Charles Mungoshi

Charles Lovemore Mungoshi (2 December 1947 – 16 February 2019), was a Zimbabwean writer.[1][2]

Charles Mungoshi
BornCharles Lovemore Mungoshi
(1947-12-02)2 December 1947
at Manyene, near Chivhu (Southern Rhodesia)
Died16 February 2019(2019-02-16) (aged 71)
Harare, Zimbabwe
Children5


Life and career

Mungoshi was born on 2 December 1947 at Manyene, near Chivhu (Zimbabwe). He was educated at St Augustine's, Penhalonga. After leaving school, he worked with the Forestry Commission before joining Textbook Sales in Harare. From 1975 to 1981 he worked at the Literature Bureau as an editor and then moved to the Zimbabwe Publishing House. [3][4]

Works and recognition

Mungoshi's works include short stories and novels in Shona and English.[5][6] He also wrote poetry, but viewed it as a "mere finger exercise". He had a wide range, including anti-colonial writings and children's books. While the colonial regime initially banned his work he eventually wrote about post-colonial oppression as well. He was both an editor and a translator as well.

The awards he won include the Noma Award in 1992 and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region) twice in the years 1988 and 1998. Two of his novels, one in Shona and the other in English, both published in 1975, won the International PEN Awards. His first Shona novel was Makunun'unu Maodzamoyo followed by the English short collection Some Kinds of Wounds, which was banned by the colonial regime. His other Shona novel, Kunyarara Hakusi Kutaura, won several awards and his play Inongova Njakenjake showed his versatility as a writer. His Branching Streams Flow in the Dark won a National Arts Merit Award in 2014 for being the outstanding fiction book published in the year.[7]

Family

He is the brother of David Mungoshi.

He married an actress, Jesesi Mungoshi, who played the title role in the 1993 Zimbabwean film Neria (written by Tsitsi Dangarembga and directed by Godwin Mawuru). He held an Honorary degree from the University of Zimbabwe. Mungoshi also took part in some of the local Zimbabwean drama series in the late 1980s to early '90s, and played a role in a local drama Ndabvezera, which was produced by Aaron Chiundura Moyo.

He died in Harare on February 16, 2019.[8]

Bibliography
  • Coming of the Dry Season (1972)
  • Ndiko Kupindana Kwamazuva (1975)
  • Waiting for the Rain (1975)
  • Makunun'unu Maodzamoyo ("Brooding Breeds Despair"; 1977)
  • Inongova Njake Njake (1980)
  • Kunyarara Hakusi Kutaura? (1983)
  • The Setting Sun and Rolling World (1987)
  • Stories from a Childhood (1989)
  • One Day Long Ago: More Stories from a Shona Childhood (1991)
  • Walking Still (short stories; 1997)
  • The Milkman Doesn't Only Deliver Milk (1998)
  • Branching Streams flow in the dark (2013)
  • How the World Will End (2017)

References
  1. Emmanuel Chiwome, "Mungoshi, Charles Lovemore", in Simon Gikandi, ed., Encyclopedia of African Literature. Routledge; 2002. ISBN 978-0-415-23019-3. Online version
  2. "Charles Mungoshi's Quiet Influence on Zimbabwean Literature | Tinashe Mushakavanhu". Brittle Paper. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  3. "Mungoshi, Charles", in Jenny Stringer, ed., The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English. Oxford University Press; 1996. ISBN 9780192122711.
  4. Angus Calder, "Mungoshi, Charles", in Ian Hamilton, ed., The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. Oxford University Press; 1996. ISBN 9780192800428.
  5. Kavhu, Sharon (28 February 2019). "The fall of a giant Tribute to Zimbabwe's literary guru, Charles Mungoshi". The Southern Times. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  6. Mushakavanhu, Tinashe (25 May 2016). "Thank you Charles Mungoshi, because I can read Ngugi's A Grain of Wheat in Shona". Medium. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  7. Beaven Tapureta, "Zimbabwe: Reflecting On the 2014 Literary Scene", The Herald, via AllAfrica. 17 November 2014.
  8. "Renowned Zimbabwean author, actor Charles Mungoshi dies in Harare". The Citizen. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
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