Zimbolicious Anthology Volume 8

Despite the current economic and political situation in our country, poets, writers, artists, and other creatives have defied the odds and continued to churn their works and submit to produce this marvelous anthology. This eighth installment continues the tradition of giving new writers the platform to shine and to the seasoned writers, a shebeen to meet again and prolong the tradition. We hope you continue to read and follon the Zimbolicious anthology series.

Despite the current economic and political situation in our country, poets, writers, artists, and other creatives have defied the odds and continued to churn their works and submit to produce this marvelous anthology. This eighth installment continues the tradition of giving new writers the platform to shine and to the seasoned writers, a shebeen to meet again and prolong the tradition. We hope you continue to read and follon the Zimbolicious anthology series.

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.

Peace of the Senses: How to Fight the FAGS is a collection of interlinked photographs that deals with the human story in several existential perspectives, especially how we find joy and happiness in difficult circumstances in life. Thus the images in this book celebrate human life, makes funny of difficult situations we go through. There is an element of the comedian in the photos, and it sometimes would create huge howls of laughter, sometimes chuckles and smiles. We go with the adage laughter is the best medicine in this work, and I believe this creates the peace of the senses, as the title presupposes. A set of common themes and philosophical questions permeates the book, bringing the narrative together as an author’s self-interrogation through invented others. Detecting the thematic threads whilst paying attention to the differences requires one to experience the book both horizontally and vertically, following a narrative that seems as much widening as deepening.

Zimbolicious Anthology: An Anthology of Zimbabwean Literature and Arts, Vol 5 is the fifth in this yearly journal of Zimbabwean literature and the arts as it happens. The poetry covers a range of subjects; love, spirituality, religion, migration, poet's vocation and as usual the political direction or situation in the country. The fiction deals with a wide range issues, from religious contrivance in Gwiriri's story, drug problem and corruption in Mutize's story, the political and economic strife in Tokwe's story, and the personal trauma story in Chikomo's car accident story. In the nonfiction section we have Muchuri's illuminating essay on another Zimbabwe storyteller, Ignatious Mabasa's Shona books, Zvikomborero Kapuya harks back to the land issue as the starting point and catapult to the misunderstandings between Zimbabwe and her erstwhile foreign enemies, Chikono writes his painful life story on shame families carry when a family member has a child out of wedlock, worst when the child is disabled and Mwanaka has a small philosophical vignette essay on choice. The visual section is heralded by Nhevera's iconic brushworks depicting movement and portraiture, and Mwanaka has an array of art pieces from documentary photography, experimental photography, water colour, computer graphic and installation, wrapping up this new offering.

The latest Zimbolicious offering, Zimbolicious Anthology: An Anthology of Zimbabwean Literature and Arts, Vol 4, has nonfiction, poetry, an interview, fiction and incisive visual art. Works were received from regular contributors and relatively new artists. The poets with their collective audacious eye keenly observe society and reveal the pimples, warts and all that is afflicting the society; talk about the dying, already dead and decaying Zimbabwean currency or nonexistent currency, the emancipation of women, the grinding poverty and the political challenges Zimbabwe faces. Others deal with spirituality and religion, love, growing up without a father figure. Nonfiction work leaves one under a barrage of questions: What it means to be a Zimbabwean, the defining and dissecting of Zimbabwes literature, writing, self-publishing are put under serious scrutiny. Some delicious slices of the scenic Zimbabwean landscape are featured and a continuation in investigating what home is in a selection of visual art pieces The fiction is speculative, bittersweet and stays on your mind like a memory of that long, long forgotten summer of love as each fictionist deal with issues related to relationships, love, the lack of, the impermanence of which is an ever recurring leitmotiv in these works, thus therefore, this Zimbolicious is a must read, robust, incisive collection of Zimbabwean Literature and the arts.

Poetry is fragments of music thrown into the air. The primary job and aim of a poet is to create these musical notes, to play these musical notes, and the wind will take these fragment notes, sounds, musics into the ears of listeners. Zimbolicious Poetry Anthology, Volume 2 is one of those winds among many others. As we all are aware of, when the wind travels it has no boundaries, it collects, it deposits, it mixes things up; you never know where that leaf you see the wind carrying will eventually be deposited, is there another wind, another element that is going to move that leaf to another place... We firmly believe it is a good wind. It will be able to push our poetry making in Zimbabwe into other frontiers. Zimbolicious Poetry Anthology, Volume 2 continues from where we left off with the first Zimbolicious Poetry Anthology we created in 2016. In this Volume 2, we have 77 poems from 30 poets and translators, which include among others; experienced poets, academic poets, street poets, emergent poets, beginning poets, all telling stories associated with what all these poets refer to as home, that is, Zimbabwe. It is an ongoing debate on what is Zimbabwe, what we want our Zimbabwe to be socially, culturally, politically…, thus we allowed every opinion space in this anthology, whether us editors agree with them or not. We have poets tackling issues to do with poetry, writing in general, art, place, identity, tradition, struggle, culture, gender, collective understanding, religion, individual, human rights and love, among others.

Zimbolicious Poetry Anthology: Volume 1 contains 89 poems and translations in Shona, English, Tonga, and Chibarwe. 32 poets and translators tackle issues such as poetry, writing in general, art, place, identity, tradition, struggle, collective understanding, individual, human rights and love.