist from the age of 18, she found her home at the features desk where she rose to the position of Assistant Features Editor. During her time in the national media, Violette received an Honours Diploma from the London School of Journalism and won multiple accolades, most notably Feature Writer of the Year in the National Journalism Awards. Driven by the need to tell the stories of people and communities, Violette became what some would call a narrative journalist. She wrote and submitted her first short story to Bulawayo’s Intwasa Short Story Competition, initially winning third place in 2010, winning second in 2011 and finally the first-place Yvonne Vera Award in 2012. While a full-time working mom, Violette began writing her first novel as part of NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month), an initiative held every November to encourage creative writing by setting a target of writing 50 000 words in one month. She continues to use her journalism training in the spheres of marketing, media, communication training, community outreach, PR and freelance writing. She and her partner own a gift and art shop in Bulawayo, and together run historical and cultural tours and activities in the city.
Drew Shaw is the CEEB Coordinator at the Centre for English Excellence in Bulawayo
