Tendai Huchu is one of Zimbabwe's contemporary voices in the diaspora spinning stories that often times tackle the ills of society while presenting ideas in a relevant and light hearted manner.  This month we sat down with Tendai to discuss his most recent work , "The hairdresser of Harare " .   In Tendai's words, 'The hairdresser of Harare' is "the story of a young single mom in Zimbabwe, who is trying to get by and create a future for herself and her daughter.  Along the way she falls in love with a dashing young man who turns out to have a secret"  He further describes his book as a  "social commentary with a scandal involved". Trust me - it is.  His writing simply flows.

 

Upon reading, this book, one of the questions that we just had to get an answer to was what was so fascinating about hair and salons, that he felt 'called' to write this story?  After all, there are very few authors, particularly African male authors, who are willing to get into this almost 'female territory of hair salons'.  Tendai found this question quite funny.  Tendai remarks that as a dredlocked guy, he has visited many a hair salons.  He remembers that his mother used to drag him along on hair appointments as a child and even then he could remember that there were certain days in which everyone will be upset and other days when everyone will be happy.  We can see this attention to the ambiance of the salon in his writing.  He further goes ahead to say that the hair salon is a place in which everyone meets. It is an open space. He draws similarities by stating that this hair salon is similar to the barbar shop in the Americas where everyone comes together. That was the reason he went for  it because all kinds of characters can be brought together here.  Which is a very interesting concept because when we think the barbar shop or hair salon in movies and books, most of the images that come to mind are images of African American movies and books  (Phat Girls, Coming to America, The Barber shop) and the list goes on but to actually throw this image into an African setting is actually fascinating on its own.   

This story actually came to him in 2001, he describes the experience as having a voice in his head and then it was Vimbai's voice. This voice kept on spinning around and he felt that if he just did not write this story, he was going to loose it.  That's how this story came about.  This isn't Tendai's first foray into the world of Literature.  Tendai has been writing for several years and has actually competed in several literary events.  He has another book to his name called,"an untimely love".  Great book too as well but with every triumph there must have been some failures or rejections.  We had to ask him if he ever had any and how he overcame it?  He responds that, just like every author out there, he has faced his own share of rejections and he still gets rejected till today.  But, he keeps on going at it because this is a passion.  He goes on further to say, "being read and being published is a bonus.   I don’t think that you will wake up one moment and think and say I am going to write a publication and that’s it. It doesn’t work that way you’ve got to love whatever you do and I think it is the same way with every other art". This is quite true. 

 

The "Hairdresser Of Harare" is a thematic book like a lot of literary works that have been featured on this site.  If you are someone who reads books for more than just enjoyment, this is a book that you need to pick up and read.  We had to actually start off first by asking him how he chose his first line.  This is an issue for many emerging as well as established authors.  He didn't find coming up with his first line to be difficult. In his own words,  he describes it as almost being similar to " chatting up girls.  You have to come up with a catchy phrase.  The first line came to me and I didn’t have to change it.  I know some authors who go through 8 or 9 drafts which is amazing".

Homosexuality is still an issue in Africa.  We have African countries getting angry at the west for daring to ask them to change their stance on gay rights, we have David Mark in Nigeria, stating that he will not be part of a bill that gives homosexual people some rights and if that isn't enough, we also have the Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangiri doing an about turn on this issue.  His book further highlights the hypocrisy that exists in today's society by drawing an analogy "between  the man with several small houses who is accepted while the young man that is in love with another man isn't.  Isn’t that hypocritical?  He goes ahead to say, if people were required to live by what they say then it will be unattaianble. It is the same everywhere with government that will support one dictator and bomb another country with a dictator.  Yes, we agree.  Hypocrisy is everywhere. 

That opened up the floor to discuss the issue burning in the heart of the homosexuality debate - is it nature or is it nurture?  He states,  "it really doesn’t matter if it is nature or nurture or something in between.  The fact is that it just happens and we have to live with it.  We are a strange specie and we really don’t want to contend with what is logical.  That’s the idea behind freedom, I dont’ want to impose my views on other people and I don’t want other people to impose thier views on others".  An interesting response we must say but then it raises the question of the down low.  Shouldn't we feel free enough to express our sexuality without hiding it away? Isn't the fact that some hide who they are (down low) hypocritical on its own.  He responds, "It is something that is neccesary.  We have to look at the social context.  In America, more people are out and they don't have to suffer for overt expressions.  If you are in a society where homosexuality is illegal - they ahve to keeep it on the downlow because it might have dire consequences".  Please listen to the clip to listen to our debate and hear more on this. 

 Getting away from the book a little, we found ourselves discussing difficulties facing an African author in the diaspora - Scotland in his case.  Being an immigrant, we asked if his book had been received well or not in Scotland or the Diasporas?  He answers that , "Not really.  My book is published in Zimbabwe and in South Africa in general.  It isn’t in any big shop, so there really isnt’ any marketing taking place in Scotland or in the west".   We had to ask him if there was any plans to market his books in the diasporas.  He responds that "it is a bit slow.  We’ve had some interest but often times it falls through. I’ve been writing for a while now and you do learn to be patient about these things". 

 

The "Hairdresser Of Harare" has been received very well in South Africa and actually got some honorable mentions from Zimbabweans mostly based in the Diaspora.  Which really isn't quite surprising considering that Zimbabwe can be described as being quite Victorian in its ideals.  Tendai is currently working on another book and we can't just wait to read it and review it.  You can pick up his book from Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and any great store that sells great books from emerging and established authors.

 

We end by saying , "more grease to your elbow Tendai" and yes, we know that you are Tendai! 

 

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(images courtesy of google)

Pamela's World

 

Edited by T.Z.