Umuzi

James Kilgore, author of We are All Zimbabweans Now, recently presented a paper at the University of Illinois’ Centre for African Studies, at which he is a research scholar. Kilgore discussed the background to We are All Zimbabweans Now, including his former hopes for racial reconciliation under Mugabe:

Good afternoon. I’d like to thank the Center for African Studies for inviting me here this afternoon and particularly Merle Bowen for organising this session. This is the first time that I’ve spoken publicly to a group about my book and I’m quite excited about it. I’ll try to keep my excitement in check. I had in mind to do three things. First, I’d like to talk a little bit about the background of the writing of the book. It’s somewhat unusual as I wrote it during my period of incarceration from 2002 to 2009. Second, I assume most people haven’t read the book, so I thought I would give a brief plot summary of the novel. Third, I wanted to discuss what the novel means, what it is I actually wanted to say in this story which I’ve titled ’We Are All Zimbabweans Now’.

There are three forces that drove me to write this book. The first one was a simple factor of the lack of activity options when you’re incarcerated. Since I’m not a big fan of the major social activities in prison – dominoes, weightlifting, card games, and I’m a little bit too old for the daily grind on the basketball court – I needed to find an activity that would keep my mind alive and fill a lot of time. Writing was a good choice.

• Complete article at Pambazuka news

Book details

• We are All Zimbabweans Now by James Kilgore
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781415200711
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Random House Struik and Umuzi are delighted to announce that We Are All Zimbabweans Now by James Kilgore (Umuzi, 2009) has been shortlisted for potential screen adaptation at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The work is one of 10 pre-selected novels chosen by Books at Berlinale, the co-production arm of the festival, taking place this February. Each novel will be pitched to international arthouse producers by the representatives holding the film rights.

We Are All Zimbabweans Now occupies an important place amongst the fictional chronicles of post-independence Zimbabwe. It is an accomplished and compelling novel and deftly analyzes the complex struggles for power in post-independence Africa.

The Berlin International Film Festival is one of the world’s top international film events, where approximately 20,000 filmmakers, industry professionals and film buffs from over 100 countries, come together for 11 days in February. With more than 270,000 tickets sold to the public, the ‘Berlinale’ is the largest audience festival in the world.

“Books at Berlinale” was introduced in 2006 in conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair with the goal of bringing the book and film worlds closer together. The programme also includes an information session for publishers and literary agents into the “film producing and financing world” as well as a case study on a literary adaptation screening.

About the Author

James Kilgore first made news in South Africa when he was arrested in Cape Town in 2002. He had been living under the alias Dr. John Pape and had become a respected academic at the University of Cape Town. US authorities extradited him to California where he served six and a half years in prison for his involvement in political activities in the volatile San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s. He was released on the 10th of May 2009.

Book details

• We are All Zimbabweans Now by James Kilgore
  Book homepage
  EAN: 9781415200711
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Image courtesy Screen Australia.

James Kilgore first made news in South Africa when he was arrested in Cape Town in 2002. He had been living under the alias Dr. John Pape and become a respected academic at the University of Cape Town. U.S. authorities extradited him to California where he served six and a half years in prison. He was released 10 May 2009. (See Remembering James Kilgore in Cape Town.)

Kilgore grew up in California and lived in the volatile San Francisco Bay Area during the late 60s and early 70s. He became immersed in left-wing politics, eventually linking up with the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). His involvement with the SLA led to an indictment for possession of explosives in 1975. Kilgore then fled the law for 27 years, living in Zimbabwe, Australia and South Africa. He abandoned the politics violence, focusing on a career as an educator. He resided in Harare, the site of his novel, We Are All Zimbabweans Now, from 1982-91. There he met his wife, Terri and also wrote a doctoral dissertation on the history of domestic workers in Zimbabwe.

Here’s the first print interview with the author to appear since the book’s release, conducted by the Sunday Times‘ Aubrey Paton:

Q: You were a revolutionary, an academic fugitive, a prisoner and, finally, a published author: did you ever dream you would have such an eventful life?

A: When I was a child, I dreamed of becoming a famous baseball or basketball player. Obviously those dreams didn’t quite pan out. Dream of becoming a writer? Never. If I even had even a faint inkling of a future as a writer, it would have been as a sports journalist.

Q: The main character, Ben Dabney, is naive, politically blinkered and idealistic: how much of your youthful self do you see in him?

A: There’s a certain naiveté in all political activism, a certain naive belief in the ability that your actions can change the world, regardless of the odds. I had that naiveté, still have some of it. But my naiveté was very different to Ben’s. I was an activist, a person of action. He was a scholar, a person of reflection. And I never believed in Mugabe the way Ben did, though I also never dreamed Mugabe could descend to his current depths.

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Umuzi proudly announces the release of We Are All Zimbabweans Now by James Kilgore. Written from a California prison cell by this one-time fugitive author, the book occupies an important place amongst the fictional chronicles of post-independence Zimbabwe.

We are All Zimbabweans Now tells the story of young American historian Ben Dabney who arrives in Harare in 1981, full of admiration for Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe’s policy of reconciliation. His euphoria in this country he calls the “Land of Forgiveness” heightens when he becomes involved with disabled ex-freedom fighter Florence Matshaka who connects him with the emerging black elite.
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Cheescutters and Gymslips, compiled by Robin Malan, is a delightful collection of short pieces about southern African writers’ experiences of boarding school.

“Boarding school” – the words in themselves conjure up various images and emotions: being a “newbie”, initiation, homesickness, living by rules and reacting to bells, hunger between mealtimes, midnight feasts … all the way through to punishment, miserable unhappiness, even running away. Such experiences, and many more, are reflected in this book – which includes a foreword by that master of boarding school adventure-and-folly fiction, John van de Ruit.
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At the Johannesburg launch of Sihle Khumalo’s Dark Continent, My Black Arse the author shared the delights of the travels he embarked upon to celebrate his 30th birthday: he took himself on a three-month Cape-to-Cairo jaunt.

“It had always been a dream to experience Africa for myself,” said Khumalo. “It had also always been a dream to write a book.” He left his fiancée and their 18-month-old child behind and ventured on the fabled and fabulous route, travelling as a backpacker, by public transport only, spending upwards of $50 per day.

“My friends wanted to know if I’d won the lottery. They said it didn’t make sense for me to resign from my job and leave my fiancée and baby behind.”

Most of his trip was, indeed, fabulous. In particular the first half, leading up to Nairobi, where Khumalo experienced quad-biking on ancient Namibian dunes and the thrill of microliting over the Victoria Falls, and encountered the soul-searching that results after visits to historical sites where, for instance, slaves were whipped and traded.
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