Shimmer Chinodya

If you are a good lover of literature, this name will not look new to you.

Shimmer chinodya is a Zimbabwean writer born in 1957. He was born in Gweru, Zimbabwe.

He studied English Literature and Education at the University of Zimbabwe.

He also earned an M.A in creative Writing from the lowa Writers Workshop in U.S.A.

Shimmer is a prolific African Writer who has written series of novels. His first novel, “Dew in the morning”, was written when he was eighteen but published in 1982.

He wrote “Farai’s Girls” in 1984, “Child of War” in 1986, “Harvest of Thorns” in 1989, “Can we talk and other stories Tale of Tamari” in 1998, “Chairman of Fools” in 2005 and strife in 2006.

His books are read and studied worldwide.

The awards won by him include:

-          Common Wealth Writers Price (Africa Region).

-          Noma Honourable Mention for Harvest of Thorns.

-          A Caine Prize Shortlist for “Can we talk”.

-          NAMA award for the outstanding book for “Strife”.

“My fiction seeks to explore and extend the borders of reality, to question and tease matters of identity, class and culture, the past and the present; to explore the human condition in the most interesting and sensitive way possible. Every time I put pen to paper I ask myself, What can writing do for me and the world? How can I refine my voice? How can I show my reader into reflecting on the subject of existence?

What is existence anyway, and what is the truth, perceived and otherwise?

Can I grab my reader by the collar and make him or her gasp. “Gosh, I didn’t know it was possible to do this in a story, to write like this: AS a black writer, I obviously and primarily seek to portray an African world view but I want my literature to speak to the world as a whole. My works are experiments on the effects of time and change socio-economic pressures on humans, and human relationships tangled in the eternal quest for happiness and fulfillment. I perpetually seek a harmonious fusion of theme and style. I’d hate to write a single boring paragraph. I believe a good book should exalt the heart and mind of the reader and NOT punish him/her and that lazy, boring writers should be dragged in public.