[Interview_2] Masimba Musodza

In an earlier interview, Zimbabwean writer Masimba Musodza talked about the factors that led him to start writing.

His books include The Man who turned into a Rastafarian (Diggory Press, 2007), Uriah’s Vengeance (Lion Press Ltd, 2009) and the Shona science fiction novel, MunaHacha Maive Nei? (Kindle Edition, 2011).

His work has also been featured in African Roar (Storytime, 2010), an anthology of contemporary African fiction.

Masimba Musodza talks about his latest novel:

Do you write everyday?

Yep!

Normally I have these ideas swirling in my head. Then, by around midnight, they have taken shape and I just start working. Or, if I have a client for a script, I just try and meet the deadline!

Usually, I have the story or the chapter all written in my head when I sit down at my PC. I will often have about three windows minimised and I just work on the one that wants to be worked on.

I know it is the popular perception of Rastafarians, but I would like to state categorically that I do not smoke weed for inspiration! Caffeine is my drug of choice, so in between breaks I will be downing a cup of tea with soya milk. I work in bursts of about two hours.

How many books have you written so far?

My first book was The Man who turned into a Rastafarian, Diggory Press, 2007. It was an anthology of short stories about being a Rastafarian young man in Zimbabwe. Diggory Press folded up recently, but I republished the title after so many people sent in enquiries. Seems to have become something of a modern classic in the Rastafarian community.

In 2009, I had the first of the Dread Eye Detective Agency novels, Uriah’s Vengeance, Lion Press Ltd. Chenai “Ce-Ce” Chisango and her brother Farai are a pair of sibling private investigators in Chitungwiza. Two more titles in the series are scheduled for publication.

In between all that, I have appeared in African Roar, an anthology of African fiction edited by compatriots Ivor Hartmann and Emmanuel Sigauke. A second anthology is in the offing, and I contribute another of my horror stories in it.

How would you describe your latest book, MunaHacha Maive Nei??

MunaHacha Maive Nei? depicts a scenario where an American corporation contrives with corrupt Zimbabwean officials to conduct illegal bio-technology experiments as part of a grander plot to usurp food security from whole nations. Chemicals begin to seep in to the eco-system, and mutated creatures now roam the countryside.

Part of the significance of this book is that it is the first science-fiction novel in ChiShona, and overturns the popular perception that you can’t write 'complicated stuff' in the language.

How long did it take you to write the novel?

Hard to say, really. The original inspiration is from the time when we used to spend school holidays in my mother’s ancestral village in Mutungagore in the mid or late 80s. Much of the novel is set in a fictional area near Mutungagore and the small town of Nyazura.

Further inspiration came from my stay in Chitungwiza in the late 90s, when the open spaces would flood due to siltation of the streams and people would catch catfish. Some of the fish were quite big, and I would wonder what would happen if they grew so big as to become predators. Some of the boys I saw catch the fish would not be safe from them!

And then, I read over the last few years about how corporations were getting land concessions all over Africa. Some analysts fear that food security is set to be a major geopolitical tool of the near future, enjoying the status that oil has today. And this is what science fiction is essentially about ... while the sci-fi writer points to the future, he or she highlights the fears we have of the future. I am bringing this important fact about science fiction because many people who have read the book are only seeing CIO assassins and journalists who live in fear of soldiers and are asking me if my book is about the politics of Zimbabwe. It is not. It is about how the politics of Zimbabwe could be exploited by a greedy multi-national corporation to advance technological developments that many people around the world are apprehensive about. It is also about how we can apply science and technology to identify problems and solutions effectively. It is about enquiring and initiative.

MunaHacha Maive Nei? was published on June 6, 2011 by amazon Kindle here in the UK, the US and Germany. It is the first novel in ChiShona to be listed on amazon Kindle.

How did you chose a publisher for the book?

I chose amazon Kindle because the device is becoming quite popular here in England and I thought it would be nice if we had Zimbabwean content in this new media.

The print edition is coming out through Lion Press Ltd of Coventry, which specialises in Zimbabwean literature. I have a long-standing relationship with Lion Press Ltd. I don’t know if I am their best-selling author, but they can’t deny that I am the most prolific!

What advantages and/or disadvantages has this presented?

Amazon Kindle delivers not only to the Kindle device, but also to PCs and mobile phones. It is the best medium for the 3G generation. Most of the Zimbabweans who live in countries where access to new media is widespread may not go to libraries much, but they have the phones and the PCs.

One disadvantage is that it will not reach a wider readership back home. I just shrug resignedly at the situation ... it is not of my making. Lion Press is making efforts to break into Zimbabwe, but I am only the author. Let someone else worry about selling and distributing!

Obviously, I want a fat royalty cheque any time soon, but the publisher wants to see profits too, so let them do the hard work in that department, I’ve done mine these last few months!

Another drawback is that in the UK, VAT is charged on ebooks (but not on print books) which has pushed the price up somewhat. So far, no one has complained that the price is too high, which rubbishes the popular belief that Zimbabweans believe that content that is created for them should be really cheap if they are to even take an interest. There are many Zimbabweans out there who value their culture and will spend money on it, for which on behalf of all our artistes, I say Tinotenda/Siyabonga!

Which aspects of the work you put into the book did you find most difficult?

Organising chapters.

The book is over 70,000 words. Some parts wander and meander like the River Hacha upstream, and some slow to a gentle ebb. How do you organise that into chapters each with a beginning, middle and end?

Which aspects of the work did you enjoy most?

How it all ties together, because when I started to write, I had no idea how it was going to end!

What sets MunaHacha Maive Nei? apart from other things you've written?

It is my first published work in ChiShona. And even though one of the major character is a Rastafarian, it is not a book about Rastafarians at all.

I think it is similar to other things I have written in how I try to wrap poignant issues around a gripping story, which is what I try to accomplish with all my writing. You know, keep someone reading while at the same time get them thinking without actually lecturing them or griping about how bad things are.

What will your next book be about?

I have the Dread Eye Detective Agency novels lined up. There is an anthology, including some of the short stories I have published on the Dread Eye Detective Agency on Facebook but that is going to be an ebook.

Then there is the much awaited To Russia, With OneLove and a three-novel omnibus imaginatively called The First Dread Eye Detective Agency Omnibus. Fans of the page on Facebook may have already read and enjoyed the draft of one of these novels.

I am also working on two horror novels, one in English and one in ChiShona. The English one is called Cursed Shall be Thy Kine. It blends the folk beliefs of my native Zimbabwe and my new home, Yorkshire, using horror as a metaphor for issues of identity, belonging and immigration. The title is inspired by the phenomenon known as cattle mutilation. I am working on this one under the mentorship of Writers’ Block NE, the organisation for writers and performers here in Middlesbrough, where I live now. The idea of the mentorship programme is to offer writers from North-East England a chance to attract the attention of the big publishing houses and agents in London.

I am pleased that despite having lived in the area for about a year now, I am able to make a contribution to its culture.

The ChiShona novel is called Zizi reRima, and once again I delve into comparative mythology and the supernatural to highlight the issues of sexual abuse in Zimbabwe and how the justice system can sometimes fail victims. Once again, I break new ground here by writing a bone-chiller in ChiShona.

Related articles:

• Book Fair blitz on local languages, By Chemist Mafuba, The Herald, August 1, 2011
• Mermaids and Toxic Waste: The First Science Fiction Novel Published in Zimbabwe’s Native Language, By Charlie Jane Anders, io9, June 21, 2011
• Masimba Musodza [Interview], Conversations with Writers, June 20, 2009

[Interview_1] Masimba Musodza

Zimbabwean screenwriter and author, Julius Masimba Musodza was born in 1976 and attended Avondale Primary School in Harare, and St Mary Magdalene’s High School in Nyanga.

Some of his early work appeared in school magazines as well as in the young people's newspaper, The New Generation.

After high school, Musodza majored in Screenwriting and Directing at the Vision Valley Film Video & Television Institute. He also studied with Edgar Langeveldt’s Nexus Talent Agency; the African Script Development Fund; the Zimbabwe International Film Festival and the Raindance Institute.

He sold his first screenplay in 2002 and is now working to put some of his own writing to screen as a producer/director.

In this interview, Masimba Musodza talks about his writing.

When did you start writing?

I seem to have taught myself to read and write before I started school and that scared the hell out of my folks!

I tried to get a novel published in the Pacesetters series, but that was when they stopped publishing.

I started my professional writing career around 2000 when I sold my first screenplay. I did the occasional short-story or essay in noe magazine or the other and had novel-length manuscripts piling up. But it wasn't until I came to England, and having to do the rese-rese career that I realised I had to put my name out there now or be another miserable, overworked, overqualified Zimba in London for many years to come. So, I put together some of the stories I had written over the years about the experiences of Rastafarian people in Zimbabwe and published them as an anthology.

How would you describe your writing?

I would describe it as doing the one thing that I am actually good at.

I am a Rastafarian so it is natural that I will come up with main characters who are Rastafarians or see the world with Rastafarian eyes. There is a tendancy to keep us on the periphery, except as amusing eccentrics. I am saying a Rastafarian is a person as good as the next. But I don't want to be remembered as just a Rastafarian writer. I am very mainstream.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone who takes the time to read. I see myself at this stage as writing in the dark - so I cannot define my audience, just yet. I am trying to reach as much of the world as possible, which is why I am working towards getting some of my work translated into other languages.

Of course, I do have the distinguished honour of being a pioneer in Rastafarian Literature. But I reach out to a wider readership.

Which writers influenced you most?

I have been described in one review as "the Rastafarian Hemmingway". But I cite many influences on my website... from our own [Tsitsi] Dangarembga, [M. A.] Hamutyinei... even Wilbur Smith, (though it is not very politically-correct to say that)... to the English and American writers, and the African masters, and most recently Chimamanda Adichie. The list is very long.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

Right now, I have a book being sold illegally on the internet by my former publisher.

How are you dealing with this?

What can I do? It is a small publishing house, but I am even smaller and they know that if I am to try and force them to honour their obligations, whatever it is they cough up will be swallowed by the legal costs I might have to pay. All I can do is appeal to people not to purchase any book from a company calling itself Meadow Books, Exposure Publishing or Diggory Press with my name on it as I am getting nothing for them.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

I think it shows in the writing. It is fiction, but it is based on reality. Take my new detective novel, for instance. I am talking about the greed and materialism of Zimbabwean society, about the Rastafarian people's struggle for recognition as a bona fide religious and cultural community in a multi-cultural Zimbabwe, and about how Zimbabweans living abroad will have a brighter future if they return home.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

Zimbabwe is in a straight-jacket. I am pushing boundaries on many fields, and that scares the hell out of a lot of people. Then, when you go out there, you find that the world also has deep-seated prejudices about what a Zimbabwean writer ought to be.

Despite institutional censorship in Zimbabwe, I have at my disposal the Internet. I don't have to go mainstream to be a success. Most Zimbabweans have never heard of me, but I have been well-received in Italy and Australia, among other places.

Do you write everyday?

Yes.

I spend the whole day outlining a chapter or a story. Then, after midnight when all is calm, I am at my computer and just sort of put down what I have already written in my head.

Often, I will do a chapter of each of the novels I am working on at the moment. There are always other things to write as well. Then, at around dawn, I will crawl back into bed and wake up in the morning like a normal person. (Should go down well on the first morning of matrimony...)

How many books have you written so far?

The Man who turned in to a Rastafarian, an anthology. First published in 2007 by Exposure Publishing. Republished by Lion Press. A pioneering work of Rastafari-oriented fiction.

Uriah's Vengeance, 2009, Lion Press. The first in a series about Chenai "Ce-Ce" Chisango and her brother Farai of the Dread Eye Detective Agency. They are are assigned by the wife of a wealthy businessman to protect him from a possible attempt on his life by an extortionist. Despite their efforts, the businessman is brutally murdered in one of his homes and they have to find his killer. Clues point to a quest for revenge for a terrible wrong dating back to Zimbabwe's war for independence. However, as the brother and sister duo uncover the past, shocking discoveries suggest a motive much closer to the ethos of contemporary society - sheer avarice.

I wrote the screenplay about a decade ago. At that time, I had just finished film school and it looked like we were going to have a film and TV industry in Zimbabwe. Now, we don't even have an industry of any sort..

Mhuka Huru. Lion Press, Publishing date held back for a few months. A Shona language sci-fi/horror, weaving topical issues such as the environment and sustainable development, the spectre of global famine, the role of global food cartels and their GM crops and the mythology of the Zimbabwean people.

In the novel, villagers living around the River Hacha begin to shun it as word spreads that a mermaid now occupies one of its deep pools. So, there is no one to witness the abnormal growth of the flora and fauna in the vicinity. No one to note that even the animals are scared to go near the river, scared of the dark hulks lurking beneath the surface of the pool…

Which were the most difficult aspects of the work you put into Uriah's Vengeance?

Trying to keep in mind that most Zimbabweans haven't the foggiest about Rastafarian culture. I had to offer explanations without allowing a work of fiction to become a dictionary.

I suppose if you are trying to push down barriers of ignorance and misconception, you have to climb down from yours as well.

What will your next book be about?

Another Shona language horror, this time revolving around the subject of sexual abuse and how our justice system seems to have difficulty in dealing with abuse of this kind.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

My folks finally admitting that writing is as respectable a profession as the ones they had in mind for me!

Possibly related books:

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Possibly related article:

[Interview] Petina Gappah, author of 'An Elegy for Easterly', Conversations with Writers, April 10, 2009.