Chenjerai Hove Explained

Chenjerai Hove
Occupation:	Poet and writer
Birth Date:	9 February 1956
Birth Place:	Mazvihwa, near Zvishavane, Rhodesia
Death Place:	Stavanger, Norway^[1]

Chenjerai Hove (9 February 1956 – 12 July 2015), was a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both English and Shona.^[2] "Modernist in their formal construction, but making extensive use of oral conventions, Hove's novels offer an intense examination of the psychic and social costs - to the rural population, especially, of the war of liberation in Zimbabwe."^[3] He died on 12 July 2015^[4] while living in exile in Norway, with his death attributed to liver failure.^[5]

Life

The son of a local chief Chenjerai Hove was born in Mazvihwa, near Zvishavane, in what was then Rhodesia. He attended school at Kutama College and Marist Brothers Dete, in the Hwange district of Zimbabwe. After studying in Gweru, he became a teacher and then took degrees at the University of South Africa and the University of Zimbabwe.^[2] He also worked as a journalist, and contributed to the anthology And Now the Poets Speak.^[6] He published regularly in The Zimbabwean, an opposition newspaper founded in 2005.^[7]

A critic of the policies of the Mugabe government, Hove was living in exile at the time of his death as a fellow at the House of Culture in Stavanger, Norway, as part of the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN). Prior to this, he held visiting positions at Lewis and Clark College and Brown University; he was also once a poet-in-residence in Miami. Chenjerai Hove's work was translated into several languages (including Japanese, German, and Dutch). He won several awards over the course of his career, including the 1989 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.

Publications

Chenjerai Hove published numerous novels, poetry anthologies and collections of essays and reflections. His publications include:

• And Now the Poets Speak (co-editor; poetry), 1981
• Up In Arms (poetry), Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1982
• Red Hills of Home (poetry), 1984; Gweru: Mambo Press, 1985.
• Bones (novel), Harare: Baobab Books, 1988; Heineman International AWS, 1989.
• Shadows (novel), Harare: Baobab Books, 1991; Heinemann International Literature and Textbooks, 1992.
• Shebeen Tales: Messages from Harare (journalistic essays), Harare: Baobab Books/London: Serif, 1994
• Rainbows in the Dust (poetry), 1997
• Guardians of the Soil (cultural reflections by Zimbabwe's elders), 1997.
• Ancestors (novel), 1997.
• Desperately Seeking Europe (co-author; essays on European identity), 2003
• Palaver Finish, essays on politics and life in Zimbabwe, 2003
• Blind Moon (poetry), 2004.
• The Keys of Ramb (children's story), 2004

Honours and awards

• 1983 Special Commendations for the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, for Up in Arms^[8]
• 1984 Inaugural President, Zimbabwe Writers Union
• 1988 Winner, Zimbabwe Literary Award, for Bones
• 1989 Winner, Noma Award for Publishing In Africa, for Bones^[8]
• 1990 Founding Board Member, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights)
• 1991–94 Writer-in-Residence, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
• 1994 Visiting Professor, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, USA
• 1995 Guest Writer, Yorkshire and Humberside Arts and Leeds University, UK
• 1996 Guest Writer, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany
• 1998 Second Prize, Zimbabwe Literary Award, for Ancestors
• 2001 German Africa Prize for literary contribution to freedom of expression^[9]
• 2007-08 International Writers Project Fellow, Brown University

External links

• His biography at Brown University
• Obituary http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2015/07/21/renowned-zimbabwe-writer-chenjerai-hove-remembered/

Notes and References

1. News: Chenjeral Hove of Zimbabwean Struggles Dies at 59 . . William . Grimes . 23 July 2015 . 27 July 2015.
2. Book: Ezeliora, Osita . R. Victoria Arana . The Facts on File Companion to World Poetry: 1900 to the Present . https://books.google.com/books?id=lblcBR7uDoYC&pg=PA217 . 2 August 2012 . 2008 . Infobase Publishing . 978-1-4381-0837-7 . 217–8 . Hove, Chenjerai.
3. Book: Dominic Head . The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English . 2 August 2012 . 2006 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-83179-6 . 536.
4. Web site: Chenjerai Hove dies . Zbc.co.zw . 12 July 2015 . 27 July 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150803113217/http://www.zbc.co.zw/news-categories/entertainment/58247-chenjerai-hove-dies . 3 August 2015 .
5. Web site: Exiled writer Chenjerai Hove dies . Nehanda Radio . 12 July 2015 . 27 July 2015.
6. Book: Maja-Pearce, Adewale. Adewale Maja-Pearce . The Heinemann Book of African Poetry in English . 1990 . Heinemann . 0-435-91323-9 . 220.
7. News: Chenjerai Hove: Novelist forced into exile from his native Zimbabwe who sought in his work to give a voice to the voiceless of Africa . Hove wrote regularly for that paper. Like Voltaire, Hove believed that the best way to get rid of dictators was to laugh at them. In one column, Hove asked his readers to remember the stories they'd heard as children – especially the story about the proud monkey who climbed to the top of the tallest tree seeking applause from below. . Trevor . Grundy . 21 July 2015 . 17 March 2021 . The Independent.
8. http://www.nomaaward.org/winners.shtml "The Noma Award For Publishing In Africa"
9. News: Leading Zimbabwe writer Hove dies. 22 October 2017. BBC News. 13 July 2015.