The Embassy of United States of America last night, August 3, 2012, donated three Kindle e-readers and a number of books to the Harare City Library at a gala event attended by Zimbabwean writers, five visiting University of Iowa writers and other invited guests.
The donations, presented by American Ambassador, Charles Ray, were received by Roger Stringer, a member of the Harare City Library Management Committee and Musaemura Zimunya, Chairperson of the Board of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
The event was spiced up by performances from Outspoken, Prudence Katomene-Mbofana, Larry Kwirirayi and Camille T. Dungy (University of Iowa).
(L to R) Charles Ray, Musaemura Zimunya and Roger Stringer.
Writers Shimmer Chinodya and Bob Shacochis, representing Zimbabwe and the USA respectively, read excerpts from some of their work and had the crowd in stitches several times with stories of the times they shared when Chinodya was an MA student at the University of Iowa in 1985.
Said Shacochis who was Chinodya’s lecturer back then. “The truth is you cannot teach someone like Shimmer anything. You spur them on and just hope they don’t get discouraged.” The two men reunited for the first time after about 27 years on Tuesday.
Gathered by the power of words. Seated L to R Jillian Bonnardeaux, Stephen Chifunyise, Musaemura Zimunya, Charles Ray and Camille T. Dungy.
Shacochis also praised the Zimbabwean author’s writing. “Shimmer does not just produce some of the best writing in Zimbabwe, he produces some of the best writing in the world.”
Thanking the Americans for their gesture, Renowned Zimbabwean playwright and cultural activist, Stephen Chifunyise said that the donation of kindles was apt as the theme of the ongoing book fair was “The African Writer in the Global and Digital Age.”
