Books published by Mwanaka Media and Publishing

The first thing you will meet in this collection is experimentation and innovativeness in the writing. Poets should be scientists by experimenting with forms, styles, with subject matter too, they should continuously try to find new ways of writing, to problematicise what we have always taken for granted. The second issue is how we understand and critically dissect that point where art criticism and actual art can meet in the poetic form. The third issue is how irreverently the poet treates issues to do with the meaning of words, what words are, how he creates new words, what numbers are, the state of voice, language, thoughts, dreams, perspectives, life, race, death, dreams, spirituality, love etc… The fourth issue is the storytelling tradition that is strong in this collection; the poet is saying poets are also storytellers, who tell a story in condensed form with depth of thought and feeling. The fifth important aspect is defiance. The poet refuses to settle on anything, to accept anything, he is a literary rebel with language, no subject is taboo. A Portrait of Defiance defiantly looks at the world before voice and the world after voice, and the worlds in between. What will human beings be without voice? Even nothingness has a voice!

"When I vision through the seas of oppression and the grinding poverty I write not out anger but righteous indignation." Jabulani Mzinyathi was born of isiNdebele and ChiShona speaking parents in the Midlands Province of the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He has published pieces in various journals and anthologies over the years and his maiden collection of poetry Under The Steel Yoke, was published in 2018.

When Escape Becomes the only Lover is a continuation and crystallization of issues dealt with in A Portrait of Defiance. The poet deals with a broad subject matter, love in all its forms, spirituality; this spirituality is individual it is the artist's spiritual world. He deals with dreams, voice, word, numbers, poet's vocation, wars, language, etc… He is the prophet of his dreams, his world, his future… There is strong experimentation and innovativeness in the writing, in the text, in form, in style, in content matter, the writer is a discoverer, every horizon is a life horizon. There is the dissecting of that space where art criticism meets art mimesis, and this space is offered as the future of art criticism. The storyteller refuses to die thus the collection proffers escape as the ultimate lover who can help us deal with the insanities of our time.

Writing Grandmothers, Africa Vs Latin America Vol 2 is a continuation of the cross-continental anthologies series, particularly focussing on African and Latin American writers. It continues on from where Experimental Writing, Africa Vs Latin America, Vol 1. The anthology has 6 nonfiction pieces, 10 fiction pieces, and 67 poems and translations of poems in the two dominant languages of the two continents, English and Spanish. There is work from poets and writers from Honduras, Mexico, USA, UK, Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile Puerto Rico, Spain, Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, and Ghana all collaborating on the theme of using the folktale or oral African story telling traditions and finding solutions to problems bedeviling the two continents, which were felt as a result of colonialism and or post colonialism.

Drawing Without Licence is a collection of Zimbabwean artist, Tendai Rinos Mwanaka's first 51 drawings and interpretations of his them. Most of the drawings have been published in literary and art journals over the years worldwide and this book will serve as an open ended public exhibition platform for these drawings. The collection contains pieces which deal with the supernatural world, spirituality, philosophy, memory, relationships, love…, and acts as the search for sanctuary and forgiveness for our past failures and fears; and to help us understand our reality and humanity.

Smeetha Bhoumik is an artist celebrating her deep engagement with poetry. Her main theme of work is the Universe Series, exploring the mystery, oneness and unifying energies of the universe in oils and new media, shown in national and international exhibitions.

Vote rigging, voter apathy, intimidations, biased reporting, hubristic political leaders, political gerrymandering, a confused world, and a tired and timid electorate: add to this the decay or death of every governance system or structure in Zimbabwe alongside an economy that is all but dead. These are the issues addressed in this poetry collection Mad Bob Republic. Is there an end to Zimbabwe's problems? The poet contributes to ongoing discourses on the country.

Africa, UK, and Ireland: Writing Politics and Knowledge Production comprises 6 scholarly/nonfiction essays, 7 short stories, 67 poems, and 2 plays from writers and poets based in the UK, Africa and Ireland the diasporas. It focuses on politics and knowledge production acting as a vehicle in which the production of new knowledge between these three regions/countries intersects in the literary sphere. It dissects the scientific methods of producing knowledge through the act of producing new knowledge, it looks at the management of knowledge, the processing and sharing of knowledge, and dissects, artistically and critically. It further stresses the importance of the ownership of knowledge and how this knowledge shapes politics. The collection contains work from up-and-coming poets and writers, alongside established ones, also included are pieces from academic scholars, essayists, poets, writers of fiction, playwrights. Africa, UK, and Ireland: Writing Politics and Knowledge Production will prove useful to literary and language theorists, poetry collections, political sciences, social sciences and human sciences, general academia and readers, education departments and students.

Africanization and Americanization Anthology, Volume 1: Searching for Inter-racial, Interstitial, Inter-sectional, and Interstates meeting spaces, Africa Vs North America, comprises of 107 pieces from 43 poets, 4 essayists, 6 storytellers, and 1 playwright from North America and Africa regions: professors, leading theorists and researchers. The contributors are: Barbara Foley, Barbara Howard, Biko Agozino, poets; A.D Winans, Tim Hall, C Liegh McInnis, Nat Turner, Allan Kolski Horwitz, Changming Yuan, Tiel Aisha Ansari, Diane Raptosh, Wanjohi wa Makokha, storytellers; Paris Smith, Sheree Renée Thomas, and journalists; Kenneth Weene and several other essayists, street poets, academicians, musicians, visual artists... This collection is vibrant, discursive, penetrating, and is invaluable to literary and language experts, poetry collections, social and human scientists, political theorists, race theorists, development practioners, students, general readers and many others.

"In poet and artist Elena Botts' new poetry collection: epochs of morning light, we see a shimmering, variegated new voice; we hear: "where the trees still talk to each other, and winter feels like a song..." (from When I have died we will be here). We feel the weather of her emotions; a contract with the ethereal and the visceral, as when we stand within the short but large poem: blossoms back to under the earth: "I felt your ghost move through me out past the Baltic as though you had been in my heart the whole time." In this sensual canvas, beauty never suffers from loneliness, nor the sublime. Each poem herein as Botts wanders memory and weaves tapestries of word worlds, reveals a true and original voice in modern poetry: allowing light to conquer darkness; darkness to defy the estate of the sun, and colors mixed in ways only an artist of the pen could fathom…" - Robert Milby, Hudson Valley New York poet, Poet Laureate, Orange County, NY 2017-2019

Clashes between vendors and authorities have become a common feature of Zimbabwe society. Though vending brings some undesirable effects such as chaotic and disorderly business practices it is noted that vending has a particular role to play in times of high unemployment. The relationship between vendors and the local authorities is reminiscent of a "cat and mouse affair"; high costs are incurred in carrying out the fights, property at times is destroyed, there are injuries and in some rare cases fatalities and arrests are made. This book offers practical solutions and way in which vending can be organised, systematic and much to the economic benefit of society. With cases examined from all over the word, entrepreneurs, the policy maker, the civic society and students will find this book useful. Its contribution adds much value towards formulating sustainable methods in transforming Zimbabwe's economy and society .