The door has been opened for a wave of writers confronting the legacy of postcolonialism through fiction – in a nation where speaking frankly puts you at risk of political persecution.
A handful of events, says author Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, define her generation. “The war, the HIV crisis, migration and the brain drain, and the creation of the Zimbabwean diaspora.”
They have not been topics that the country’s rulers want spoken of and many who have spoken frankly about Zimbabwe have been imprisoned or persecuted. But a new generation of female novelists is exploring the people, the political problems and the history of this complicated and still fledgling nation.
Cover of The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
“I wanted to talk about what had happened. What does 40 years of a postcolonial country look like, and what does 40 years of a postcolonial country look like for us,” says Ndlovu, author of the award-winning The Theory of Flight. “How did that affect our sense of identity? I don’t think it’s something we talk about: those very particular moments and how much they shaped us and shaped our own understanding of ourselves and our place in the world.”
*The views of the above article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Africa Speaks 4 Africa or its editorial team.