INTERVIEW: Zim author Farai Mudzingwa – writing a book is both solitary and collaborative

By The Republic

Zimbabwean author, Farai Mudzingwa’s debut novel, Avenues by Train, was inspired by his interest to correct the false dichotomy between modernity and African cultural expression that exists in colonial texts: ‘I wanted to explore how cultures with disrupted spirituality and culture reconcile with modernity. There is a historical context to who we are at present as a people which is erased but necessary for our grounding today.’

First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.

Our questions are italicized.

What books or kinds of books did you read growing up? 

Growing up, I read mostly children’s adventure series such as Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. Then I discovered Richmal Crompton’s Just William and was on that series for a while. I also read comics as well, these include Whizzer & Chips, DC comics, Marvel, Archie and MAD Magazine. I also read the mandatory educational books but was never really into them.  

If your life so far was a series of texts, which text (fiction or non-fiction) represents you at this moment? 

When Three Sevens Clash, a collection of essays edited and published by Percy Zvomuya. This book reflects the contemplative phase I’m in at the moment. 

What’s the last thing you read that changed your mind about something?  

The chapter on ‘Sugar’ in Henry Hobhouses’s Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankindput me off sugar. I have not taken sugar or had anything with added sugar in it since I read that chapter. The book details how harmful sugar is for the human body and its key role in driving colonialism and chattel slavery. 

What is your writing process: edit as you write or draft first, then edit?   

Never-ending cycles of researching, drafting and revising.  

I don’t think there was a specific process for writing Avenues by Train—just a masochistic amount of researching, writing and rewriting. 

What was your process for writing your debut novel, Avenues by Train? 

I don’t think there was a specific process for writing Avenues by Train—just a masochistic amount of researching, writing and rewriting. I wrote a first draft, then, over the next five years, I sought and received feedback from numerous readers and editors, rewrote the manuscript countless times, until Cassava Republic Press accepted the manuscript and then I went through a year of final editing and rewriting with their editor. This final novel bears little, if any, resemblance to the first draft from seven years ago.   

What’s the inspiration behind your novel? 

The main inspiration is my interest in the ‘lost’ ways of our people. The ancestral spirituality, creative expression, social practices and epistemologies that were sidelined and at times outlawed by the colonizers. I wanted to explore how cultures with disrupted spirituality and culture reconcile with modernity. There is a historical context to who we are at present as a people which is erased but necessary for our grounding today. 

Which chapter of Avenues by Train was the trickiest or most challenging to write? 

They were all tough and for varying reasons. Overall, for what it means to the book as a cohesive whole, I think the final chapter was the most demanding. My main concern was to not have it feel like a rushed closing, as many novels tend to do. It carried so much responsibility in balancing out the swinging weight of the opening chapters, the gravity of later chapters, and in giving satisfactory resolution to every theme, subtext, character arc and the questions posed in the novel. 

What’s something simple but surprising about writing and publishing a book? 

Writing a book is both a solitary and collaborative effort at the same time. 

Avenues by Train is a coming-of-age set in newly independent Zimbabwe. What books would you say are in conversation with your novel?  

Stanley Nyamfukudza’s The Non-believer’s Journey—I see a camaraderie of sorts in the protagonists’ journeys. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment—the futility, desperation, mental out-of-sorts of the characters; but also the dire circumstances and stale state bureaucracy that just hangs in the air. I also see this novel as the fictional companion to Mhoze Chikowero’s African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe—both texts standing up to the false dichotomy between modernity and African cultural expression, that colonial, anthropological and ethnomusicological texts tend to push. 

I wanted to explore how cultures with disrupted spirituality and culture reconcile it with modernity. There is a historical context to who we are at present as a people which is erased but necessary for our grounding today. 

What’s the most interesting reaction/feedback you’ve had about Avenues by Train? 

Kofoworola, a reviewer on Goodreads and Instagram, had this to say in response to the footnotes that run throughout the novel: ‘These notes were my favourite part of Avenues by Train. They reminded me that no government or people have the monopoly on mediocrity and rubbish audacity. They made me laugh; they made me sad. They are a very important part of the story.’ 

What is the most meaningful piece of writing advice you’ve ever received? 

It has to do with the production of a first draft. I heard American novelist, Walter Mosley, talkabout how writing is a consistent practice of regularly (daily, perhaps) entering a state (almost subconscious) in which you access what you previously wrote, write for that session, then stop before you are dry. That’s it. And then you do this for months on end. It’s work. Creative work. 

Who are the young Zimbabwean writers you’re most excited about today?  

Tariro Ndoro has an interesting range—poetry, short fiction and nonfiction. I would love to see her extend some of her short work or write full-length novels.  

If you could switch lives with any fictional character for a day, who would it be and why? 

William from Just William. As an adult, it is important to have had a safe and adventurous childhood. 

I see Avenues by Train as the fictional companion to MhozeChikowero’s African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe—both texts standing up to the false dichotomy between modernity and African cultural expression. 

What are you currently working on? 

A memoir on my father’s political work in the first ten years of Zimbabwe’s independence. 

Question from Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ: How are you taking care of yourself in the lead up to publication/post-publication? 

Eating well. Exercise. Daily naps. Calls with my people. Introspection/Meditation.