Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo by Laura

Glory Resources / November 12

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:16:32 UTC

To view as slideshow, click here, then use arrows in upper right corner. To view a post full screen, use 3-dot menu (upper right): "open post in new tab." You can leave comments in the box below each post. Include your name, or be anonymous. Questions? Suggestions? Email me: laurakgibbs@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: WE ARE MEETING IN THE COLORADO ROOM AFTER ALL!!!

Open a Book, Read Africa

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:31:13 UTC

A video from 10 years ago, when Bulawayo won the Caine Prize for African Writing: Open a Book, Read Africa.

Names, Language, Distance

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:32:34 UTC

An older video (2014): NoViolet Bulawayo on names, the limitations of language, writing from a distance.

Nikki Amuka-Bird reading 2

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:34:01 UTC

The story so far: As the Father of the Nation addresses a huge crowd in Jidada Square, a group of protestors rise up to call for the return of their country’s ‘disappeared’ ... reading.

Nikki Amuka-Bird reading 1

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:35:22 UTC

The story so far: In the bountiful land of Jidada, the animals lived quite happily. Then the colonisers arrived. A bloody War of Liberation brought new hope for the animals - along with a new leader: a charismatic horse. Years later, the now-aged horse, the Father of the Nation, addresses the masses… reading.

AP news (first Booker, 2013)

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:37:01 UTC

A short AP news video from 2013: Author NoViolet Bulawayo talks about being the first ever Zimbawean to be shortlisted for the Booker.

Booker Prize video

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:38:59 UTC

This is the video I had shared in the earlier webpage with information about the book choices for November: NoViolet Bulawayo answers readers' questions about 'Glory' .
She shared this inspiring quote from Toni Morrison: "There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language." Read that Morrison quote in context at The Nation.

Convo with Megha Majumdar

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:40:51 UTC

A conversation with Indian novelist Megha Majumdar: A Virtual Evening with NoViolet Bulawayo and Megha Majumdar

Another Booker Prize video

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:42:02 UTC

Also from the Booker Prize site: NoViolet Bulawayo on how she kept charactised balanced on Glory. Here Bulawayo talks about balancing the humor of parody with the deep emotional tragedy of Destiny's story.

Podcast

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:43:28 UTC

Podcast interview as part of Kobo in Conversation.

We Need New Names reading

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:44:56 UTC

2014 video with NoViolet Bulawayo reading from her first novel, We Need New Names.

Convo with Novuyo Tshuma

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:48:32 UTC

Interview with Zimbabwean writer Novuyo Tshuma; it's a Greenlight Bookstore virtual author event. Things really get started around the 6-minute mark.

We Need New Names: Booker

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:50:13 UTC

Bulawayo's first novel was also listed for the Booker Prize: We Need New Names.

Reading with Mukoma Wa Ngugi

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:52:20 UTC

NoViolet Bulawayo and Mukoma Wa Ngugi reading at Cornell University in 2014 where Bulawayo did her MFA.

SaharaTV

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:53:54 UTC

Another older interview (from 2012) on SaharaTV talking about about the abuse of women in Zimbabwe, the regime of President Robert Mugabe and the power of the written word to inspire democratic change in society.

5 Under 35

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:55:26 UTC

A National Book Foundation interview: NoViolet Bulawayo Interviewed at 2013 5Under35.

Chipo Chung (audiobook)

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 15:58:27 UTC

If you listened to the audiobook, the narration was by the Zimbabwean actress Chipo Chung (link to Wikipedia article). You can listen to a sample at Audible (it is one of the best book narrations I have ever heard... and I listen to a LOT of audiobooks!).

Bulawayo at Wikipedia

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:00:18 UTC

Here is the Wikipedia article, which has a note about how she chose her pen name in honor of her mother. She is currently a professor at Cornell University.

Robert Mugabe

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:00:54 UTC

A detailed article at Wikipedia. See also the article about Grace ("Disgrace") Mugabe, his wife, and about his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is still the president of Zimbabwe.

The protest song "Into Oyenzayo Siyayizonda" figures in this 2017 Guardian article: Four charged for heckling Grace Mugabe at rally in Zimbabwe.

You can also read about Joshua Nkomo, the Ndebele "Father of Zimbabwe" who fled the country during the Gukurahundi but later returned.

About Zimbabwe

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:02:08 UTC

You can learn about Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) at Wikipedia.

About Matabeleland

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:03:43 UTC

Bulawayo, the city, is in Matabeleland, and NoViolet Bulawayo is Ndebele, not Shona, who are a majority of the Zimbabwean population. You can read more about the Ndebele and Shona peoples at Wikipedia.

Gukurahundi genocide

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:05:21 UTC

The Gukurahundi genocide (Wikipedia link) in Matabeleland, which took place during Mugabe's rule in the 1980s, is a crucial event in Glory. The monument shown above was erected in 2021; the government has repeatedly destroyed monuments like this erected to honor the memory of those killed in the genocide as well as the women and girls who were raped; image source.

For more, see this article: Politics and Memory: The Case of the Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe, in the "Against Genocide" issue of The Funambulist online.

You can read more about the song "Mai VaDhikondo" associated with the Gukurahundi here: Outrage over Gukurahundi song.

Folktales from Matabeleland

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:17:32 UTC

Novelist Alexander McCall Smith was born in Matabeleland and later returned there to collect traditional folktales, which he published in this book: Children of Wax. (You can read it online at the Internet Archive with a free account.) The stories are also included in a follow-up book, The Girl Who Married a Lion, which contains an additional selection of stories from Botswana (Botswana is the setting for McCall Smith's highly popular series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency).

TED-Ed video about Great Zimbabwe

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:21:26 UTC

Who built Great Zimbabwe? And why? - Breeanna Elliott. (This is the origin of the name of the nation, Zimbabwe.)

The Forgotten Children

laurakgibbs — 2023-10-16 16:25:41 UTC

Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children: A Struggle for Survival | Real Stories documentary, a BAFTA-award-winning film. You can find out more at the Educate Zimbabwe's Children website.

Mbuya Nehanda

laurakgibbs — 2023-11-12 15:50:45 UTC

You can read about Mbuya Nehanda ("Grandmother Nehanda") at Wikipedia, and also an article about the Chimurenga uprisings of the 1890s. There is also an article about Queen Lozikeyi of the Ndbele.

The term "Chimurenga" is also associated wtih the 1960s-1970s War of Liberation, called the "Second Chimurenga." The term is also associated with the "Chimurenga music" of Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo.

If you log on through the Austin Public Library, you can access this helpful JSTOR article about the uprisings in colonial Rhodesia: "War and land in Rhodesia" by Robin H. Palmer.

The photo of the statue above is from an article in the Smithsonian magazine: Spiritual Medium Mbuya Nehanda Defied Colonialists in 19th-Century Zimbabwe.