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Bulawayo

Stanely Mushava Arts Correspondent
Caine PRIZE-WINNING author No Violet Bulawayo (pictured) recently launched her debut novel, “We Need New Names”, amid rave reviews at the British Council in Harare.“We Need New Names” is currently in the running for the Man-Booker Prize to be announced in October, having become the first Zimbabwean novel to be listed for the prestigious award.

The book has also been nominated for the Guardian First Book Prize, a feat previously achieved by Dambudzo Marechera’s “House of Hunger”.

Speaking at the launch of her seminal debut, Bulawayo said: “I am proud to add to the rich tradition of Zimbabwean literature.

However, I am not sure why we are celebrated as individuals because we do not come alone, stories come from the communities.”
“We Need New Names” is a thematic extension of the short story “Hitting Budapest” which earned Bulawayo a first as the only Zimbabwean short story to win the Caine Prize for Fiction.

The protagonist is a young girl who reminisces about home from abroad. Bulawayo says she grapples with the challenges faced by Zimbabweans home and abroad.

“Reading about xenophobia from abroad, you come to grips with the challenges people brave outside their homeland. People are leaving home in anticipation of greener pastures, but it’s not all rosy out there,” Bulawayo said.

“My literature is a love letter to my people. I write from a point of disconnect which is hard because as an artiste you need to smell and touch and be there. However, technology comes handy in keeping pace with the developments at home,” she said.

Bulawayo told delegates that the condition of being African is at the centre of her work.
“It is not possible for me to separate from who I am because I write from the bone, from the perspective of lived experience before crossing over to imagination.

“Being in the US, in a nation of immigrants the story is not particular to me, but I relate to the real life experiences of those around me.

“Young writers may want to re-imagine their identities and be part of the global tradition. The African story has been told by others as we have been deemed incapable, but my own work draws from oral tradition and my themes come back to the sources, so even if I deny that I am an African writer my work will scream out.

“There is something about being confined to the corner of a bookshelf, being pigeon-holed, but it’s just a small inconvenience compared to the condition of being African.”

“We Need New Names” has raked glowing reviews from media echo chambers including The Guardian and New York Times.
Bulawayo encouraged budding writers to stay put in the face of rejection.

“I had my share of rejection slips from those who were kind enough to tell me I was not yet ready to break into print. When I was ready, it was a matter of days before my book was picked for publication,” she said.

Bulawayo joins a long list of authors who found a voice in alienation including Yvonne Vera, Marechera, Stanley Nyamufukudza and Tsitsi Dangarembga.