Philani A Nyoni
Philani A Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born creative whose artistic output spans literature, theatre and film. His works in film have screened on four continents at festivals such as the Silicon Valley African Film Festival, the Zebra Poetry Film Festival, and the Zambia and Botswana International Film Festivals. His prose and poetry have been published in at least 15 countries, including in translation in Sweden and Brazil. He has held a world record in the Shakespearean sonnet form since 2016, and holds over a dozen international literary nominations, including two from the African Writers Awards in the disciplines of prose and drama writing and, most recently, a shortlisting in the 2022 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition. He is the author of three award-winning poetry collections as well as other collaborative works, and is the 2016 recipient of the National Arts Merit Award for Spoken Word Poetry. A former chief editor at Ubuntu Afro-Publishers, Philani currently works as a programmes officer with the International Literature Festival Harare, and as a language coach with the Centre for Talent Development.
Philani A Nyoni reviews Nyika, I love you by Alice Vye Henningway
2025-02-04"There is an honesty within these pages that is rarely seen in memoirs and politically slanted texts from the African literary scene."
From Mapenzi to Madmen: A conversation with Ignatius Mabasa
2024-11-19In 2025, AmaBooks Publishers will publish Tsitsi Mutiti’s translation of Mapenzi by Ignatius Mabasa into English under the title Madmen, while the University of Georgia Press is set to release the translation in North America. Philani A Nyoni talks to Ignatius Mabasa about this new lease of life on his iconic multi-award-winning book, and what it means to him and the zeitgeist after a quarter century in circulation.
Pathisa Nyathi: A library that did not burn down
2024-11-12"In the writer’s ink lies the elixir to immortality. What’s done is done; the battle has been lost and won. While the breath is gone, the words still shine. The library lives on; it did not burn down."
Translating The book of not (Tsitsi Dangarembga): an interview with Tanaka Chidora
2024-10-22"I had the option of trans-creation, while also making sure that the Shona voice remained Tambu’s, and not that of a village elder, which is my favourite when it comes to my Shona writings." Philani Nyoni interviews Tanaka Chidora about his experience translating Tsitsi Dangarembga’s The book of not (Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2006).
I am an African, what is copyright?
2024-05-17"As an author, I am constantly asked for PDF versions of my books. Sure, go ahead and help yourself; I mean, it’s not like I paid a proofreader, paid a designer and sourced the rights to use the artwork on the covers. Sure, go ahead and have a PDF copy on WhatsApp. And cast it as far as mistletoe throughout your entire village, so everyone can read my book while I never benefit a dime off it."
Translated or repatriated? An interview with Ignatius Mabasa on translating Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous conditions
2024-03-06"In a bid to understand the process, nuances, motives and challenges of the process while also uncovering the politics of language, Philani A Nyoni converses with Ignatius Mabasa, the man who translated Nervous conditions into Shona."
Goodbye and hello: Zimbabwean publishing future and past
2024-02-29"The reign of these juggernauts was quite a golden age, but not without its problems."