Nyasha...

What inspires you to write?

The fact that there is a lot that people face behind closed doors and that they engage in many untold battles inspires me to write. I am driven to raise awareness about a lot of issues around life be it depression, sexual abuse, anxiety, child marriages, manipulation of teenagers among other things and I aim at doing this through my writing. I do not only create situations in my head but my writing emanates from a place of emotion, experience and things that I have seen happening to others. I believe the world cannot solve what it does not know and so I serve as a whistle blower through my writing, to shed light on the untold issues that are occurring in the world. I always keep in mind that somewhere out there, someone has suffered in silence and my writing is an attempt to give a voice to such people. Writing has become a part of me and it is also therapeutic in times of stress. When I have no pen with me, I find myself narrating stories in my head and that is how much of a pleasure it has become for me.


Do you think there is a difference between 
a writer and an author?

Yes. I do think there is a difference between a writer and an author. From my point of view, a writer is simply anyone who expresses thoughts and ideas through writing be it in the form of stories, journal entries, articles and so to a greater extent, most people are in fact writers. An author on the other hand is someone whose written work has actually been published. In my case, I have always been a writer but through this publication I can officially become an author. To sum it all up, all authors are writers but not all writers are authors.


How does it make you feel to be part of a published anthology?

I am so humbled, grateful and beyond happy to be part of this anthology. This is actually the first time to have my work published in this manner, which makes this a moment of triumph in my life. I can safely say this is actually one of my greatest achievements so far. For quite some time now I have been putting ideas and trying to figure out how to get myself published and this opportunity came at a time when I least expected it, but most definitely hoped for. I have made attempts in the past to get a shot at getting even a paragraph I have written featured in a book without any luck. I could go on and on about how special and important this is to me.


Do you face any challenges as a female Zimbabwean writer?

I have faced and I still face challenges as a female Zimbabwean writer. I am passionate about bringing out real life issues through my writing and more often than not I find myself delving into issues around sexism and gender-based violence. The greater part of my audience has been raised in the same patriarchal system in which I grew up and criticism is inevitable. Each time I write a story or an article I have to make extra efforts not to sound too feminist as this is a thing that is immensely trashed by many, be it in on social media, at school or elsewhere. Getting recognition is also a struggle. It’s sad to admit that more often than not, it is very difficult to be noticed without involving looks or nudity. It seems our generation is more caught up in numerous trivial things and the reading culture is suffering. I have also struggled with getting mentorship as to how I can balance being a female writer in Zimbabwe and at the same time succeed in Medical School.


Briefly describe your writing journey, from how you started to where you are today.

In high school I always enjoyed writing stories in English and Shona classes. Outside that I never considered myself a writer. Journaling was one of my habits at that time. By chance, I entered a POTRAZ letter writing competition and got into the top 3 nationally. Even I was shocked by the big win, but everyone else got the impression that I was actually a great writer. Several people would approach me when they needed help with speeches, poems and other writing tasks. Around the same time, my brother encouraged me to start blogging, as he like the others thought I was a good writer. Due to minimal technological prowess back then, I only managed to establish my first blog in 2018. Rarely I would write articles and stories then share them on my blog and through this more and more people perceived me as a good writer. One of my blog subscribers passed a link to a story writing competition which I won during the 2020 lockdown and this expanded my audience. I believe it is through this competition that I was spotted for this opportunity. This anthology project was actually my first time to write stories under serious conditions and I had to multiply my usual word count. This experience has been an eye opener and now that I know I have it within me, I am already working on other stories and hopefully one day I will be able to publish my own work.


How do you want your work to be remembered?

Authenticity. I want my work to touch hearts, capture emotions and probe the readers to ask necessary questions. I mostly write about things that have happened or things that are still happening in a bid to raise awareness and stimulate action. Years down the line, I still want my work to have the same impact and power to move the readers and perhaps change a part of this world for the better. I really don’t care if the world recognises or remembers me, but I certainly do want them to get a feeling of the art. I want someone to be absorbed within the pages and relate to my content in a way that assures them that whatever battles they face have been faced by other people and that someone understands. The goal is to either put a smile on someone’s face or to probe someone into action.


Would you like to share anything about yourself to help your readers connect with you?

Besides writing stories, I am a medical student who is also passionate about mental health. I have a blog where I have been posting stuff mainly around life coaching, motivation and mental health issues. It is however my wish to focus my content around mental health issues and challenges faced by the youth including identity crisis and cyber bullying. I have got to the point of acknowledging that this work is hard for me on my own and so I have opened myself to external contributors. There still is a lot of work that needs to be done to put my dream into action and so I am open to all the mentorship and partnership that may come my way.


Who is your favourite writer and why?

My favourite writer is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I have to be very honest that I haven’t read much of her work, but I however have watched more videos of her speaking about writing and a lot of other issues. I especially admire her command of the English language and how everything about her still screams “Africa”. Her confidence is out of this world and I have to say, she is gorgeous. In Chimamanda I see a bold African woman who refuses to be silenced and that is the type of woman I want to be.


What are your future writing aspirations?

Firstly, I want to work on my very own collection of short stories, and I have given myself a time frame up to my 21st birthday to see this goal through. I have never tried writing longer stories but I do have hopes of working on my own novels. As I have mentioned before, I am passionate about mental health and life coaching especially for the youth and so I have goals of publishing books along those genres.


What is your biggest dream?

My biggest dream is to see the stories I have written on the big screens. Not everyone is a reader but many people do watch television and so I wish to see the day my content actually becomes good enough to be shared on the big screens. There is a little bit of an actress within me and she would be happy to be part of the dream. I am still young and hopefully I can grow myself in terms of talent and financial stability to a stage where I can fully promote my content at that level. I am no doubt a big dreamer and I will stop at nothing to make my dreams come true.

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TURQUOISE DREAMS Editor's note:

Screwed from birth is a truly raw and beautifully written account of a man in a position of power who then took advantage of it. Abusing a young girl with no remorse or shame and no care of how this abuse would affect her life and mentality. It truly baffles me how someone could be so cruel. The themes of abuse, sexism, adolescent pregnancy, poverty, bereavement and depression are well presented in this story. 

Cut off is a gruesome account exploring female genital mutilation. I found it shockingly intense and captivating at the same time. This story highlights the extent of cruelty that society is willing to go to cultivate the ideology of patriarchy. 

Regret for dessert is a remarkable page turner exploring the problematic issue of arranged marriages in a patriarchal society. The story also touches on betrayal and is full of twists and turns that kept me in suspense and surprised with each new reveal of events. 
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