Catching up with Zimbabwean musician and author Brian Chikwava at Time of the Writer 2006

Michelle McGrane

Brian Chikwava was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He spent his formative years in Harare, where he attended university and frequented the popular artistes' venue The Book Café, where he regularly participated in poetry evenings, public discussions and musical performances. During Brian's “widely eclectic creative apprenticeship” his work spanned a number of different artistic conventions and he explored different genres with young visual artists, musicians and contemporary dancers, culminating in 2001 with the part improvised, part scripted show Rhythm of The Mind.

Brian won the 2004 Caine Prize for African Writing with his short story “Seventh Street Alchemy”, the story of a prostitute in Harare trying to establish her identity bureaucratically, while surviving on the streets of the capital city. Brian is currently a Charles Pick Fellow at the University of East Anglia in the UK and is working on a novel and a short story collection.

Brian, why did you become a writer and how has growing up in Zimbabwe influenced your writing?

I became a writer purely by accident. If I had had the satisfaction of my job after university I probably would not be a writer. But then I was just bored and disillusioned and inexplicably ended up joining the Zimbabwe Association of Art Critics. That’s where I found out, while trying my hand at visual art reviews, that I enjoyed writing.

Some of your work deals with issues of identity and the importance of identity to the individual. Has your sense of identity been affected by your move from Zimbabwe to the United Kingdom?

Probably the only change has been that I have a better perspective of things: I can appropriately apportion, in my work, my Zimbabwean identity and all the other identities that one chooses as a human being.

What is your experience of writing about "home" from a distance?

A lot of it relies on memory.

In 2004 you wrote an article about Zimbabwean poet Dambudzo Marechera for the website Poetry International Web. What was it about Marechera that you consider unique? Why is his legacy important?

I think he, more than any other writer, gave a lot of young writers in Zimbabwe the confidence to take on the urban space.

Do you think writers have social responsibilities? Should they assume roles of witnesses and conscience-keepers?

I don’t think writers should have any responsibilities at all …

Why have you decided to write in English and not in Shona or Ndebele?

In English I can have a conversation with the Sothos, the Shanganis, the Vendas, the Fulani, Igbos and Yorubas.

Do you think more time and resources should be spent translating English works into indigenous African languages and vice versa? Shouldn't worthy writing be accessible to a wider readership?

I think there should be a lot more translation from other languages into indigenous ones. During the festival, Nxumalo mentioned that Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet has just been translated into Zulu, which I think is a really wonderful thing.

What do you think are the greatest challenges facing writers in Southern Africa today?

Perhaps producing works that help people in Southern Africa reimagine themselves and be able to move fluidly across the many cultures there.

Tell me about your Time of the Writer experience …

Meeting writers from all over the world is always an eye-opening experience. Some assumptions are shattered and new ones created.

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Brian Chikwava's article “Marechera: A Poetic Mindblast Re-encountered” can be read at http://zimbabwe.poetryinternational.org/cwolk/view/22972.



LitNet: 11 April 2006

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