Irene Staunton
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Irene Staunton is a
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
an publisher, editor, researcher and writer, who has worked in literature and the arts since the 1970s, both in the UK and Zimbabwe. She is co-founder and publisher of Weaver Press in
Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
, having previously co-founded Baobab Books. Staunton is the editor of several notable anthologies covering oral history, short stories, and poetry, including ''Mothers of the Revolution: War Experiences of Thirty Zimbabwean Women'' (1990),Magadza, Moses (6 March 2014)
"Meeting legendary editor Irene Staunton"
''
Pambazuka News ''Pambazuka News'' is an open access, Pan-African e-mail and online electronic newsletter. It is published weekly in English, Portuguese and French by the not-for-profit organisation Fahamu. The word ''Pambazuka'' means "dawn" or "arise" in Kis ...
''.
''Children in our Midst: Voices of Farmworker's Children'' (2000), ''Writing Still: New Stories from Zimbabwe'' (2003), ''Women Writing Zimbabwe'' (2008), ''Writing Free'' (2011), and ''Writing Mystery & Mayhem'' (2015).


Career

Staunton was born in
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
, which later became Zimbabwe, and studied English literature in the UK."Staff"
Weaver Press website.
She began her career in publishing in London, where she was employed by
John Calder John Mackenzie Calder (25 January 1927 – 13 August 2018) was a Scottish-Canadian writer and publisher who founded the company Calder Publishing in 1949. Biography Calder was born in Montreal, Canada, into the Calder family associated with th ...
. Following the 1980 Independence of Zimbabwe, she returned there and worked as an editor first for the Department of Culture in the Ministry of Education and Culture, and then on the Curriculum Development Unit in the same Ministry.Xu, Chenni (28 February 2011)
"'Opening Up Worlds…': An Interview With Irene Staunton"
''WoWWire'', Women's WorldWide Web.


Baobab Books

In 1987, Staunton and Hugh Lewin co-founded Baobab Press, "which rapidly acquired a reputation as an exciting literary publisher", and during her 11 years there the company published a range of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's books, art books and textbooks. Baobab's list included prizewinning work by such authors as
Chenjerai Hove Chenjerai Hove (9 February 1956 – 12 July 2015), was a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both English and Shona. "Modernist in their formal construction, but making extensive use of oral conventions, Hove's novels offer an i ...
(
Noma Award for Publishing in Africa The Noma Award for Publishing in Africa (''French:Le Prix Noma de Publication en Afrique''), which ran from 1980 to 2009, was an annual $10,000 prize for outstanding African writers and scholars who published in Africa. Within four years of its es ...
) and
Shimmer Chinodya Shimmer Chinodya (born 1957 Gwelo, then Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) is a Zimbabwean novelist. Chinodya studied at Mambo Primary School. He was expelled from Goromonzi after demonstrating against Ian Smith's government. He graduated fro ...
(winner of the
Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...
, Africa region), as well as the posthumous work of
Dambudzo Marechera Dambudzo Marechera (4 June 1952 – 18 August 1987) was a Zimbabwean novelist, short story writer, playwright, and poet. His short career produced a book of stories, two novels (one published posthumously), a book of plays, prose, and poe ...
, and all of
Yvonne Vera Yvonne Vera (19 September 1964 – 7 April 2005) was an author from Zimbabwe. Her first published book was a collection of short stories, ''Why Don't You Carve Other Animals'' (1992), which was followed by five novels: ''Nehanda'' (1993), ''With ...
's fiction. Baobab also published several collections of poetry, including one by the performance poet,
Chirikure Chirikure Chirikure Chirikure (born 1962), is a Zimbabwean poet, songwriter, and writer. He is a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe and an Honorary Fellow of University of Iowa, US. He worked with one of Zimbabwe's leading publishing houses as an edito ...
. While at Baobab Books, Staunton compiled the first Zimbabwean oral history with narratives of women in the liberation struggle, ''Mothers of the Revolution''. She has said: "I was very fortunate in that my parents taught us to respect people from all walks of life and showed us that what mattered was not money or status but warmth, compassion, humour and integrity – values rooted in self-respect and human dignity. My mother was also involved in the Federation of African Women’s Clubs, doing voluntary work that she enjoyed very much and which gave me, through her, access to strong, gentle, humorous women working long hours for their families in rural areas."


Weaver Press

In 1999, Staunton left Baobab and began setting up Weaver Press with Murray McCartney, also working part-time for the
Heinemann African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an international audience fo ...
until 2003. Established as a small independent general publishing company, producing books by and about Zimbabwe (encompassing literary fiction, history, politics, social studies and gender issues),Klother, Annelie (2007)
"'You need to have the idea, the vision, and the passion: An Interview with Irene Staunton" (February 2006)
In Mbongeni Z. Malaba and Geoffrey V. Davis (eds), ''Zimbabwean Transitions: Essays on Zimbabwean Literature in English, Ndebele and Shona'', Amsterdam/New York: Editions Rodopi, 2007, p. 214.
Weaver Press now counts among its successful authors
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born Grace Ngozi Adichie; 15 September 1977) is a Nigerians, Nigerian writer of novels, short stories, poem, and children's books; she is also a book reviewer and literary critic. Her most famous works include ''Purple ...
,
NoViolet Bulawayo NoViolet Bulawayo is the pen name of Elizabeth Zandile Tshele (born 12 October 1981), a Zimbabwean author. In 2012, the National Book Foundation named her a " 5 Under 35" honoree. She was named one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by '' Ne ...
,
Brian Chikwava Brian Chikwava is a Zimbabwean writer and musician. His short story "Seventh Street Alchemy" was awarded the 2004 Caine Prize for African writing in English; Chikwava became the first Zimbabwean to do so. He has been a Charles Pick fellow at th ...
,
Shimmer Chinodya Shimmer Chinodya (born 1957 Gwelo, then Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) is a Zimbabwean novelist. Chinodya studied at Mambo Primary School. He was expelled from Goromonzi after demonstrating against Ian Smith's government. He graduated fro ...
, Petina Gappah,
Tendai Huchu Tendai Huchu (born 28 September 1982) who also writes as T. L. Huchu is a Zimbabwean author, best known for his novels '' The Hairdresser of Harare'' (2010) and '' The Maestro, The Magistrate & The Mathematician'' (2014). Tendai Huchu's first no ...
,
Sarah Ladipo Manyika Sarah Ladipo Manyika FRSL is a British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays and an active member of the literary community, particularly supporting and amplifying young writers and female voices. She is the author of two well-rece ...
,
Sekai Nzenza Sekai Irene Nzenza Kanhutu is a Zimbabwean writer, cultural critic and politician. Biography She was born in rural Zimbabwe, where she trained as a nurse, before doing additional nursing studies in England and subsequently going to live in Austr ...
, Valerie Tagwira, Yvonne Vera, among others. Tinashe Mushkavanhu has written of Staunton: "It was the work of writers she published that always occupied center stage, winning international accolades, or getting translated. ...Weaver Press has been the most active publishing concern in Zimbabwe in a struggling economy". The company's fiction programme has been developed with support from Dutch NGO
Hivos Hivos (, Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation) is an international cooperation organization, with its global office in The Hague, The Netherlands. Hivos provides support to civil society organizations working in Africa, Latin America, th ...
.


Related literary activities

Staunton has for many years concerned herself with research through oral histories, sometimes in projects with other organizations, focusing on otherwise unheard African voices, particularly of Zimbabwean women and children. She has worked with
Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...
Zimbabwe on various publications, including ''Children in Our Midst: Voices of Farmworkers' Children'' (2000), based on interviews with (and including drawings by) hundreds of children moving from farm school to farm school in rural Zimbabwe, who speak on the range of issues that affect them. The reviewer for the journal '' Children, Youth and Environments'' wrote: "The chapters, composed entirely of the children's written or recorded statements, cover many aspects of the children’s lives, including their sense of self ('I am a child'), families, homes, work experience, school, customs and play ('Sometimes we have fun'). ...This is not simply a book that publishes the opinions of working children. It is a book that challenges our Western assumptions about healthy childhood. It paints vivid pictures of what it is like to grow up on commercial farms in Zimbabwe, with work responsibilities from a very young age integrated into education and upbringing, as a legitimate aspect of the local traditions." In collaboration with Chiedza Musengezi of Zimbabwe Women Writers, Staunton compiled ''A Tragedy of Lives: Women in Prison in Zimbabwe'', based on interviews with former female prisoners, and ''Women of Resilience: The Voices of Women Ex-combatants'' (2000). Staunton's own short story "Pauline's Ghost" was shortlisted for the 2009 PEN/Studzinski Literary Award, judged by
J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...
. Well respected as an editor and publisher whose authors regularly win prizes — Stanley Gazemba in his recent article "African Publishing Minefields and the Woes of the African Writer" commends the attention paid by Staunton "to the editing process and the design and quality of her books"Gazemba, Stanley (13 December 2019)
"African Publishing Minefields and the Woes of the African Writer"
''The Elephant''.
— she has been an invited participant in local and international literary events. She has edited a number of well received collections of Zimbabwean writing, and has also written articles on publishing in Zimbabwe. For 12 years from 2003 she worked closely with
Poetry International Poetry International may refer to: * Poetry International Web, a webzine and poetry archive of the Poetry International Foundation * Poetry International Festival, an annual poetry festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands * Poetry International, an annua ...
as their Zimbabwe editor, handing over the role in 2015 to Togara Muzanenhamo. Speaking in a 2011 interview Staunton said: "Editors are a bit like stage-hands: the play can't go on without them, and yet their role is necessarily in the shadows. It is, however, interesting to see how many writers acknowledge their editors – the third eye is of value."


Personal life

Staunton is married to Murray McCartney, whom she met at the
Africa Centre The Africa Centre, based in Cape Town, South Africa, is structured as a not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide a platform for Pan-African arts and cultural practice to function as a catalyst for social change. All the projects ...
in London while he was deputy director there. McCartney moved to
Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
with her in 1983, and is a director of Weaver Press.


Selected bibliography

;As editor * ''Mothers of the Revolution: War Experiences of Thirty Zimbabwean Women'', Harare: Baobab Books, 1990; London, UK:
James Currey James Currey is an academic publisher specialising in African Studies that since 2008 has been an imprint of Boydell & Brewer. It is named after its founder, who established the company in 1984. It publishes on a full spectrum of topics—incl ...
, 1991. Reprinted Harare: Weaver Press, 2020, . * ''Children in Our Midst: Voices of Farmworkers' Children'' (ed. Irene McCartney), Harare: Weaver Press, with
Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...
, 2000. .McCartney, Irene (2000), ''Children in Our Midst: Voices of Farmworkers' Children''
via Amazon.
* (with Chiedza Musengezi) ''A Tragedy of Lives: Women in Prison in Zimbabwe'', Harare: Weaver Press, 2000. . * (with Chiedza Musengezi) ''Women of Resilience: the voices of ex-combatants'', Harare: Zimbabwe Women Writers, 2000. . * ''We Have Something to Say: Children in Zimbabwe Speak Out'', Children's Consortium, 2002. . * ''Writing Still: New Stories from Zimbabwe'', Harare: Weaver Press, 2003. . * ''Laughing Now. New Stories from Zimbabwe'', Harare: Weaver Press, 2005. . * ''Our Broken Dreams – Child Migration in Southern Africa'' (ed. with Chris McIvor and Chris Björnestad), Weaver Press, 2008. . * ''Women Writing Zimbabwe'', Harare: Weaver Press, 2008. . * ''Writing Free'', Harare: Weaver Press, 2011. . * ''Writing Lives'', Harare: Weaver Press, 2014. . * ''Writing Mystery & Mayhem'', Harare: Weaver Press, 2015. .


References


Further reading

* Irene Staunton (2016)
"Publishing for Pleasure in Zimbabwe"
''
Wasafiri ''Wasafiri'' is a quarterly British literary magazine covering international contemporary writing. Founded in 1984, the magazine derives its name from a Swahili word meaning "travellers" that is etymologically linked with the Arabic word "safari ...
'', 31:4 (Print Activism in Twenty-first Century Africa. Guest edited by Ruth Bush and Madhu Krishnan), pp. 49–54. DOI: 10.1080/02690055.2016.1216282. * Annelie Klother
"'You need to have the idea, the vision, and the passion: An Interview with Irene Staunton"
in Mbongeni Z. Malaba and Geoffrey V. Davis (eds), ''Zimbabwean Transitions: Essays on Zimbabwean Literature in English, Ndebele and Shona'', ''Matatu'' 34; Amsterdam/New York: Editions Rodopi, 2007, pp. 211–217.


External links


Weaver Press website
*
Terence Ranger Terence "Terry" Osborn Ranger (29 November 1929 – 3 January 2015) was a prominent British Africanist, best known as a historian of Zimbabwe. Part of the post-colonial generation of historians, his work spanned the pre- and post-Independence ...

"The Fruits of The Baobab: Irene Staunton and the Zimbabwean Novel"
''
Journal of Southern African Studies The ''Journal of Southern African Studies'' is an international publication which covers research on the Southern African region, focussing on Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and ...
'', Vol. 25, No. 4 (December 1999), pp. 695–701. Published online 4 August 2010.
"Zimbabwean Literary Initiatives: A Conversation with Weaver Press"
Harare, Pan African Space Station (PASS). {{DEFAULTSORT:Staunton, Irene Living people 20th-century Zimbabwean women writers 21st-century Zimbabwean women writers 21st-century Zimbabwean writers Book publishing company founders 21st-century publishers (people) Women anthologists Women book publishers (people) Women non-fiction writers Zimbabwean women short story writers Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Zimbabwean writers