An interview with Brian Chikwava

Brian Chikwava is a Zimbabwean writer. His novel Harare North was published by Jonathan Cape in 2009. He lives in a matchbox-sized flat in London. He eats fish but only on some days. He is also a staggeringly good cyclist.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: Why do you write?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I write because that’s what all bums do when they find a moment of solitude. That was a very useful attitude when I wrote Harare North.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: At what age did you start writing creatively?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I must have been 14 when I attempted a film script. I wrote half a dozen lines and had a sore head. I gave up.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: Describe your writing journey.

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: You could say it’s marked by a lot of groping in the dark, full of grunts and yelps.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What are the thematic concerns in your writing?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: It’s a mixed bag, I must admit. That’s because I just write what I feel like at the time and never really think too much. Maybe if I look carefully there is a running thematic strand but I don’t want to look yet.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What inspired you to write Seventh Street Alchemy?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I just happened to have a lot of time on my hands then and was trying to learn the short story form. But I also was surrounded by interesting people.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: How did you know about the Caine Prize?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I heard about it when it was launched at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What was your initial response when you won the Caine Prize?
BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I calculated the number of rickshaw rides I could afford to have around Covent Garden, London. I remember it was just over 3,000 rides, including a high-quality English whip.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What has been happening or not happening since winning the Caine?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I’ve been writing Harare North.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: If you were to rewrite your submitted story what would you change?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I’d take out a lot of sloppy writing there.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: How often do you revise or redraft your stories?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: Until I’m bored.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What’s your take on writing?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I need a long time to think about this.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: How do you deal with a writer’s rejections?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I take a 15km walk, find a bar, buy vodka and talk to a few complete strangers for a while. There is no problem that this cannot solve.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: Apart from writing, what else do you do and why?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I don’t even think I write. I’m always trying to blag my way through things.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: Forty years from now where do you see yourself?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: In heaven, with good old God.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What’s your best quote?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I stopped having any once I found they were quotes crowding my head and I didn’t have opportunities to use them.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: Which five authors do you admire most and why?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: Every time I come up with five names I feel terminally stupid for having left out this or that author. It’s easier to pick the ones that one loathes.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: List your favourite five books.

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: Ditto.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What’s your vision?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I’m still working on it.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: What genre do you read most and why?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I read anything and everything that passes under my nose.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: If you were to make a wish right now what would it be?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: To be able to fall asleep at the touch of my nose. I’m a bit of an insomniac.

MILDRED KICONCO BARYA: If you were to have powers of a genie what two things would you change?

BRIAN CHIKWAVA: I would turn myself into a benevolent dictator and consign a few world leaders to the gulag.

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