The Brooklyn Public Library Showcases Artists Who Defied Authoritarian Rule
Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of Zimbabwean independence, which came after nine decades of colonial rule, 15 years of a white segregationist government, and 13 years of war. Through it all, the country’s writers never stopped. But in order to continue working, they had to get creative.
It is reported that in 1978 Dambudzo Marechera heckled Robert Mugabe when he came to London to address Zimbabweans at The Africa Centre. He had already seen the troubles ahead as he could read through the deceptive characters that were on the brink of leading Zimbabwe. Most of those in power in Zimbabwe today were Marechera’s contemporaries.
Some Writers Can Give You Two Heartbeats is a conceptual book that employs a wide range of visual, typographic and structural strategies. Drawing from a 40-year archive of interviews from and with Zimbabwean writers, the ambition of the book was to make the reader eavesdrop on a multigenerational conversation about writing as craft and as a process.
Hlonipha Mokoena