Chenjerai Hove Zimbabwean poet dies in exile

Chenjerai Hove died 12 July, 2015, aged 59.

Chenjerai Hove, a well known novelist and playwright had been living in self imposed exile in Norway after his criticism of President Robert Mugabe led to harassment from the authorities in his homeland. Prior to leaving, he wrote for the Standard, a weekly newspaper. His social and political commentaries from his first novel and later in the newspaper resulted in him receiving serious threats to his life.

As a young rural school teacher, he studied for his degrees part time while teaching English. Later, he continued his studies and worked as an editor for various publishers, and was a founder member then Chairman of the Zimbabwe Writers Union.

He was a prolific writer in Shona as well as English.

Some of his work is available here

A site with a link to the BBC site where you can hear him recite is here

Novels 1986 Masimba Avanhu (Is This the People’s Power?) 1988 Bones. Baobab Books

1994 Shadows. Baobab Books

1996 Ancestors. College Press

Poetry

1982 And Now the Poets Speak. (Contributer) 1982 Up in Arms Zimbabwe Publishing House

1985 Red Hills of Home. Mambo Press

1997 Rainbows in the Dust. Baobab Books

2003 Blind Moon. Weaver Press

Essays

1994 Shebeen Tales. Serif & Boabab

2002 Palaver Finish. Weaver Press (translated into Shona and Ndebele

Misc

1978 Shona poems published in Nduri Dzorudo & 1980 in Matende Mashava ,1983 Translation of Early Zimbabwe: From the Matopos to Inyanga (Peter Garlake)1989 Sister Sing Again Someday (Radio play), 1997 Guardians of the Soil (cultural reflections by Zimbabwe’s elders) 2004 The Keys of Ramb (children’s story)

This list is not exhaustive, and please let me know if anything requires correction.

It was his first English novel, Bones, that brought him into the spotlight. It won the 1989 Zimbabwe Book Publishers Literary Award and the 1989 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.

His famous novel is available for sale or booking:





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