In another example of the continuing renaissance of Zimbabwean writers, author Farai Mudzingwa has been longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Mudzingwa shares the nomination with his publisher Cassava Republic. The honour comes in recognition of the author's debut novel, "Avenues by Train".
The Republic of Consciousness Prize is unique in foregrounding small publishers. The publishers of the books chosen for the longlist, the shortlist and the eventual winner are awarded the prize money rather than the authors. The decision about which small press should be awarded the prize is based on evaluating a single book submitted by the press. The purpose of awarding the prize money is to aid the press in continuing to publish books of great merit. - Declan O’Driscoll in The Irish Times
As Mudzingwa himself describes it in The Africa Report, Avenues by Train follows the journey of a protagonist named Jedza. To him the train is the corridor of migration, kinship and also, the vessel of his anguish. These national and personal encounters are layered in a polyphonic narrative. What happens to the land and its people over centuries overlaps and loops endlessly in melodies both joyous and melancholic.
Farai Mudzingwa writes fiction, longform journalism and tv/film script. His short fiction has been published by Weaver Press, Kwani?, Writivism, Short Story Day Africa: ID and Mbonga Press.
While his longform articles and reporting have been featured in Chimurenga Chronic, The Mail & Guardian, The New Humanitarian, New Frame, Africa Is A Country, ContemporaryAnd, This Is Africa, TRT World, Harare News, Cityscapes Magazine and The Africa Report.
He has been listed for the Short Story Day Africa (2019), Yvonne Vera Award (2013) and Writivism (2016) short story competitions. In 2019 he was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship.
In 2022 he published the short story Green Shadows in the Kiya Kiya Republic, and his debut novel Avenues by Train was published by Cassava Republic Press in 2023.
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