Women Writing Zimbabwe

Authors' Biographies

AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHIES Pat Brickhill was born into a family of trade unionists during a dreadful storm - hence her middle name Nomvula. Her lifelong desire to write was buried beneath the demands of political activism and motherhood for many years but they say all good things come to those who wait - and like the people of Zimbabwe Pat is waiting. Inspired in her writings by the courage and feistiness of the women of Zimbabwe, Pat longs to be able to write morning, noon and night, but she works as a civil servant to keep the wolf from the door. Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean writer who lives with her son Kush in Geneva, where she works as an international lawyer. She was educated at Cambridge, the University of Graz in Austria and the University of Zimbabwe. Her short fiction and essays have been published in literary journals, anthologies and newspapers in eight countries. She is currently completing her first novel and researching for a biography of the Bhundu Boys. Email: Annie Holmes writes fiction, non-fiction and film. While completing an MFA in Creative Writing in San Francisco, she published a short memoir , Good Red, as well as short stories, one of which was nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize. Born in Zambia and raised in Zimbabwe, Annie studied at the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand in South Africa and returned to Zimbabwe after Independence. She has worked as a secondary school teacher, book editor and documentary filmmaker and now directs communications for an international feminist network. Rumbi Katedza is a freelance writer and award-winning film director who has lived in the USA, Japan, Italy, Canada, the UK and Zimbabwe. She has written for numerous publications including The Zimbabwe Film Bulletin, The Financial Gazette, The Herald, Horizon, Fresh Vibes, The McGill Daily, Hype!, AV Specialist, Africa Film & TV and Vertigo Magazine. From 2004 to 2006, she was Festival Director of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival, before becoming a Chevening Scholar at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where she attained an MA in Filmmaking. Her production company, Mai Jai Films, is focused on vii pioneering a new generation of Zimbabwean films. Sarah Ladipo Manyika was raised in Nigeria and has lived in Kenya, France and England. She is married to a Zimbabwean and currently resides in the US where she teaches literature at San Francisco State University . Sarah recently completed her first novel, ‘In Dependence’, and is currently working on a book of short stories. Wadzanai Mhute is a Zimbabwean writer whose writing focuses on the plight of women. Her articles and stories have been published in Afrique, MethodX, MIMI Magazine, Per Contra, the Philadelphia City Paper and the Philadelphia Weekly. One of her short stories ‘Autumn in Zimbabwe’ was published in the summer issue of Per Contra Magazine. She is the recipient of the Leeway Art and Change Grant and is currently working on her first novel. Blessing Musariri is a published and award-winning children’s author who writes many other things besides. Her two publications to date are Rufaro's Day (Longman, Harare, 2000) and Going Home: A Tree's Story (Weaver Press, Harare, 2005). She is also published in New Writing 14 (British Council/Granta Press, London, 2006) and African Love Stories (Ayebia, Banbury, 2006). She currently resides in Zimbabwe but treasures opportunities to travel within Africa and experience different local cultures . She mistakenly believed she would be a lawyer but came to her senses after sitting and passing the English Bar Finals in 1997. Blessing also holds an MA in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Westminster. Chiedza Musengezi has co-edited compilations of women’s voices with: Women of Resilence (Zimbabwe Women Writers, Harare, 2000), Women Writing Africa, The Southern Region (Feminist Press, New York, 2003) and A Tragedy of Lives: women in prison in Zimbabwe (Weaver Press, Harare, 2003). Her short stories and poetry have been anthologised locally and internationally. She currently lives and teaches in Ireland. Sabina Mutangadura grew up in Bulawayo where she attended the Dominican Convent. She studied journalism at Rhodes University and then worked for a time in public relations in Zimbabwe. She subsequently gained experience in other areas within the field of communication and worked at a picture library in South Africa before returning to Zimbabwe viii women writing Zimbabwe to work in advertising as well as for a film festival. She now spends her time...