Harare Review of Books

#HRBZimSpecPo was a call for Zimbabwean poets around the world to submit speculative poetry featuring Zimbabwean myths, urban legends, and or/oral narratives—utopian or dystopian, formal, or experimental. 

Below, meet our judges for the competition!

Sista Zai Zanda

Sista Zai Zanda (Sista Zai/aChihera) is an Afrofuturistic Storyteller. Sista Zai was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and raised in a large extended family. Achihera is Karanga and now lives as a Black African settler on Eastern Kulin Nations Countries (aka “Melbourne” in “Australia’).
Amongst career highlights, aChihera is a 2019 recipient of the Neilma Sidney Travel Fund and a recipient of a highly competitive Melbourne Strategic Scholarship to write a PhD on Afrofuturisms at the University of Melbourne.

Tinashe Tafirenyika

With a belief that art is a catalyst for change, Tinashe Tafirenyika has disrupted the Zimbabwe Performance Poetry Scene since her first performance at The Book Cafe’s Sistaz open mic in 2013. Her skill and creativity led to her becoming the first woman to win a National Arts Merit Award (NAMA) in the Spoken Word Poetry category in 2017 and the youngest person to achieve this at the time. This was followed by a Bulawayo Arts Awards the same year.
Tinashe scooped another NAMA the next year, becoming the frst person to do so twice in that category after the release of her poetry visual “Sarah Baartman”. She has since released a number of poetry videos and visualisers, including “Master” which she animated herself.
Outside of performing poetry, Tinashe writes creative non fiction, telling the untold stories of the women around her and practices as a Medical Scientist.