Chirere celebrates award with public book reading
RENOWNED author, Memory Chirere, celebrated his Outstanding Poetry Book award he won at the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) 2023 in style by reading extracts from the winning book “Shamhu yeZera Renyu” in Harare recently.
At an event organised by the UK publisher, Carnelian Hearts, and a local book seller, Book Fanatics, Chirere shared a few poems from his book with fellow writers and readers.
The celebrations were honoured by the presence of key writers, including Fatima
Kara “The Train House in Lobengula Street” who scooped the First Publishing Award at the recently held NAMA 2023.
Also gracing the occasion were poets Batsirai Chigama, Rumbidzai Vazhure, Osman Mbindi and Tinashe and Tafadzwa Ndoro, among others.
The famous NAMA 2023 nominee book, “Tessarae - a collection of poems” by over 30 Zimbabwean female poets was also part of the celebrations.
Chirere and various poets took turns to read as they wowed the crowd with their extracts. Chirere read, “Bhuku Revanhu”, a piece about the poet’s desire to write a book that resonates with the dreams and ambitions of common people.
It is about the relevance of literature and art in the community.
Expressing his passion for writing, Chirere described how recognition and appreciation motivates writers.
“Artists do not produce work primarily to win awards, but when awards come they are a huge enabler to the artist,” he said.
Chirere also read an extract from one his poems called, “Shamwari Yako Saru”.
In this poem, he described how lustfully he yearned for the other woman yet he was with Sarudzai. He showered the other woman praises and compared her to Saru, the one he was dating.
“Chirume chaSekai”, was a read for the evening, warning spouses to never frequent their in-laws homesteads.
In this one, Chirere is talking about how the village, especially Sekai’s former lovers, mocked him for having snatched the village belle away from them, yet he was ugly.
Chirere rose to fame with a collection of poetic works in 1994 with the book, “Tipeiwo Dariro” which became a set book for the Zimbabwean educational curriculum. He later on branched out solely with another poetic collection with a book titled, “Bhuku Risina Basa Nekuti Rakanyorwa Masikati”, which won a NAMA award in 2014.
Chirere has been in the field time immemorial with works such as A Roof To Repair (2000), Writing Still (2003). He has had his short stories in collections like Nomore Plastic Balls (1999) and All Creatures Great and Small (2005).
The writer also did his own short stories “Somewhere In The Country” (2006), “Tudikidiki” (2007) and “Toriro And His Goats” (2010).