In this latest offering by critically acclaimed novelist, Tsitsi Dangarembga, she flips the page and goes nonfiction. Black and Female is a powerful novella consisting of three essays which gives us greater insight into the author and her journey as a writer and filmmaker. In writing ‘Black and Female,’ Dangarembga allows herself the space to be vulnerable. We first meet her as a bewildered girl who suffers from separation anxiety as a fostered child while living in the UK. I first learned of this practice in a memoir titled “Coconut” by Florence Olajide. It was prevalent in the 1960s when African students went to study in the UK. Dangarembga grows into a tormented teenager struggling with self-harm as she tries to navigate and find her place in a lily-white world. Then returning “home” and trying to assimilate into the world as a Black female, trying to make sense of it all, even when it doesn’t. Dangarembga postulates her experiences in post-independent Zimbabwe studying at the country’s only university at the time. It is here she gets exposed to feminism and the themes surrounding it. She goes on to reckon with patriarchy, misogyny & male privilege.

Many might not know that before becoming a published author she was a playwright. She candidly speaks of the arduous task of writing and the challenges of getting published. She also laments how writers aren’t adequately remunerated for their labor and efforts. Dangarembga goes on to explore the genesis of disempowerment in Blacks which began with the slave trade & culminated in colonization. She speaks of the legacy of trauma bequeathed to Black people which remains unresolved and how she does not identify with the word Black. This is an insightful and thought-provoking read with many profound quotes. It’s one of those books you will revisit.

Title: Black and Female

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Publisher: Graywolf Press in the U.S.

ISBN: 978-1644452110

Tsitsi Dangarembga is a playwright, novelist and filmmaker. She is well known for her Tambudzai trilogy (known in the States as the Nervous Conditions trilogy), The first in the trilogy, Nervous Conditions (1988) is a classic in African literature which stamped Dangarembga as a prolific writer. It was also the first published book written in English by a Zimbabwean woman. This was followed by the Book of Not (2006) and Tambu’s tragic life story culminates in The Mournable Body which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The trilogy has been reissued by Faber Books in the U.K.

Title: Nervous Conditions

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Series: Nervous Conditions trilogy, book one

Publisher: Graywolf Press in the U.S.

ISBN: 978-1644450710

Title: The Book of Not

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Series: Nervous Conditions trilogy, book two

Publisher: Graywolf Press in the U.S.

ISBN: 978-1644450727

Title: This Mournable Body

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Series: Nervous Conditions trilogy, book three

Publisher: Graywolf Press in the U.S.

ISBN: 978-1555978129

#ZimbabweLitMonth is curated by novelist Sue Nyathi. She is a published Zimbabwean author of four fiction titles: The Polygamist (2012), The Gold Diggers (2018), A Family Affair (2020), and An Angel’s Demise (2022). She also edited a nonfiction anthology titled When Secrets Become Stories, Women Speak Out (2021). You can visit her website here and follow her on Twitter at @SueNyathi.