Writing Language, Culture, and Development:
Africa Vs Asia
Volume 1
Edited by:
Tendai Rinos Mwanaka
Upal Deb
Wanjohi wa Makokha
Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd,
Chitungwiza Zimbabwe
*
Creativity, Wisdom and Beauty
Publisher:
Mmap
Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd
24 Svosve Road, Zengeza 1
Chitungwiza Zimbabwe
mwanaka@yahoo.com
https//mwanakamediaandpublishing.weebly.com
Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective
orders@africanbookscollective.com
www.africanbookscollective.com
ISBN: 978-0-7974-8493-1
EAN: 9780797484931
© Tendai Rinos Mwanaka 2018
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or be stored in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher
DISCLAIMER
All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mmap.
Contents
Notes on contibutors.........................................................................x-ix
Introduction.......................................................................................xx-xxiii
Nonfictions...........................................................................................1-26
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (RELATIONS)IN WEST AFRICA UP TO 1500: CHINESE, EUROPEAN AND ARAB CONNECTIONS: Lemuel Ekedegwa Odeh (Nigeria)
RHINO-CIDE: Jill Hedgecock (USA)
Fictions...................................................................................................27-83
A DARK ENERGY, Chapter 11, a novel extract: Tendai Rinos Mwanaka (Zimbabwe)
Prologue: Servants of the Rice, A novel extract: Audrey McCombs (USA):
Okwu n’eso Akuko: Odibo Osikapa: Audrey McCombs (translation into Igbo by Gabriel Egboluche)
His eyes were blue: Ian Broinowski (Australia)
Idonsashudi: Ian Broinowski (translation into Hausa by Abdulrahman.S. Waziri and Mustapha Tanko)
PRESSURE POINT: Lee Ray Khan (Nepal)
दबाबपोष्ट: Lee Ray Khan(translation into Nepelese by Lee Ray Khan)
Reminiscences: Mona Lisa Jena (India)
SCARLET: Ayo Oyeku (Nigeria)
Poetry...................................................................................................84-247
人生之: Changming Yuan (China/Canada)
Water of Life: Changming Yuan (translation from Chinese by Changming Yuan)
思想猎人: Changming Yuan (China/Canada)
Thought Hunting: Changming Yuan (translation from Chinese by Changming Yuan)
追求: Changming Yuan (China/Canada)
Pursuing: Changming Yuan (translation from Chinese by Changming Yuan)
图腾柱: Tao Zhijian (China/Canada)
The Totem Pole: Tao Zhijian (ttranslation from Chinese by Tao Zhijian)
白金城市: Hongri Yuan (China)
Platinum City: Hongri Yuan (Translation from Chinese by Manu Mangattu)
There Were Moments: Emily Achieng’ (Kenya/South Korea)
그랬던 적이 있었다.: Emily Achieng’ (translation into Korean by이의영):
Былимоменты: Emily Achieng’ (translation into Russian by Aizhan)
Uncertainty: Emily Achieng’ (Kenya/South Korea)
Languages: Emily Achieng’ (Kenya/South Korea)
DISPATCH FROM HORIZON: Wanjohi wa Makokha (Kenya)
DAUGHTER OF THE LAUNDRESS: Wanjohi wa Makokha (Kenya)
OF HOMELAND AMIDST BEYOND: Wanjohi wa Makokha (Kenya)
a solitary maiden stands: Archie Swanson (South Africa)
孤高の少女が立つ: Archie Swanson (translation into Japanese by Fumio Ueno)
ombak indah rain: Archie Swanson (South Africa)
ombak indah rain: Archie Swanson (translation into Japanese by Fumio Ueno)
Gwalior: Amitabh Mitra (South Africa)
Gwalior: Amitabh Mitra (translation into Japanese by Fumio Ueno)
Jacob in Hebron: Christina A Lee (Australia/Italy)
Yakobo wekuHeberoni: Christina A. Lee (translation into Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
strange heights: Christina A Lee (Australia/Italy)
Makomo emashiripiti: Christina A Lee (translation into Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
African Heirloom: Lind Grant-Oyeye (Nigeria/Canada)
Afrika Chishongedzo: Lind Grant-Oyeye (translation into Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
Mourning: Lind Grant-Oyeye (Nigeria/Canada)
Good bye Manaima: Lind Grant-Oyeye (Nigeria/Canada)
Wako wekutumbura: Gumisai Nyoni (Zimbabwe)
For yours that you gave birth to: Gumisai Nyoni (translation from Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
Sevai Muto: Gumisai Nyoni (Zimbabwe)
Have its soup: Gumisai Nyoni (translation from Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
Dundundu Nhando: Gumisai Nyoni (Zimbabwe)
Fake Pride: Gumisai Nyoni (translation from Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
The precision of MEASUREMENT!: Poornima Laxmeshwar (India)
OMIA Kpakpa: Poornima Laxmeshwar (translation into Idoma by Lemuel Ekedegwa Odeh)
Tales of tequila: Poornima Laxmeshwar (India)
lab rats: Rohith (India)
makonzo emumba mesayenze: Rohith (translation into Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
Hospital: Rohith (India)
Where I come from...who I am....: Smeetha Bhoumik (India)
Kwandakabva.... zvandiri....: Smeetha Bhoumik (translation into Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
What I See: Smeetha Bhoumik (India)
How I Wonder!: Smeetha Bhoumik (India)
ONE WORLD: Eniola Olaosebikan (Nigeria)
Motherland chant: Eniola Olaosebikan (Nigeria)
أنشودة الوطن: Eniola Olaosebikan (translation into Arabic by Fethi Sassi)
For colored only?: Eniola Olaosebikan (Nigeria)
للمتلوّنين فقط ؟: Eniola Olaosebikan (translation into Arabic by Fethi Sassi)
Roots: Vinita Agrawal (India)
Midzi yedzinza: Vinita Agrawal (translation into Shona by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka)
Black Waters: Vinita Agrawal (India)
Writers Without Borders: Vinita Agrawal (India)
With This Pen: Edward Dzonze (Zimbabwe)
بهذا القلم : Edward Dzonze (translation into Arabic by Fethi Sassi)
Poetry Cookies: Nalini Priyadarshni (India)
Kashata za Ushairi: Nalini Priyadarshi (translation into Kiswahili by Wanjohi wa Makokha)
Love We Deserve: Nalini Priyadarshni (India)
Penzi Tustahililo: Nalini Praiyadarshni (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
Half Kiss: Nalini Priyadarshni (India)
Nusu Busu: Nalini Priyadarshni (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
OPELE: NURENI Ibrahim (Nigeria)
الخرز : NURENI Ibrahim (translation into Arabic by Fethi Sassi)
Portrait of the poet as young woman: Chandramohan S (India)
Picha Ya Malenga Kama Mwanamwali: Chandramohan S (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT A BLACK BURKINI: Chandramohan S (India)
NJIA KUMI NA TATU ZA KUTAZAMA BURKINI NYEUSI: Chandramohan S (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
Beef poem: Chandramohan S (India)
Shairi Nyama: Chandramohan S (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
ROBERT MUGABE STREET: Phumulani Chipandambira (Zimbabwe):
Ulayi U Robert Mugabe: Phumulani Chipandambiri (translation into Idoma by Lemuel Ekedegwa Odeh)
DAMBUDZO MARECHERA: Phumulani Chipandambira (Zimbabwe):
DAMBUDZO MARECHERA: Phumulani Chipandambiri (translation from into Idoma by Lemuel Ekedegwa Odeh)
A WRITER’S PEN: Kariuki wa Nyamu (Kenya)
AL{ALAMIN MARUBUCI: Kariuki wa Nyamu (translation into Hausa by Abdulrahman.S. Waziri and Mustapha Tanko)
If I may inquire…: Kariuki wa Nyamu (Kenya)
IN DA ZAN TAMBAYA: Kariuki wa Nyamu (translation into Hausa by Abdulrahman.S. Waziri and Mustapha Tanko)
Okot p’Bitek: Kariuki wa Nyamu (Kenya)
Okot p’ Bitek: Kariuki wa Nyamu (translation into Hausa by Abdulrahman.S. Waziri and Mustapha Tanko)
Knowledge: Rochelle Potkar (India)
Maarifa: Rochelle Potkar (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
Syllabus: Rochelle Potkar (India)
Silabasi: Rochelle Potkar (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
Art of critiquing: Rochelle Potkar (India)
Sanaa ya uchambuzi: Rochelle Potkar (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu, Kenya)
BURRIED SECRECT: Juma Brenda (Kenya)
Sumasɛm: Juma Brenda (translation into Akan Twi by Adjei Agyei Baah)
A Dirge for the Delta: Stephen Temitope David (Nigeria/South Africa)
BenabɔNwom MaDɛlta: Stephen Temitope David (translation into Akan Twi by Adjei Agyei Baah)
A Song for Independence: Stephen Temitope David (Nigeria/South Africa)
FaahodieNwom: Stephen Temitope (translation into Akan Twi by Adjei Agyei Baah)
Silent Gods (For the kidnapped schoolgirls): Stephen Temitope David (Nigeria/South Africa)
AbosomMmum: Stephen Temitope David (translation into Akan Twi by Adjei Agyei Baah
The Shape of the Heart: Ryan Thorpe (China)
Umbo la Roho: Ryan Thorpe (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
Walking to Work in Shanghai: Ryan Thorpe (China)
Kutembea hadi Kazini Jijini Shanghai: Ryan Thorpe (translation into Kiswahili by Kariuki wa Nyamu)
Untitled: Daniel Ari (USA)
Untitled: Daniel Ari (translation into Japanese by Fumio Ueno)
Benjamina Tree: Shannon Hopkins (South Africa)
Benjamina Tree: Shannon Hopkins (translation into Japanese by Fumio Ueno)
Freedom?: Shannon Hopkins (South Africa)
We are here: Shannon Hopkins (South Africa)
Hair things: Tralone Lindiwe Khoza (South Africa)
God I want to go to Ghana: Tralone Lindiwe Khoza (South Africa)
Plays...................................................................................................248-271
Lonely Bites: Albert Jamae (Australia)
Cizo Daya tilo: Albert Jamae (translation into Hausa by Abdulrahman.S. Waziri and Mustapha Tanko)
THE CHILD NO ONE LOVES (a playlet): Solomon C.A. Awuzie (Nigeria):
About editors
Tendai Rinos Mwanaka is a publisher, editor, mentor, writer, visual artist and musical artist with close to 20 books published which include among others, Zimbolicious Poetry Anthologies (Anthology series of Zimbabwean poets), Playing To Love’s Gallery (poetry book), Keys in the River (short stories novel), Voices from Exile (poetry book), Counting The Stars (poetry book), and many more here: http://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/tendai-rinos-mwanaka. He writes in English and Shona. His work has appeared in over 400 journals and anthologies from over 27 countries. Work has been translated into Spanish, French and German.
Wanjohi wa Makokha (b.1979), is the sobriquet of Kenyan public intellectual JKS Makokha who is based at the Department of Literature and Institute of African Studies in Kenyatta University. Born in 1979 in Nairobi, raised in Eldoret and Bungoma, the poet has been shaped by various aspects of Kenyan cultures and environments. He obtained his elementary and secondary education from Muslim, Christian and Public schools. He holds tertiary papers from Kenyatta University, University of Leipzig and Free University of Berlin. This cross-cultural educational experience influences his vision and craft as an artist. The experience is sharpened by his private and public life that have seen him travel widely across Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Zanzibar, Tanganyika, South Africa and Western Europe. He is the co-editor of several volumes of essays in literary criticism and theory such as: Reading Contemporary African Literatures: Critical Perspectives (Amsterdam/New York, 2013); Border-Crossings: Narrative and Demarcation in Postcolonial Literatures (Heidelberg, 2012); Style in African Literatures (Amsterdam, 2012), and East African Literatures (Berlin, 2011) among others. His poetry has been published in the Atonal Poetry Review, African Writing, The Journal of New Poetry, Postcolonial Text, Stylus Poetry Journal and Kwani? 7. Nest of Stones: Kenyan Narratives in Verse published by Langaa in 2010 is his debut book of verse. It revolves around the Kenya Election Crisis 2007-2008 and carries a foreword by the respected Kenyan poetess and scholar, Professor Micere Mugo.
Upal Deb is an Indian scholar and writer
Notes on Contributors
Emily Achieng’ is from Nairobi, Kenya. She loves the stars, and better yet, looks at them more than most people do.
Vinita Agrawal, Author of three books of poetry, Vinita is a Mumbai based, award winning poet and writer. She is Editor Womaninc.com, an online platform that addresses gender issues. Recipient of the Gayatri GaMarsh Memorial Award for Literary Excellence, USA, 2015, her poems have appeared in Asiancha, Constellations, The Fox Chase Review, Pea River Journal, Open Road Review, Stockholm Literary Review, Poetry Pacific, Mithila Review and other journals. She was nominated for the Best of the Net Awards in 2011. She was awarded first prize in the Wordweavers Contest 2014, commendation prize in the All India Poetry Competition 2014 and won the 2014 Hour of Writes Contest thrice. Her poems have found a place in several anthologies. She contributes a monthly column on Asian Poets on the literary blog of the Hamline university, Saint Paul, USA. She has read at SAARC events, at the U.S. Consulate, at Delhi Poetree and at Cappucino Readings, Mumbai. She was featured in the transatlantic poetry broadcast. She can be reached at https://www.pw.org/content/vinita_agrawal and at www.vinitawords.com
Daniel Ari writes, publishes, performs and teaches poetry. This has grown out of his lifelong sense of play and wonder in relation to language and its deep, mysterious origins.
Solomon C. A. Awuzie is Solomon Awuzie’s writing name. Solomon Awuzie obtained his B.A. degree from the Imo State University Owerri, his M.A. degree from the University of Ibadan and his PhD degree from the University of Port Harcourt. He is the author of The Last Revolution, and The Born Again Devil. In 2005, his short story, “Your Epistle”, won the ANA-IMO / YOUNG WRITERS CLUB prize for literature and in 2015 his children fiction, Oluyemi and the School Fee, came second at the ANA-IMO state literary competition. He teaches Literature at the Department of English, Edo University Iyamho.
Adjei Agyei-Baah is a language lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Distance Education, Kumasi Campus and author of two haiku books: AFRIKU (Red Moon Press, 2016) and Ghana 21 Haiku (Mamba Africa Press, 2017) and winner of several international awards. He is the co-founder of Africa Haiku Network (AHN) and as well doubles as the co-editor of Mamba Journal, Africa's first international haiku journal, and champions “Afriku”, a nativized and avant-garde form of the Japanese haiku poetry in Africa and other places of the world.
Smeetha Bhoumik is an artist and a poet, working with traditional and new media, bringing the two together in interesting outcomes. Her main theme of work is the Universe Series, depicting the mysterious universe’s star-forming regions, supernovae, galaxies, constellations and magic. She believes that we are all made of star dust and this oneness inspires her. Her work has shown in ten solo and more than forty group shows in India and abroad; and she is represented by the Global Art Agency. Her poetry speaks softly for the vulnerable. She is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, and Founder of Women Empowered-India (WE).
Ian Broinowski, PhD, MEd, BA(Soc Wk), BEc, Dip Teach, worked as an advanced skills teacher in children's services at TAFE Tasmania in Hobart, Australia for many years. Ian has a background in Economics, Social Work and Education. He has taught in a wide range of subjects in aged care, disability services, children’s services, community and youth work. Ian’s publications include Child Care Social Policy and Economics, (1994) Creative Childcare Practice: Program design in early childhood, (2002) and Managing Children’s Services 2004 as well as a range of professional journal articles.
Chandramohan S is an Indian English Dalit poet and literary critic based in Trivandrum, Kerala. He is part of P.K. Rosi foundation, a cultural collective (named after the legendary, pioneering Dalit actress) that seeks to de-marginalise Dalit-Bahujans. His first collection of poems titled Warscape Verses was published in May 2014. His second collection of poems is titled Letters to Namdeo Dhasal is forthcoming and few of his poems have been used at many protest sites. He has been anthologized in LAND: an anthology of Indo-Australian poetry (Edited by Rob Harle) and 40 poets under 40 (Edited by Nabina Das and Semeen Ali). He was instrumental in organizing in literary meets of English poets of Kerala for Ayyappa Panicker foundation and for Kritya Poetry festival.
Phumulani Chipandambira is a Zimbabwean freelance writer. He likes reading and writing poetry and short stories. He has been published in various local magazines and newspapers.
Stephen Temitope David is a Ph.D candidate in Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is a performance poet who relies on African griot tradition for muse. He is a Nigerian.
Edward X. Dzonze’s poetry seeks to capture the African panorama with minimal prejudice. His hand cannot be mistaken; it is famed for its pan-African eloquence and the profundity thereof- Born on the 4th of June 1989 in Mutoko, where he did his primary education. Edward X. Dzonze is a Zimbabwean born writer. He attended Mufakose 1 High School in Harare. Dzonze, a.k.a NRS( Nameles Radio Station) in the Spoken word circles, has published two poetry collections to date; Many Truths Told at Once (Royalty Publishing USA, 2015) and Wisdom Speaks (Royalty Publishing USA,2016) .He also co-edited the Zimbolicious poetry anthology (Royalty Publishing USA, 2016). His other poetry has also been featured in; World Peace poetry anthology (India, 2013), We are One (Diaspora Publishers, UK, 2014), Best New African Poets 2015 Anthology , Best New African Poets 2016 Anthology and Zimbolicious poetry anthology respectively. Dzonze a.k.a NRS is a full time writer. He lives in Harare's high density Surbub of Budiriro with his wife and two children.
Yugo Gabriel Egboluche is a graduate of Geography from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He writes from Anambra State, Nigeria where he works as a Development Practitioner. Together with poetry, he does fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting and copywriting. His works have been published in the Kalahari Review, Praxis Magazine Online, Words, Rhyme & Rhythm and his stories translated into film. His short stories have been published in Experimental Writing, Volume 1, Africa vs Latin American anthology and other webzines. He has also co-authored and edited more than two community development texts and guidebooks.
Jill Hedgecock has a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management. She is a freelance writer who became aware about the devastating impact of poaching on rhino populations during a visit to South Africa. Jill is working on a novel to illuminate the complex causes of rhino poaching. Her article on the plight of the rhino appeared in May 2016 (http://www.diablogazette.com/issues/may-diablo-gazette/) and she gave a talk on this subject in June 2016 to the Mount Diablo Audubon Society. She is an active-status member of the Mount Diablo Branch of the California Writer’s Club where she serves as their program chairperson.
Shannon Hopkins: is a writer living in Ballito on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast of South Africa. She holds a BA degree in Fine Art and an Honours in English, and is currently studying for her Masters in English Literature at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. She has been published in a number of literary journals and anthologies. Hopkins is fascinated with writing as a means of creating understanding between different cultures and as a platform to explore, capture and remember issues of the times as well as that of personal experience.
NURENI Ibrahim is an award-winning poet based in Lagos, Nigeria. He has published poems both in local and international magazines/journals. His poem “Half of a Human Species” featured in Best New African Poets 2016 Anthology. He is one of the Joint Winners at the 2016 Calabar Poetry Festival Prize. He renders poetry both in verse and in performance. His poems “The Rhythm of Epiphany” and “Song of Violence” were dramatized at the Celebration of Black History Month, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Purple Awareness Programme respectively. He is also a fanatic lover of Haiku.
Albert Jamae has been writing since 1998 in areas of stage, screen, and radio. His credits include a comedy webseries, a few short films, over a dozen plays for kids and adults, three full length school musicals and a series of online e-books comprising of around two hundred short scripts for actors and drama teachers. He’s won awards for two of his one act plays and three national awards for writing radio commercials. He’s currently developing a comedy TV series and writing his first teenage fiction novel.
Mona Lisa Jena was born in Odisha in 1964. She is the author of many books in various genres, including two collections of short stories, three books of poems and several volumes of translations. She has to her credit three collections of poems in Odia; Nisarga Dhwani and Ai Sabu Dhruba Muhurta and Nakshtra Devi. She has also written a novel Nargis in Odia. Her short stories are collected in Indramalatira Shoka and Nilamadhabi. Nargis is her latest novel. Ms Jena also wrote a biography of the noted Odia poet Ramakanta Rath besides translating and editing Dasuram’s Script, a collection of contemporary Odia stories published by Harper Collins.She also translated Pratibha Ray's novel as Citadel of love for Rupa in 2015
Juma Brenda, is a Kenyan and a graduate of Theatre Arts and Film Technology from Kenyatta University and currently pursuing an MA in Film and Theatre Arts at Kenyatta University. She is a versatile artist -a published poet Best “New” African Poet 2016 Anthology; a stage and screenwriter, Filmmaker, Actress and a makeup artist. She derives her passion and creativity from any form of art, be it literary, performing or visual arts. Her works revolve around social, political and economic commentaries.
Lee Ray Khan spent her girlhood in Australia but then travelled extensively in Europe and India. She now lives in a small village in Nepal. From time to time she sends out, without comment, stories by email.
Miss Tralone Lindiwe Khoza has a BA Communications degree from the University of Johannesburg (RAU) and a Post graduate Diploma in Marketing. She is a Marketing Specialist by profession, but writing is her first love. Her writing includes writing entertainment pieces for All4Women, MUMSRU a UK online magazine for single mothers, as well as the South Australian Fashion Magazine. Locally she writers for various online blogs and also writes regularly for Biz community on Marketing related articles. One of her poems, Black Eagles has recently being published in the Best New African Poets 2016 Anthology. She hopes to follow in the footsteps of many writers such as the late Dr. Maya Angelou.
Christina A Lee is originally from Melbourne, Australia. She is a part-time poet and art student who lives and works in Italy.
Poornima Laxmeshwar resides in the garden city Bangalore and works as a content writer for a living. Her poems have appeared in Cold Noon, Vayavya, MuseIndia, Writers Asylum, The Aerogram, Stockholm Literary Review, Northeast Review, Brown Critique, Cafe Dissensus amongst many others. Her haiku have found space in several magazines.
Manu Mangattu is Assistant Professor, Department of English, St George College, Aruvithura, India, more check his website www.mutemelodist.com
Audrey McCombs is currently a PhD student in theoretical ecology, earned her MFA in creative writing and environment. She served as the Creative Director for Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment and her creative work has been published in The Missing Slate, Sequestrum, The Mountain, Pithead Chapel, Earthspeak Magazine, Pay Attention: a River of Stones, and Beaches and Parks from Monterey to Ventura. She dreams of a three-year vow of silence, and a house empty of everything but blank walls upon which she may, finally, write down the code that animates our brute substance.
South African poet, Amitabh Mitra belongs to the city of Gwalior. An Orthopaedic Surgeon and an Emergency Medicine Expert in the black township of Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, he fuses his memories, the mind and lives in various planes.
Kariuki wa Nyamu is a passionate Kenyan poet, script writer, editor, translator, literary critic and educator. He obtained an Honours BA Education (Literature and English) from Makerere University, Uganda. His poetry won the National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU) Literary Awards 2007 and Makerere University Creative Writing Competition 2010. He is published in A Thousand Voices Rising, Boda Boda Anthem and Other Poems, Best “New” African Poets 2015 Anthology, Experimental Writing: Africa Vs Latin America Anthology, Volume 1, Best “New” African Poets 2016 Anthology, among others. He is presently pursuing a Master of Arts in Literature at Kenyatta University, Kenya.
Gumisai Nyoni was born in 1982, he went to Marowa Primary School, Nkululeko High School and Loreto High School. He completed BA Hons in Theatre Arts at University of Zimbabwe and a Post Graduate Diploma in Media Studies at UZ, again. He works as Chief Sub-Editor at Harare News.
Lemuel E. Odeh is a graduate of the Lagos State University Ojo- Lagos in B.A. History and International Studies, an M.sc International Relations and Strategic Studies and a Ph.D. in History from the Benue State University Makurdi. His area of research is Diplomatic History & International Economic Relations. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of History & International Studies, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Dr Odeh has published extensively in the areas of economic history and international relations.
Eniola Olaosebikan is an active writer and a public speaker who currently shuffles between United Kingdom, United States and her home country Nigeria. She holds a master degree in International Business Management and asides writing and speaking, she works with specific organizations around the world to enable them realize their corporate goals.
Ayo Oyeku continues to fan the embers of his creative prowess, with over a decade contribution in the world of prose and poetry. His works have appeared in journals, publications and anthologies across the globe, including, Illuminations (Celestial Arts, 2006); Fingernails across the Chalkboard (Third World Press, 2007); Miracle Literary Magazine (Miracle e-zinr, Issue 2, 2012); Stand Our Ground (Freedomseed Press, 2013); The Sky is Our Earth (Sankofa, 2015). According to Sources (Writers Project of Ghana, 2015),VINYL, Kalahari Review, AFREADA, Brittle Paper, Ebedi Review 2, and EXPERIMENTAL WRITING: Volume 1, Africa vs Latin America Anthology. His heart-rending and inspiring debut novel, Tears of the Lonely, won the 2015 Ezenwa Ohaeta Award for Young Nigerian Novelists. And he was also shortlisted for the 2016 Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapters. Currently, he is finishing up on his second novel.
Lind Grant-Oyeye is a widely published writer of African descent.
Rochelle Potkar is Author of 'The Arithmetic of Breasts and other stories', 'Four Degrees of Separation’, and 'Paper Asylum', Rochelle Potkar is alumna of Iowa’s International Writing Program (2015) and Charles Wallace Writer’s fellowship, Stirling (2017). She is the winner of the 2016 Open Road Review story contest for The leaves of the deodar. Her story Chit Mahal (The Enclave) appears in The Best of Asian Short Stories. Her poems Cellular: P.O.W. and Ground up were shortlisted for awards. Her poem 'The girl from Lal Bazaar' was shortlisted for the Gregory O' Donoghue International Poetry Prize, 2018. She is editor of the Goan-Irish anthology, Goa: a garland of poems, with Gabriel Rosenstock, and co-founder of the Arcs-of-the-Circle artists’ residency program, Mumbai. https://rochellepotkar.com.
Nalini Priyadarshni is the author of Doppelganger in My House and co author of Lines Across Oceans. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, podcasts and international anthologies including Mad Swirl, Camel Saloon, Dukool, In-flight Magazine, Poetry Breakfast, The Riveter Review, The Open Road Review, Your One Phone Call, In Between Hangovers, Asian Signature and Yellow Chair Review. Her poems and views on poetry and life have been featured on AIR (All India Radio) and FM radio. Her forthcoming publications include Silver Apples.
Rohith is a Medico from Government Medical College on Tirupati. He grew up in Anantapur. His poetry was published in various magazines like The Sunflower Collective, Cafe Dissensus, Kritya, Raiot, The Brown Critique.
Archie Swanson is a 61 year old Cape Town poet and surfer. His poems have been published in numerous anthologies and posted on a number of blogs. In 2016 three of his poems were translated into Spanish by Martín López-Vega, and published in the Spanish National newspaper, El Mundo. A poem also appears in Experimental writing: Africa vs. Latin America, Volume 1.
Dr. Ryan Thorpe teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute. He is the fiction and poetry editor of The Shanghai Literary Review and manages a public workshop for anyone interested in creative writing. He writes columns for The Global Times, has published in numerous literary journals, and is currently working on a creative writing textbook. More information on his work can be found at www.rythorpe.com
Yuan Changming, nine-time Pushcart and one-time Best of Net nominee, published monographs on translation before moving out of China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver; credits include Best of Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, New Coin, Rowayat, Threepenny Review and 1309 others across 39 countries.
Hongri Yuan, born in China in 1962, is a poet and philosopher interested particularly in creation. Representative works include Platinum City, The City of Gold, Golden Paradise, Gold Sun and Golden Giant. His poetry has been published in the UK, USA ,India ,New Zealand, Canada and Nigeria.
Tao Zhijian is a translator and scholar, with a doctorate from McGill and a membership with the Chinese Writers Association in Quebec, Canada. He has taught at several universities and worked also in the hydroelectric and hydrological fields. His published works include monograph Drawing the Dragon: Western European Reinvention of China, translations of the scholarly work Bibliography Complex, and art album Chung Siu Yau Series: the Golden Age, both from Chinese to English. Under his name are also four poetry collections in translation, entitled respectively The Fortuities of a Shoe, A Line at Dawn, On the Shore Beyond, and Upon the Flower, totalling some 320 poems. He has also published numerous critical essays, prose writings and poems, in both the English and Chinese languages, in scholarly journals, newspapers and literary magazines in China, Europe, the US as well as in Canada. Zhijian is presently engaged, as a translator, in the project of creating Chinese-English editions of two of the most authoritative and popular Chinese language dictionaries, a project jointly undertaken by the Commercial Press and Oxford U press.
INTRODUCTION
TALKING IN FORKED TONGUES:
Envoicing an Afro-Asiatic Literary Volume
Translation studies continue to gain ground in academic circles especially in the fields of Linguistics, and Literary Studies. This is true of African and Asian academies as it is with the knowledge communities of the rest of the world. The focus on this matter has been almost always with questions of power and language in the vortex of decolonization schools of thought. (See Batchelor, 2014). Indeed, the prominent Kenyan writer and champion of postcolonial languages and their inalienable rights, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, continues to remind us the importance of creating dialogues between languages of the Global South (See Ngugi, 2015, 1986). His works have been translated into tens of languages further underlining the importance of translation studies especially within the larger frame of postcolonial studies. A recent project by young Kenyan writers translated his recent-most short story entitled, “The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright”, into over fifty diverse languages from across Africa in their Jalada Africa: Translation Issue Volume 1(2016). The story was first written in Gikuyu under the title, “Ituĩka Rĩa Mũrũngarũ: Kana Kĩrĩa Gĩtũmaga Andũ Mathiĩ Marũngiĩ.”
It is clear that the intellectual curiosity around in literature of postcolonial societies cuts across generations and regions. It crosses oceans whether it is the Kala Pani or others. It is an important landmark in postcolonial studies indeed. Going against the mainstream translational tendencies of working with European versus African languages only, it breaks and provides a fertile ground for academic inquiry and literary experimentation. Following in such footprints of new thinking in translation approaches to literary rapprochement, our new volume salutes Evan Mwangi’s, recent offering, Translation in African Contexts: Postcolonial Texts, Queer Sexuality and Cosmopolitan Fluency (2017). Mwangi highlights the nature and notion of translation as an epistemological framework of handling thematics of literatures from the Global South even further.
The exciting Kenyan experiences and epistemic impulses of Ngugi, Jalada Africa and Mwangi are not unique. However, they capture transnational and interdisciplinary anxieties of inter-regional cultural awakenings and awarenesses with synechdochical clarity. One that merges intercultural discourses and transcultural expressions forged towards a common humanistic agenda and in support of other cogent reflections on global literary translations in Africa and beyond (See:Bandia, 2015; Adejunmobi, 2014; Batchelor, 2014; Inggs and Meintjes, 2009 among others). It is out of this broadening of horizons of aesthetic, philological and cosmopolitan thought that we evolved this inter-continental project.
This new volume on Translation and Literatures at the nexus of unfolding interlocutions between Africa and Asia has been mooted in the philological spirit of glocalisation captured above. The incipital scholarly essay in Writing Language, Culture and Development, Africa Vs Asia, Volume 1, by Lemuel Odeh, we are taught there is strong and validated evidence that Asia and Africa have had close relationships for centuries since the classical period. Of course it is a well-documented fact that modern man originated in Africa with Asia being a focal dispersal point to the rest of the world. Close sharing of ideas and culture between people of these regions exists since time immemorial. This can be deciphered and umbricated from the family stories of Audrey McCombs, Ayo Oyeku and Mona Lisa Jena, that delve into traditional African and Asian family settings and their breakdown with encroachment from various facets, forces and fulcra of unfolding modernities. The syncretic and synchronic cross-fertilization of discourses, discomforts and dynamics at the nexus of the locutions and interlocutions between the two continents is well documented and known. From ancient Religion to mercantilian subjugation, from modern slavery to merchant sojourns, from adventure-instigated flights of reality or fantasy to culinary delights, texts both oral and written abound that highlight the umbilical tie between the two regions. Verses with anchorage in this complex epistemic and gnoseological vista are exemplified by the ancestral modes of aesthetics captured by the sublime art of Smeetha Bhoumik, Vinita Agrawal, and Nureni Ibrahim. Coins own two sides.
The contra-perspective on the otherwise symbiotic nexus between the two regions is saliently raised by the vices transacted across the Indian Ocean, which, like a hip joint, merges Asia and Africa. Take the case of Rhino poaching addressed by Jill Hedgecock in this collection. Her work explores the devastating poaching of the African rhino, which is fueled by the illegal Asian trade of rare horns and their usage in traditional medicine theatres. It is these interrelationships among many complex others in this book that vindicates this anthology as an open arena of discourse and thought.
Note-worthy is that this new anthology is a continuing series of cross-continental, literary anthologies, with the first one already out in print as, Experimental Wring, African Vs Latin America, Volume 1 (2017). Several others are under preparation. Collectively, these anthologies, hopefully, will instigate renewed anti-hermetic energies across the World academia to share ideas across continents in a dialogic mode of cogitation inspired by inter- and trans- disciplinary paradigms of Gnosis that transcend the postcolonial. Ours is a focused agenda that deliberately offers platforms for artistic and philosophical confrontation of the latent and salient limits of our globalized arena and era through the spoken and written word of aesthetic worth.
Writing Language, Culture and Development focuses on issues to do with practical translation and its action on contemporary literary texts of Asia and Africa as well as the dialogic and aesthetic possibilities between them. From this standpoint we engaged major languages of the region both creatively and critically under the auspices of Translation Studies, a fast growing humanistic field in the Global South. In this volume one finds artistic and philosophical work in Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, Kiswahili, Shona, Hausa, Idoma, Igbo, Akan Twi, and of course, English, the global lingua franca of our time. In this respect, this tome is a globophone celebration of languages as intangible assets of our shared human heritage. As noted already the other aspect about this anthology is culture, and as we noted in the call for work, this is another area where these congenital regions have excelled and exported such excellences to the rest of the world. Here is the edited call we sent out as an invitation to submissions to this exciting anthology.
WRITING ON LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT: AFRICA Vs ASIA (VOLUME 1)
Africa and Asia contain over 77% of the world’s population and over60 percent of the world’s languages and cultures. The two epic continents have lately witnessed leaps in development despite endemic, systemic and epidemic problems of multidimensional manifestation. As we march into the21st century and beyond, thetwo continents will most probably shape the direction the world would take as can already be seen with the mutative influence that Asia has on the world’s economy now and especially on Africa and it’s facets of existential and practical thought. So we believe these three aspects, namely, language, culture and development form a formidable forum for fostering interaction and interlocution between the continents under the South-South paradigm of recent globalization thought.
Subsequently, we are looking for imaginative writing that addresses or raises these issuescompetently using any genre of literary expression. Send us your best literary fictions, non-fictions, plays, poetry, mixed genres etc… in these languages: English, languages of the Indian Subcontinent (Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Malayalam etc.), Kiswahili, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese. Submissions in any other languages from these two continents other than the ones named are welcome. English being the global lingua franca, we welcome translations in this language together with texts submitted in languages of Africa and Asia. Send work in only one genre of your choice. Poetry (3 poems per poet, preferably short poems but we are still open for long poems)Prose, plays and mixed genres (One piece per writer, of not more than 5000 words)
We are going to have every entry we select translated into another language among those languages we are focusing on, i.e., English, Chinese, Kiswahili and Indian languages, but we are also open to any writing in any indigenous language from these two continents, but these as we have noted, must be accompanied with a translation into English. We will decide after selection and translations whether we will publish a single multi-languages volume or several volumes.
Work must be sent in only one attached document, also include your contact details in this document, i.e., Postal address, Tel no, Email address and a bio note of not more than 100 words.
This project will be edited and translated by the following writers and thinkers:
Tendai R Mwanaka
Wanjohi wa Makokha
Upal Deb
Please send and copy your entries to all the editors:
Tendai R. Mwanaka at mwanaka13@gmail.com, Wanjohi wa Makokha at makokha.justus@ku.ac.ke , Upal Deb at upal.deb@gmail.com,
Closing date for entries is 30 April 2017
NB: Please adhere to the submission guidelines and exercise strict intellectual and artistic integrity.
Indeed, we received a lot of entries from the two conntinents and their polyglossic denizens. We are thankful to all those who submitted to our call, and grateful to those we selected. In terms of content and composition, this volume, Writing Language, Culture and Development has 2 essays, 6 stories, 63 poems, 2 plays, and 50 translations into 13 languages from affected critics and multicultural poets who reside, inter alia, in: South Africa, Japan, Vietnam, Nepal, China, Korea, Rusia, Tunisia, Nigeria, India, USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya, and the UK, who are connected to these two continents, Asia and Africa.
Nurturing South-South interactions and interlocutions, spiritually is an open ended discourse and praxis. We envision this ground-breaking idea as testament to future cooperations between the two continents. We believe Africa and Asia can use their competencies, i.e., human capital, culture, and langauges, histories, and deconstructionist agendas, to create developmental competences and this book highlights and explore a number of pathways that creatives of the two lands can explore and exploit as they march into a future of Weltliteratur. The cast and nature of the book and its content is a product of thought, imagination and environment. We invite you to it’s offerings that individually, and collectively, accentuate our allied artistic commitment to the Humanities as an arena of thought on identities, languages, cultures, histories and epistemologies of postcolonial posture. Aluta continua.
Tendai Rinos Mwanaka
Wanjohi wa Makokha
Upal Deb
2018
References
Adejunmobi, Moradewun. “Translation and Postcolonial Identity: African Writing and European Languages.” The Translator. 2014. Pp. 163-81.
Bandia, Paul F., “Introduction: Orality and Translation.” Translation Studies. 2015. Pp. 125-27.
Batchelor, Kathryn. “Postcolonial Issues in Translation: The African Context.” In Sanda Bermann and Catherine Porter, Eds. A Companion to Translation Studies. Wiley-Blackwell: New York, 2014. Pp. 246-58.
Inggs, Judith & Libby Meintjes. (Eds.) Translation Studies in Africa. New York: Continuum, 2009.
Mwangi, Evan Maina. Translation in African Contexts: Postcolonial Texts, Queer Sexulity, and Cosmopolitan Fluency. Kent: Kent State University Press, 2017.
Wa Thiong’o, Ngugi. Decolonising the Mind: Politics of Language in African Literature. London: James Currey, 1986.
______. In The House of the Translator: A Memoir. New York: Anchor, 2015.
_______. “The Upright Revolution or Why Humans Walk Upright.”. in Jalada Africa: Translation Issue Volume 1. Nairobi: Jalada Africa. 2016.
