Lazarus Sauti

Beaven Tapureta Bookshelf Lazarus Sauti belongs to a growing family of Zimbabwean journalists who are displaying their distinctive gifts in different literary genres like poetry and fiction. His new anthology of Shona stories and poems titled “Nei?” (2017, Royalty Books) will enchant the reader with its power of linguistic style and ideas. The anthology is imbued with twenty seven poems and five stories. Sauti is a Zimbabwean journalist now not only identified as a journalist but a poet and short story writer. “Nei?”, edited by fellow journalist and Shona novelist Tinashe Muchuri, hit the shelves this month and adds some ‘seasoning salt’ to the end-of-year reading euphoria as more new books by Zimbabwean writers based in and outside the country continue to be published. The last few weeks have seen new books coming, almost filling up Bookshelf’s cavity of most recent releases which now include “Perfect Imperfections” (2017, DarlingKind Publishing) by Prosper W Makara,

Reviewed by Phillip Chidavaenzi AFTER reading classics in the Shona literary pantheon such as Charles Mungoshi’s Kunyarara Hakusi Kutaura? (1980), Aaron Chiundura Moyo’s Ndabva Zera (1992) or Mapenzi (1999) by Ignatius Mabasa, one is often tempted to wonder if the Shona creative writing tradition will be able to stand the test of time. Title: Nei? Author: Lazarus Sauti Publisher: Royalty Books (2017) But, as we have learnt particularly from Mungoshi and Mabasa, innovative writers continue to re-invent the language to suit the shifting framework of literature in indigenous languages. One such new writer is Lazarus Sauti, who has just published his debut literary offering in Shona, Nei? (Why?). To his credit, Sauti has even extended the boundary of innovation by packaging both short stories and poems in one collection, offering variety to the reader. Sauti does not flatter to deceive. His book demonstrates that the first cut, indeed, can be the deepest. What