A SEVEN-year sojourn in a foreign land inspired a breathtaking work of art. Legal practitioner Cleopatra Magwaro who returned home from her studies in Australia a few years ago has published a book titled A Season's Assemblage.

The book is a collection of short stories that she has written in a period spanning over a decade.

Magwaro says most of the short stories were her connection with home when she was lonely in a foreign land.

"I missed home so much and the only way to comfort myself was to sit down and write stories relating to people and events back home," she said.

"I had interest in writing when I was still at school but that passion grew stronger when I was in Australia.

"I reflected on my experiences at home, various events that were taking place as I was away and my interaction with friends and relatives back here to come up with the stories.

"I only wrote two stories when I returned home in 2004 but professional commitments delayed the publication of the book."

After completing a degree in Law and Justice at Queensland University, Magwaro taught at that college for some years before deciding to come back home.

She returned and joined the local legal fraternity as a magistrate.

She worked at Harare regional courts before winding up her tenure with the Ministry of Justice at the civil court.

She is now into private practice.

But the writer is more comfortable speaking about her passion for writing than her professional life.

"I try by all means to invent my own form of writing. My intention is to absorb readers and make them go through the stories as slowly as I would have written them.

"In a story titled Twilight over Victoria Bridge I use boxes and circles to give it a completely different presentation from the norm."

Magwaro said she usually makes her stories open ended to leave interpretations and conclusions for the readers.

"A story can mean different things to different people and I enjoy using language that would make the writings abstract.

"The readers interpret the stories according to their backgrounds and situations."

In a story titled A Pair per Pocket she pursues a theme of the abuse and vulnerability of children and tells the story from a young girl's perspective.

Twilight Over Victoria Bridge presents the plight and challenges that mature women face in marriages or as single parents.

Other stories are Stone in My Song, Azania, Love of My Life, Once a River - Now an Ocean and The Treasure that is Hidden.

Magwaro says she is working on her second book that would contain three long stories.

She will soon be leaving for the United States to do her masters degree and the stories are likely to be published outside the country.

Magwaro was born and bred in Harare.

She attended Bryden Country Primary School in Chegutu and Gateway High School.