The Curse Of The Ripe Tomato

A hilarious send-up of Enid Blyton adventure stories. It mocks fundamentalism, racism, and pseudo-intellectuality. The novel asks, in the most unlikely manner, for reconciliation among the blighted peoples of Zimbabwe.

Weaver Press's previous collections of short stories, Writing Now and Writing Still, were highly praised for the quality of their prose and the imagination of their writers. They confirmed, for one reviewer, 'the paradoxical truth that troubled societies somehow produce some of the most interesting writing available. Laughing Now goes further, and demonstrates the enduring capacity of Zimbabweans to find humour in even the most difficult of circumstances. The stories embrace funerals, dancing competitions, family tensions, rampant inflation and endless queues for scarce goods. They take a wry look at pompous politicians, foreign filmmakers and the aspirations of the so-called 'new' farmers. Those by Gappah, Chingono and Eppel won the first three prizes in the recent Mukuru.com short story competition. Zimbabwean fiction in English has become world-renowned in recent decades, but its concerns - war, trauma and the trials of independence - have chronicled the pain of those periods. Laughing Now suggests that we are finding new ways to reflect our reality; that however many zeros we add to the rate of inflation, and however hungry we may become, humour is as good a responce as any.

White Man Crawling is a collection of short stories and poems by the award winning Bulawayo writer John Eppel. His stories are uncomfortably funny; his poems uncomfortably sad. His stories speak first to all of us, then to his own quirky nature; his poems speak first to himself and to those few who know him nearly, and then to all of us. For more than forty years John Eppel has been a unique double-voice in the annals of Zimbabwean literature: the satirist and the lyricist.

Theatre and drama are very much part of our every day lives. These four plays: Belonging by Mirirai Moyo, When I Meet my Mother by Kathleen McCreery, In the Continuum by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, and Power Failure by Jide Afoylan reveal the dynamism and variety of theatre. They also reveal that from Zimbabwe to Brazil, Nigeria to the USA, societies despite their diversity share many common problems and challenges. Annotated for schools with questions and notes by Rory Kilalea, teachers and students will find this a richly accessible text.

The third in the prize winning Short Writings from Bulawayo series - a collection of 25 short stories and 7 poems about life in Zimbabwe. In the collections are writers who have stayed in Zimbabwe, who have passed through, or who live in the diaspora. "Here, the realities of society are captured in motion, as they happen, with the socio-economic hardships in Zimbabwe today continuing to offer a fertile template for literary works. The short stories and poetry collected here are a reflection of the diversity of cultures, races and generations from which Zimbabwean writers come." - Phillip Chidavaenzi, Sunday Mirror

Zimbolicious Anthology: An Anthology of Zimbabwean Literature and Arts, Volume 3, contains 5 short stories, 51 poems, 1 nonfiction piece and 3 drawings from Zimbabwean writers and artists. Zimbabwe continues to tumble on its unshakable political trajectory since Robert Mugabe was removed as president via a military coup. Much of the writing in this anthology addresses both the current political situation, and the hope of the Zimbabweans for a free and fair election in 2018. Within the pieces a lot of questions, anger, mistrust remain, alongside uncertainties around the enigmatic political landscape of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean people. Despite this the writers have a lot to celebrate and also touch on issues to do with love, morality, spirituality, tradition, relationships, family, identity, individuality and joy.

Long Time Coming brings together short stories and poems from thirty-three writers that provide snapshots of this turbulent period in Zimbabwe's history. Snapshots of living in a country where basic services have crumbled: where shops have no food, taps no water, banks no money, hospitals no drugs, bars no beer. Snapshots of characters surviving against seemingly insurmountable odds. Horrific snapshots of the abuse of power, of violence and oppression, of the destruction of dreams. But this is Zimbabwe and there are lighter moments and moments of hope: in some of life's simple pleasures, in the coming of the rains, in the wink and the smile of a stranger, in a challenge to patriarchy, in the inner strength of the people, in fighting back. The writers are Raisedon Baya, Wim Boswinkel, Diana Charsley, Brian Chikwava, Julius Chingono, Mathew Chokuwenga, Bhekilizwe Dube, John Eppel, Peter Finch, Petina Gappah, David Goodwin, Anne Simone Hutton, Monireh Jassat, Ignatius Mabasa, Fungai Rufaro Machirori, Judy Maposa, Deon Marcus, Christopher Mlalazi, Gothataone Moeng, Wame Molefhe, Linda Msebele, Mzana Mthimkhulu, Peter Ncube, Thabisani Ndlovu, Pathisa Nyathi, Andrew Pocock, John S. Read, Bryony Rheam, Lloyd Robson, Ian Rowlands, Owen Sheers, Chaltone Tshabangu and Sandisile Tshuma.

Intwasa Poetry is a book of memorable poems from inside and outside Zimbabwe. The fifteen poets who are brought together in this collection have all read from their work at the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo. There is a diversity in their work. The poems of love, of sensuality, of humour, of compassion, of yearning, of sadness, of loss and of outrage. They range from the intensely personal to reflections of life at this pivotal time in Zimbabwe's history.