Exiled Zimbabwean writer Chenjerai Hove explains why he thinks Africa's reading habits are in decline. A critic of the Mugabe government, he currently lives in Norway, and his published work includes poetry, novels, essays and reflections. I signed books until I developed blisters on my fingers once at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. But that was not only my experience. Other writers and poets such as Yvonne Vera, Chirikure Chirikure, Charles Mungoshi and Shimmer Chinodya (Ben Chirasha) were also busy signing dozens of books. It was in the early 1990s and the public, thirsting for new books, had flooded the National Gallery Gardens to meet the writers and see the books. Not so today.

Unaffordable: A few years ago, I was busy signing autographs on newspapers and pieces of paper. No-one could afford the books anymore. African governments have not put in place well-planned book development policies. Books are subject to the same sales and duty taxes as other commodities. Materials for producing books, like inks, newsprint, printing plates, and the essential technology, are all taxed on the same rate as bolts and spare parts for cars.

Free: During colonial days when I was a teacher, books used to have an especially low postal rate, almost free. So students could order books from the National Free Library in the country's second city of Bulawayo. But now books have the same postal rates as any other article in the mail. As a result, only those who are within walking distance of the National Free Library can go to borrow a book.

WOMEN AUTHORS AND BOOKS TO REMEMBER

Marsha Hunt: The Sixties star talks about her book

Best remembered for her role in the first rock musical Hair with its notorious nude scene, the iconic Sixties star Marsha Hunt writes about her struggles with cancer in her book Undefeated in which she records her recent battle with breast cancer. Undefeated by Marsha Hunt, published by Mainstream Publishing - ISBN:1845960785. Quite challenging in its nature, the books appeals to both sexes. It is dramatic and fun too.

Pamela Stevenson: Sails the South Seas in search of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson

Pamela Stephenson gave up her job as a psychologist and - having analysed her husband, the comedian Billy Connolly - left him and two of their daughters behind, as she followed in the intrepid footsteps of Fanny Stevenson, maverick wife of the writer, Robert Louis Stevenson. Pamela  talks about her journey in a sailing boat around the South Seas, meeting her dream lover - and how Billy reacted to her trip.   Treasure Islands: Sailing The South Seas in the wake of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson by Pamela Stephenson, Headline Books, ISBN: 0 7553 1285 6. The book is as exciting as the personality of the  author. Get a copy. 

 

M. L. MALCOLM'S "SILENT LIES"

This is the story of a Hungarian boy born into poverty, who uses his amazing ability with languages to build a brilliant new life for himself. But when Hungary collapses after its defeat in World War I, Leo loses everything. Caught up in a riptide of events beyond his control, he reinvents himself as circumstances demand, eventually fleeing to Shangha. He takes with him a stolen diamond necklace that will prove to be his salvation—or his death warrant. Based on actual historical events, from the Communist takeover of Budapest in 1920 to the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937, Silent Lies brims with fascinating details about life among the rich and scandalous during the period between the two World Wars. Malcolm excelled in depicting the authentic aura and ambiance of the era. Her characters are captivating, even though, her hero is not exactly a saint or a martyr. This is a mesmerizing story told in the genre of a Robert Louis Stevenson who has just swallowed a double cognac with Victor Hugo. Malcom's mastery of lyrical suspense is evident. The story encompasses all aspects of life, its ups and downs, hopes and despair, adventures and rendez vous with fatality. A must buy book. It will haunt you for years to come. Hardcover:  6 x 9, 336 pages. Publisher: Longstreet Press (USA) (November 2005) ISBN: 1563527502.

Alice Walker: Do older women want their own romantic fiction?

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, talks about her life and work. The latest literary phenomenon is 'Matron Lit': romantic fiction aimed at the older woman. Do older women want to see the reality of their lives reflected in romantic fiction or do they prefer their fantasy figures in pert good health, and without the family responsibilities and emotional baggage that maturity often brings? Alice Walker burst onto the literary stage in 1983 when she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Colour Purple. The book went on to sell more than 5 million copies, and in 1985 was made into a film by Steven Spielberg -  bringing the experiences of a young black woman in the American South to a mass audience for the first time. In 1992, her novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, raised awareness on the issue of female genital mutilation. She's been a controversial campaigner for black and women's rights - coining the term 'womanist' to describe African American women's experience of feminism. Now, at the age of 61, she's the author of 27 books - of poetry, novels, short stories and memoirs.  Now Is The Time To Open Your Heart by Alice Walker, published by Phoenix, ISBN:0753819570, is an outstanding literary achievement.

Ilil Arbel's The Lemon Tree: A masterpiece. Best Short Novel of the Year.

As soon as you begin to read Ilil Arbel's masterpiece, "The Lemon Tree", you start to feel the presence of a superb writer who has unveiled the intimate secrets of conversing with the depth of the soul and the warmth of a parallel world of beauty and love  which dissipated in joyfully morose and cherished memories. Arbel's tender, heart felt and nostalgic style echoes the drama of Tolstoy and charming eloquence of Victor Hugo. The past is romantic, but no one wants to live it again. In Arbel's book, the past continues on a different path. It is a joyful one, a hopeful road of life, despite the hard time, the suffering, the constant threat of typhoid fever and horrible deceases without cure,  facing arrest at Port Said, the fear of being shot by Manchurian officials for smuggling "a few necessities of life", and desperately chasing runway trains, her parents went through, suffered from and barely made it to the promised land. Arbel wrote about all these unpleasant and  horrifying events her parents experienced and suffered from. However, the sweetness and lyrical warmth of her style, the way she described how Marusia, Ilil family's nanny was concerned about Ida,  (Ilil's mother)  frozen nose, because Siberia's icy weather, where Ilil's parent previously lived, had no mercy on humans, and how papa used to rub her frozen nose with snow and goose fat, while hugging her.

Photo: Dr. Ilil Arbel, the author of "THE LEMON TREE". Truly, this woman is one of the greatest writers of our time.

You will be touched by the simplistic, yet majestically eloquent and descriptive style of Arbel which brought back the memories of taking trips to the woods to collect bluebells and wild berries, skating on the Siberian ice,  building huge snowmen with coal eyes, traveling in troikas,  pushing their "child-size sleds",  running madly with exuberant joy and innocence, jumping to lie on them and " traveling for unbelievable distances on the uninterrupted sheets of ice, feeling as if they were flying."

Yes, it is true, you will be reading about an ordinary and loving Siberian family who lost their child and promised to keep his soul alive through an ordinary lemon tree, should they succeed to plant it in an orchard in Israel. I would give my life for a lemon tree, for a cactus tree, even for the hell tree, if that tree would keep alive the soul, the fragile whispers, the bleeding memory, the loving face of a child I lost and loved so much! This tree is not a plant. In Arbel's book, as well as on the roads of life, Sasha's tree becomes a citadel, a temple, a cathedral, a shrine, a human chronicle, perhaps a human drama, and perhaps too, a guiding light...a strong shoulder...and the reflection of myriads of hope, perhaps?

Photo: Ida Rosenfeld, co-author of THE LEMON TREE and Ilil's mother in her thirties in Israel.

Thanks to the magnificent artistry of Ilil Arbel, the whispers of Ida, the jokes and stories of Papa, the silly but tasty cakes of Mama,  we learned that the very simple day by day experience of ordinary but "real" people, the songs they sang, the stories they heard and told, the family bond that ties together, mother, father, grand mother, children and grandchildren, naive but funny jokes are more significant, meaningful , tender and mightier than all the swords of the Iliad and Herculean exploits. Get a copy of the book. Get more copies, if you have real friends. "THE LEMON TREE" is a masterpiece. One of the 10 best books of the year. A triumph of the pen and the human spirit. Two thumbs up.

THE LEMON TREE: Publication date: February 2005. Price: $11.95. Size: 6x9. ISBN: 0-595-33982-4. Pages: 104. Illustrated. Available from Ingram Book Group, Baker & Taylor, iUniverse, Inc., Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.

Kate Adie On her new book

In an era obsessed by family history, how do people without any cope? Kate Adie was adopted as a baby and has written a new book about foundlings, children who are abandoned to the state by their mothers, often with next to nothing to connect them to their roots.  Kate  talks about Nobody's Child and how the lack of information about where the foundlings have come from affects them as they grow up. Nobody's Child by Kate Adie, published by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd -ISBN: 0340838000
 

Adriana Trigiani: Author and director

Adriana Trigiani is author of the bestselling Big Stone Gap books, a series of quirky tales set in a coal-mining town in southwest Virginia. In her latest book 'Rococo', she tells the story of a small Italian-American town poised for a makeover  never expected. The book is colorful, informative and entertaining.  Rococo by Adriana Trigiani, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0743263677.

Lynn Knight

Author Lynn Knight tells us about the woman who started out as a factory girl then became one of Britain's most distinctive designers.
Her brightly coloured designs are instantly recognisable and it's this that makes Clarice Cliff one of the most influential ceramic designers of the last hundred years. She was a woman who rose from being an apprentice gilder in the potteries to a position as an art director, described by the press as a "brilliant girl artist." The striking range which she designed, decorated with "a gargantuan feast of colour", is now seen as the epitome of Art Deco and avidly collected. The modern spirit of her work captured the essence of the 1920s, a time when women were embracing new freedoms.  Lynn Knight whose biography of Clarice Cliff tells the story of a woman who started out as a factory girl and became one of Britain's most distinctive designers. I found the book to be extremely entertaining and authoritative as well. Wealth of captivating stories and passages of time. Highly recommended. Clarice Cliff by Lynn Knight, published by Bloomsbury - ISBN: 0747578281

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Booker nominated author on her new novel

Rachel Cusk's new novel 'In The Fold' has been nominated for this year's Booker prize. Described as a classic story of modern manners, the book takes a blackly comic look at the modern English family as it follows the story of Michael and Rebecca's crumbling marriage and their attempts to rekindle old friendships.