From the global literary awards like the Booker Prize lists to the local platforms like the NAMA Awards and Bulawayo Arts Awards, Zimbabwean women have long been celebrated for being at the forefront of telling Zimbabwean stories.
The genre of fiction has been their chosen form, and while the likes of Tsitsi Dangarembga, NoViolet Bulawayo and Petina Gappah have established themselves to the global audience, a new crop of talented women writers has emerged on their coattails, with narratives just as brave and challenging to the status quo. A name that stands out from this group of emerging talents is Samantha Rumbidzai Vazhure.
A poet, a writer, a fine artist and a publisher, Vazhure has fully immersed herself in the creative world. This is especially captured by her most recent novel, Weeping Tomato. A NAMA Award winning novel that was described by This Is Africa as "a stellar contribution to the field of Afro Diaspora Literature whose lasting impact will be felt by future generations."
We caught up with the gifted writer to reflect on her most daring work yet, what drove her to write it and how it felt being honoured with the 2025 NAMA Award for fiction.
Greedysouth: What made you write such a layered novel?
Samantha: I’ve always wanted to create a nonconformist work of art that is both life-affirming and deeply engaging. With Weeping Tomato, I challenged myself to push as far as I could creatively, to see what might emerge from that edge. I wanted to explore the human condition in a manner I’d not done before, to really bring out the polarities present in human relationships… the contrasting principles, tendencies and energies within people that give life a more holistic perspective.
I envisioned it as a kind of Bohemian Rhapsody in novel form: a piece open to multiple interpretations, provocative yet familiar, intrusive but universal. I wanted to craft something that might trigger snap judgements in readers, only for them to recognise themselves in the story a moment later. That tension, that self-recognition, is part of the experience.
Greedysouth: Weeping Tomato brings together poetry and fiction. Was the writing process particularly different from your other works?
Samantha: It was. I usually write realistic fiction and tend to stick to the traditional boundaries, with prose in one lane, poetry in another, each doing their own thing. But Weeping Tomato wanted to be something else entirely. It’s a story that defies genre and breaks literary rules, yet still aims to be thought-provoking and emotionally accessible.
I deliberately blended African futurism, realism, surrealism, prose, poetry, and shifted between first, second and third person narration to create something immersive and unpredictable. Normally, I’m quite disciplined about plausibility, but with this project, I gave myself permission to go a little barking mad. And honestly, that freedom was part of the magic.
Greedysouth: Are there particular personal experiences that were an inspiration for some of the narratives in the novel?
Samantha: Absolutely. I don’t believe an author can ever be fully absent from their work. There’s a piece of me in every character… my quirks, my biases, my habits, things I think but could never say out loud, things I’ve learnt and unlearnt, even my favourite food and drink. Those traces are inevitable. That said, the stories themselves are not autobiographical, but they’re emotionally honest.
Through the characters of Adam and Zoro, who are caught in an illicit affair, I was able to explore some of the ideas closest to my heart: music, literature, art and culture, spirituality, and questions of equality. Their relationship gave me a lens through which to examine desire, shame, beauty and freedom, all within the wider, messy architecture of the world they live in.
The historical and mythological elements within the story are enriched by conversations with my father. For example, the influence of the Lemba’s sacred ngomalungundu on Zorodzai’s mission to construct “ngoma inoti ngundu”. Growing up, my father always narrated the migration of the Lemba from Senna with their ngomalungundu, and I found the story fascinating, especially because, having grown up in Masvingo, I knew the places on their route from Mapungubwe to Great Zimbabwe – Ngomahuru, Ngundu, etc. These historical elements ended up in Weeping Tomato.
Greedysouth: Both the main characters in the novel struggled with alcohol abuse. Was this due to their individual situations, or the end result of the diasporic loneliness many immigrants suffer from?
Samantha: It’s widely understood that people often drink to escape reality… to dull pain, to cope, to feel something different. In Weeping Tomato, the alcohol abuse arises from a tangle of personal and systemic issues. Loneliness, disconnection, a lack of belonging, loveless relationships – all of which can be traced back, in part, to the emotional toll of diaspora and displacement.
But trauma plays a role too. Both Adam and Zoro carry the weight of difficult, sometimes fractured upbringings, and that kind of emotional residue doesn’t just vanish. There’s also the possibility of genetic and psychological factors. I didn’t want to present a singular cause, but rather reflect how complex and deeply layered addiction can be, especially when shaped by cultural silence and personal shame.
But also, Zorodzai needed to “die” before her body could fulfil Mwari’s instructions, and alcohol was the way she chose to go. Adam was simply a conduit to propel her sacred calling. So it depends on the perspective you want to take: psychological, environmental, or spiritual. And the answer to that is found within you.
Greedysouth: The futuristic opening of the book speaks about Mhondoro-inspired robots. In light of that, do you think indigenous religious systems will ever find common ground with science?
Samantha: Indigenous knowledge systems (chivanhu) are often misunderstood as purely religious, but they’re not. They’re a sophisticated blend of science, philosophy, spirituality and ecological observation, grounded in generations of lived experience – minus capitalism. So rather than needing to “find common ground” with science, they are science, just expressed through different lenses.
I believe it’s possible and necessary, for technology to advance in ways that honour and integrate indigenous systems. That means moving beyond Western frameworks of innovation and recognising the intelligence embedded in ancestral knowledge. For example, certain proven alternative health treatments could be used in modern medicine. We just need the confidence and humility to look to the past without shame, and to imagine futures where our cultural wisdom isn’t left behind, but reimagined in dialogue with modern tools.
Greedysouth: After beginning with the future, the book comes full circle near the end, with ancient spirits wanting to save the land from a continued colonisation of both our values and resources. How important is it for African writers to tell stories that touch on our past as a continent?
Samantha: We can’t truly know where we’re going if we don’t understand where we come from. That’s why it was essential for colonisers to demonise our cultures – to make us ashamed of ourselves, to erase or distort our histories, until we forgot who we were. It was a strategic disconnection.
As African writers, reclaiming and reimagining the past isn’t just about nostalgia; it’s an act of resistance and restoration. By telling our stories in a positive, complex and empowered light, we give ourselves and future generations the language to face what lies ahead. Our traditions, our ancestors, our ways of knowing… they’re not relics. They’re blueprints.
Greedysouth: How did it feel winning a NAMA Award for the novel?
Samantha: It was as surreal as the novel itself! I travelled to the awards full of hope, but when I showed up at the ceremony, a voice in my head crept up to try and manage my expectations (“only one person can win per category and it’s okay if that person is not you… you’re already a winner for being nominated…”), but then my name was called out! Being recognised as an artist of note by my own people, and having my work validated as outstanding in my own country, will always be the greatest honour.
Greedysouth: What’s the one thing you hope readers take away from this novel?
Samantha: Ultimately, the things we search for in other people (or things) are right there within ourselves.
I read Elif Shafak’s novel The Forty Rules of Love while I was writing Weeping Tomato, and I felt this quote from her book summed up my message beautifully, so I made it the epigraph for Weeping Tomato:
The whole universe is contained within a single human being – you. Everything that you see around, including the things you might not be fond of and even the people you despise or abhor, is present within you in varying degrees. Therefore, do not look for Sheitan outside yourself either.
The devil is not an extraordinary force that attacks from without. It is an ordinary voice within. If you get to know yourself fully, facing with honesty and hardness both your dark and bright sides, you will arrive at a supreme form of consciousness. When a person knows himself or herself, he or she knows God.
Weeping Tomato is available for purchase from all the major book selling platforms and locally from Book Fantastics.
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