A moment with writer Brian Chikwava

Harare North author Brian Chikwava says not the new Dambudzo Marechera

Brian Chikwava of Harare North fame

 

 

 

Passage from Harare North page 4:

Whatever they reason for detaining me, them immigration people let me go after eight days. I don’t grudge them because they is only doing they graft. But my relatives, they show worryful attitude. I have to wait another two days for my cousin’s wife to come and fetch me. The story that I tell the immigration people is tighter than thief’s anus. Me I tell them I have been harass by them boys in dark glasses because I am youth member of the opposition party. This is not trying to shame our government in any way, but if you don’t spin them smooth jazz numbers then immigration people is never going to give you chance to even sniff first step into Queen’s land. That is they style, I have hear.

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Moses Magadza: Do you think that you are the new Dambudzo Marechera? This has

been said over and over about you?

 

Brian Chikwava: Oh, I think that is more of a curse than anything - being asked to wear Marechera's shoes can be embarrassing if your feet are tiny.

 

Moses Magadza: Those who say you are the new Marechera, what are their

Claims? What have you heard them say?

 

Brian Chikwava: I have not heard much more than the casually thrown line. I'm sure people mean it as some kind of joke.

 

Moses Magadza: Why do you call England "Harare North?

 

Brian Chikwava: Zimbabweans in London are the ones who call London Harare North; I simply appropriated that.

 

Moses Magadza: What inspired the writing of the novel Harare North?

                                                                             

Brian Chikwava: Living far away from familiar environments sometimes gets the imagination working in all sorts of ways to get to grips with the new environment; I think this was my way of getting to grips with London.

 

Moses Magadza: The narrator in Harare North uses broken English or patios

consistently. How do you manage this?

 

Brian Chikwava: It took a lot of painful rewrites to get the language and voice consistent. Luckily I survived the process.

Moses Magadza: Tell me, what are you doing in London?

 

Brian Chikwava: I'm trying to cook up some writing project, as it is.

 

Moses Magadza:You refer to ‘Green Bombaz’. Infact, your main character is a former

‘Green Bomber’. Are you a political writer?

 

Brian Chikwava: No, the book was conceived more as a way of studying trauma and mental disintegration than as a political novel.

 Moses Magadza: Which writers influence you?

 Brian Chikwava: My weakness is that I tend to be influenced by the last writer I read. Right now I feel influenced by the late Mexican writer Juan Rulfo, having just read Pedro Paramo.

 Moses Magadza: What do you think about Zimbabwean literature at the moment?

 Brian Chikwava: I would like to think that given the number of young writers who have found the confidence to put pen to paper over the past few years, Zim lit is moving in the right direction.

 Moses Magadza: What do you think about Zimbabwean literature from the Diaspora by

writers like you, Petina Gappa and others?

 Brian Chikwava: Interestingly diasporan literature will always draw from where the writer comes from; that is what makes it Zimbabwean too. Without that heritage to draw from it becomes something else.

 Moses Magadza: You are a jazz musician. How does this affect or influence your writing?

 

Brian Chikwava:  These days it seems more of a burden - finding time for both is a torrid affair.

 

Moses Magadza: You won the prestigious Caine Prize with your short story. How did

it affect your confidence and drive as a writer?

 

Brian Chikwava: As a new writer, any recognition, however insignificant, is always good and goes a long way towards building confidence in your work.

 

Moses Magadza: Are writers born or made? Is your being a writer in addition to

being an engineer a result of nature or nurture?

 

Brian Chikwava: I think anyone can be taught to write well, subject to limitations. But no one can teach you how to be a virtuoso writer.

 

Moses Magadza: How do you relax?

Brian Chikwava: I take very long walks; I find it clears my mind up.

 Moses Magadza:How widely available is your book?

 Brian Chikwava: There are number of countries in Africa where it is still not available. Hopefully that will have been addressed by the time the paperback comes out in April next year.