Makanaka Mavengere featured at Afrolit Sans Frontières Season 5 from Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday, August 3, 2020. She was hosted by Zukiswa Wanner.
Afrolit Sans Frontières, a virtual literary festival for writers of African origin, was founded by author and publisher Zukiswa Wanner as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic international lockdowns. The festival format is two sessions a day on Instagram Live with an artist moderated by a host who also fields questions from audience members. There have been four editions; Season 1 from March 23-30; Season 2 from April 20-27; Season 3 from May 25 – June 1; and Season 4 from June 29-July 6.
Season 5 kicked off on July 27 and festival goers have so far interacted with Lerato Mogoatlhe in Johannesburg, South Africa, Joe Khamisi in Texas, USA, Frances Mensah Williams in London, UK, Conceição Evaristo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Kayo Chingonyi in Leeds, UK, L.L. McKinney in Kansas City, USA, Gauz in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, Fiston Mwanza Mujila in Graz, Austria, Ondjaki in Luanda, Angola, Rodrigo França in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ashley Hickson-Lovence in London, UK, and Helon Habila in Centreville, VA, USA.
The first writer for the final day of Season 5, the last for 2020, was Zimbabwe-born Johannesburg-based Makanaka Mavengere. The novelist, playwright and screen writer is the author of the debut novel Perfect Imperfections (2019, Black Bird Books). She wrote a play Maid in The Mirror which was produced and stage read at the Almasi Collaborative Conference in Harare Zimbabwe in January 2020. She has also been working as a freelance scriptwriter with her latest work being for a feature film Loving Thokoza available on Showmax.
Over the hour, the accountant-turned-artist-extraordinaire discussed her journey as a writer, her opinion as an exile to the fluid situation in Zimbabwe, the science of couples locked during coitus and loads more. Watch the Zimbabwean and her host Zukiswa Wanner chatting in the below video.
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