John Mokwetsi
30 September 2007
Berlin — President Robert Mugabe was the centre of attraction here and in 25 other countries during the recent International Literature Festival Berlin, which ran from 4 - 16 September.
Mugabe generated interest at this year's edition after readings and testimonies of his autocratic rule were made worldwide as part of raising awareness of the political turmoil in Zimbabwe. The festival organisers received massive support to their appeal early this year to radio stations, schools, universities, theatres and other cultural institutions in Africa and all over the world to read poems by Chenjerai Hove, Chirikure Chirikure, Dambudzo Marechara and Elinor Sisulu's foreword for the book Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980-1988 (Johannesburg 2007).
The reading in Berlin was a great success attracting an audience of almost 250 and the participation of noted authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Anne Waldman, Tishani Doshi and Michael Ondaatje. Nora Winkler, a festival official told Standardplus the readings on Mugabe came about because of the recent political turmoil in the country.
Winkler said: "The reading was to help draw attention to the situation in this post-colonial country. The reality of Zimbabwe had been concealed long enough, unfortunately, also by members of the political class in South Africa, which shoulders a special responsibility in this matter."
A Zimbabwean now based here, Last Murima, who attended the festival, said: "After being here for five years I needed an insight into what my country has become. But mostly I wanted to know what my president has turned into." Eric Whittington from Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco wrote in an email: "The event at Bird & Beckett was very moving, and gave us some valuable background and perspective on the situation in Zimbabwe."
SjÃ'n Sigurdsson, an Icelandic author and poet said in a telephone interview, the reading in Iceland took place on the opening evening of the Reykjavik International Literary Festival, at the Idno theatre in front of 300 people.
Sigurdsson, president of Icelandic PEN, read an Icelandic translation of the appeal and his own translation of Chenjerai Hove's poem Nights with Ghosts.
In the United Kingdom, Rose Benton from Zimbabwe Vigil in London said: "The reading was very good and Vigil supporters felt very empowered by it." There were also readings in South Africa. This is the third Worldwide Reading organised by the Berlin Literature Festival under the theme The Anniversary of a Political Lie.
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