Samuel Chimsoro (13 February 1949 – 6 July 2016) was a Zimbabwean poet and novelist who published in both English and
Shona
Shona often refers to:
* Shona people, a Southern African people
** Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today
** Shona languages, a wider group of languages defined in the early 20th century
** Kingdom of Zimbabwe, a Shona stat ...
.
Early life and education
Chimsoro was born on 13 February 1949,
in
Mrewa in the
Mashonaland East Province
Mashonaland East, informally Mash East, is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 32,230 km2 and a population of approximately 1.73 million (2022). Marondera is the capital of the province.
Demographics
The province has a histo ...
of Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia).
He attended
Nyatsime College
Nyatsime College in Harare Province, Zimbabwe is the country's first technical college specifically for African students. It opened in 1962, as the brainchild of educator and activist Stanlake J. W. T. Samkange, in what was then Southern Rhodesia. ...
, the first privately black owned secondary school in
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 ...
. He then trained as a laboratory technician with a focus on radiation detection. He worked for the government of Zimbabwe before moving to the
National University of Science and Technology (NUST).
Career
Chimsoro published his first volume of poetry, ''Smoke and Flames'', in 1978. In the same year he published a Shona-language short story, "Hoyiyo ne Hohwa", which would later be used for instruction in primary schools.
These were followed by ''Nothing is Impossible'', a novel inspired by the life of
Paul Mukondo,
in 1983, and the Shona poetry collection ''Dama rekutanga: muunganidzwa wenhetembo'' (''Dama rekutanga: the first promise'') in 1990. Chimsoro's works deal with themes of
colonialism
Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...
, racial discrimination, and Zimbabwean politics.
Death
Chimsoro died on 6 July 2016 in
Umgugu Village,
Zhombe
Zhombe, originally known as Jombe, is a rural communal area in Kwekwe District, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. It is an area of mixed Shona and Northern Ndebele People. It lies along the Mnyathi border line between Midlands and Mashonaland Pro ...
, Zimbabwe.
Bibliography
* ''Smoke and Flames: Poems'' (Mambo Press, 1978)
* ''Nothing is Impossible'' (Longman, 1983)
* ''Dama rekutanga: muunganidzwa wenhetembo'' (College Press, 1990)
References
1949 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Zimbabwean writers
{{Zimbabwe-writer-stub