Brittle Paper 100 Notable African Books of 2024
Intimate stories about Zimbabweans in moments of transition that force them to decide who they really are and choose the people they call their own.
Set in Toronto and Zimbabwe, the twelve elegant stories in Who Will Bury You? touch on themes of loss, identity, and inequality as they follow the lives of Zimbabweans who often feel like they are on the outside looking in. A mother and daughter navigate new relationship dynamics when the daughter comes out as a lesbian. Two sisters wonder what will hold them together after their grandmother’s death. A daughter tries to tell her father she loves him as she prepares to leave home for the first time. A journalist takes her grieving mother on a trip to report on girls who are allegedly being abducted by mermaids. A girl born to be the river god’s wife becomes a hero when chaos breaks out in the mighty Zambezi. A group of mothers discover just how far they are willing to go to protect their children during wartime.
Ephemeral yet beautifully satisfying, the stories in Chido Muchemwa's debut collection ask what makes people leave home, what makes them come back, and what keeps them there.
Brittle Paper 100 Notable African Books of 2024
Intimate stories about Zimbabweans in moments of transition that force them to decide who they really are and choose the people they call their own.
Set in Toronto and Zimbabwe, the twelve elegant stories in Who Will Bury You? touch on themes of loss, identity, and inequality as they follow the lives of Zimbabweans who often feel like they are on the outside looking in. A mother and daughter navigate new relationship dynamics when the daughter comes out as a lesbian. Two sisters wonder what will hold them together after their grandmother’s death. A daughter tries to tell her father she loves him as she prepares to leave home for the first time. A journalist takes her grieving mother on a trip to report on girls who are allegedly being abducted by mermaids. A girl born to be the river god’s wife becomes a hero when chaos breaks out in the mighty Zambezi. A group of mothers discover just how far they are willing to go to protect their children during wartime.
Ephemeral yet beautifully satisfying, the stories in Chido Muchemwa's debut collection ask what makes people leave home, what makes them come back, and what keeps them there.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Oct 8, 2024 |
| Specifications | 192 pages | 5.5 in x 7 in |
| Keywords | Governor General's Academic Medal; folklore; motherhood; friendship; sisterhood; family relationships; chosen family; Chrysalis; Anuja Varghese; |
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Supporting Resources
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Excerpt |
| Written By |
CHIDO MUCHEMWA is a Zimbabwean writer living in Toronto. Her work has appeared in Lolwe, Augur, Catapult, Baltimore Review, and PRISM international, among others. She has been shortlisted twice for the Short Story Day Africa Prize, and she was the winner of the 2022 Bridge Prize. |
| Written By |
|
CHIDO MUCHEMWA is a Zimbabwean writer living in Toronto. Her work has appeared in Lolwe, Augur, Catapult, Baltimore Review, and PRISM international, among others. She has been shortlisted twice for the Short Story Day Africa Prize, and she was the winner of the 2022 Bridge Prize. |
Commended, Brittle Paper 100 Notable African Books of 2024, 2024
“An impressive and expansive collection.” — Kirkus (STARRED Review)
” —"The language is transparent, unadorned, concise, and elegant. The stories in Who Will Bury You? are jampacked with nuanced moments, calibrations of tension, and a kind of uneasy epiphany." — Lisa Moore, author of This Is How We Love
” —Lisa Moore, author of This Is How We Love“Brilliant and moving. A literary treasure!" — Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, author of Digging Stars
” —Rattawut Lapcharoensap, author of Sightseeing"These stories build astonishing bridges: between mother and daughter, between Harare and Toronto, between lovers, between the living and the dead, between those who leave and those they leave behind. Chido Muchemwa is a terrific writer, and Who Will Bury You? is a marvellous debut collection." — Rattawut Lapcharoensap, author of Sightseeing
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