According to media reports, award-winning Zimbabwean writer, poet and essayist Chenjerai Hove has died in Norway at the age of 59.
I always tell people that if they want to know about the history of a country, do not go to the history books, go to the fiction. Fiction is not fiction. It is the substance and heartbeat of a people’s life, here, now, and in the past.
Hove was born on February 9, 1956, in Mazvihwa near Zvishavane, and attended Kutama Mission and Marist Brothers Dete schools before studying at the University of South Africa and the University of Zimbabwe.
Hove was an outspoken critic of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, and left his home country in 2001 under self-imposed exile.
His death on Sunday has been attributed to liver failure.
Mr Hove’s wife and sister were with him when he died – the first time they had been together since 2001.
He had been taken ill three weeks ago and slowly deteriorated but he remained “bright and clear until the end”, said friend and colleague Helge Lunde, the executive director of International Cities of Refuge Network.
Mr Hove was a “great writer, novelist, poet and playwright”, Mr Lunde said, “but first and foremost he was a freedom fighter, fighting for human rights in his country”.
- Read: Chenjerai Hove: Exiles Won’t Return Until Zimbabwe is Released from Grip of Fear
- From 2010: Interview: Chenjerai Hove Finds Refuge in Miami
- University of Zimbabwe Graduate Chenjerai Hove Shames His Alma Mater for Awarding Grace Mugabe a Doctorate Degree
Book details
- Shebeen Tales: Messages from Harare by Chenjerai Hove
EAN: 9781897959329
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- Bones by Chenjerai Hove
EAN: 9780908311033
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- Palaver Finish by Chenjerai Hove
EAN: 9781779220011
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Image courtesy of Pravda