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his secondary education.
He later moved to Bulawayo Technical College where he enrolled for evening school studies following challenges of getting a Form Three place at his former school.
“Our school had a higher ZJC pass rate and they only took the cream. As such I could not get a Form Three place,” said Mungoshi in an interview with The Herald.
He was to study subjects that included Biology, Physical Science and English.
Mungoshi only passed English and Biology.
During his own time Mungoshi read and wrote Literature in English, Economics, Geography and History of the British Empire and Commonwealth.
British history was his only option because then it was thought Africans were a people without a history.
He later went to College for Christ the King where he studied for a teaching course for three years.
Since the age of 12, Mungoshi had a keen interest in reading books, writing and watching movies.
“My teacher was proud of me because I was very good at writing compositions,” he said. In 1967 Mungoshi, who was determined to be heard, wrote a short story “But not very complicated” in the African Parade.
This was to mark the beginning of his writing career.
In 1970 he went to teach at St Annes Goto Primary School, in Hwedza. While there he began studying Advanced Level English and History. He passed both subjects. Entering the writing world, at a time his brother  — prolific writer Charles Mungoshi had already claimed his own space — was not a bed of roses.
“Many writers did not want to read my manuscript because I was just writing because Charles was doing so. Initially some people even went to the extent of thinking that there had been a typing error upon laying eyes on my name on a book cover. They thought the books belonged to Charles,” he added. In 1976, two of his poems, The Living Dead, and a Group portrait were published in Kizito Muchemwa’s book Zimbabwe poetry in English.
He later wrote more articles for Mahogany magazine.
Mungoshi always wanted to go to a university because in those days university students and graduates were regarded as people of class.
His dream came true in 1975 when he enrolled for a BA in English and History at the University of Rhodesia.
He also studied theology as a minor subject.
After graduating he studied for a graduate certificate in Education and went to teach in Shurugwi at Selukwe Chrome Secondary School for four years. Having left Shurugwi in 1982 he went to work at the Government-owned Curriculum Development Unit where he helped to write English Syllabus for upper top schools. In 1987 two of his short stories — Hidden Truth and 75 Bags — were also compiled as part of a book called Broken Dream and other stories published by Mambo Press.
The short story 75 Bags was also selected by College Press for a short story collection edited by Tim Mcloughlin. The book was called “The Sound of Snapping Wire”, a title from Dambudzo Marechera’s short story.
The book also included works by veteran writers such as Shimmer Chinodya and Charles Mungoshi.
The same story became a subject of interest when Professor Morris Vambe wrote on the response of African Writers to the land question in Africa. He used it as an example because he felt it informed his investigations.
“75 bags is a book about a man working in town and retired. He goes to the communal lands where he decides to improve the quality of his soils which were already tired. He had been told that the white man harvested 100 bags from one acre, so he wanted to do the same, but only settled for 75, which he managed to get,” narrated Mungoshi. His other short story “The Old man and the Bath” was published in the book “Creatures Great and Small” edited by Professor Jairos Kangira and was published by Mambo Press. Mungoshi later went to teach at Mkoba teachers college training English for primary schools and the structures of English and Literature.
In 1992, he wrote “Stains on the Wall”, which was published by Mambo Press. “I wrote this book after noting an increase in corruption cases. Now people always link corruption with politics but this was not the case when I wrote the book back then.
“Corruption was and still is prevalent among the ordinary people. In the book, I was saying we have stains on the wall suggesting that it is high time we clean them up,” he added. During his stay in Mkoba he attained a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics and in 2002 then became a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe teaching Academic communication and professional communication in the faculties of Veterinary science, law and science.
His big break came in 2009 when he penned the novel “The Fading Son” and received a Nama Award in 2010.
“There are many people who do not believe that a man wrote the book because of its sensitivity to women issues.
“It took me a lot of time researching on breast cancer and its medical terms. Taking issues of breast cancer and how it affects the patient, family, friends and especially the spouse,” he added. 
The book has also been endorsed by other writers and has been put on a list of literature setbooks. In 2011, he wrote nine poems in the book Ghetto Diaries and Other Poems published by Zimbabwe Publishing House. Mungoshi is also an actor and has featured on the local soapie Studio 263 as John Huni and left sometime last year. He also featured in a 22-minute short film, The Postman, and also in a feature, Secrets, by the late Ngugi Wa Mirii. He has also helped in editing and dialoguing part of the scripts of the movies he has been in.
Currently, Mungoshi is working on a novel called Catalogue, which was expected to be published this year but has been put on hold.
“I named the book Catalogue because it touches on a number of issues just like a catalogue,” he revealed.
Mungoshi is a father of six and has five grandchildren.
To sum up his story, writing flows in Mungoshi’s blood.
“The more I read other stories, the more I became conscious of their style and content in terms of how the two work together and I’ve learnt to appreciate literature,” he concludes.