Siqondephi Manje? Indatshana zaseZimbabwe

edited by Jane Morris

Indatshana eziqoqwe lapha ziyasinda, zizwisa usizi lobuhlungu, kanti zibuye zihlekise. Zonke zithathela kusimo esibi esake sabakhona eZimbabwe esaziwa ngokuthi “iminyaka elitshumi eyalahlekayo.” Kwakuyisikhathi sokuphela kwemali amandla lokuqonga kwentengo okungakaze kubonakale; isikhathi sodlame lobudlwangudlwangu; esokutshabalala kwenotho yelizwe kanye lokuphuma kwabantu ngobunengi besiyaphephela kwamanye amazwe. Ngemva kwalokho bonke abantu beZimbabwe sebezibuza - Siqondephi Manje? Bonke abalendatshana lapha yizizalwane zeZimbabwe. Noma nje abanye babo beloba bephandle kwelizwe, ugqozi lwabo luphuma khona eZimbabwe, lendatshana zabo zikhuluma ngalo leli lizwe.

Emakhasini alolugwalo uzahlangana lolondindwa onyomuka emjibileni wabanewakhe okumendisa engafuni; umama owendileyo ophunyuka ecaleni lokulala lenye indoda; iqhawe eligqxumukela embizeni enkulu yamasese lifele lapho; imbongi engatholi sikhathi sokuhaya inkondlo yayo. Azipheleli lapho. Zikhona ezinye ezinengi.

This book, the translation of the collection, Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe, features sixteen Zimbabwean writers - Raisedon Baya, NoViolet Bulawayo, Diana Charsley, Mapfumo Clement Chihota, Murenga Joseph Chikowero, John Eppel, Fungai Rufaro Machirori, Barbara Mhangami-Ruwende, Christopher Mlalazi, Mzana Mthimkhulu, Blessing Musariri, Nyevero Muza, Thabisani Ndlovu, Bryony Rheam, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma and Sandisile Tshuma. The writing in the collection, at times dark, at times laced with comedy, is set against the backdrop of Zimbabwe's 'lost decade' of rampant inflation, violence, economic collapse and the flight of many of its citizens. Its people are left to ponder - where to now? All the voices are Zimbabwean. Even though some speak from the diaspora, their inspiration comes from their homeland and their stories tell of Zimbabwe. In the pages of Where to Now? you will meet the prostitute who gets the better of her brothers when they try to marry her off, the wife who is absolved of the charge of adultery, the hero who drowns in a bowser of cheap beer and the poetry slammer who does not get to perform his final poem. And many more.

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