REST IN PEACE, CHARLES MATORERA

There has been an outpouring of immense grief and palpable sense of loss as news broke of the death of Charles Matorera, a well-known writer who was based in Free State. Matorera, a Zimbabwean national, had wormed his way into the hearts of readers, writers and aficionados of arts and culture with his stream of short stories and essays on literature which many pundits believe belonged to the top drawer. And the fulsome tributes keep on pouring in. “It’s a sad day indeed, a terrible news. Charles was such a polished exponent at writing short stories. He had so much to offer. We shall miss his frenetic energy, fervour and goodwill.” – Soqaga (critic and essayist) “What a loss! I relish those stories churned out by Mr Matorera; he wrote with a deft, adroit hand. A natural, effortless writer. It’s a pity to hear about his premature demise.” – G Rampai (novelist) “As a writer Charles had his favourite writers; namely Ngugi Wa Thiongo, MtutuzeliMatshoba, Chinua Achebe to name a few. Charles’ dream regarding literature was to see or transform African stories into motion pictures. As it has always been true, the good die young. Plenty of fine artists and writers across the world have died young and though expectations were rocking the sky-high from their blazing talent. Charles will be remembered for his good work and it will go down with history to the future generations. Adieu!” – T Thiba (essayist and poet) “I have heard of his death with a great shock as he was still young and talented. Not long time again Sesotho Literary Fraternity and the world of academia lost one of the literary Giants Professor Benito Khotseng. We are still trying to heal those wounds and all of a sudden we are losing a talented writer.” said the Deputy Director at the Sesotho Literary Museum (SLM) Mr Tseliso Masolane “My heart is laden, heavy and ponderous in the wake of the precipitous, premature exit of dear Charles. The time for a proper tribute is not now. Meanwhile I’m regaled with a flotilla of reminiscences; eg Charles always stolid and ramrod-straight, assuring, comforting, keeling, a pillar of common sense and sobriety; in rather eerie mode, always somehow managing to track me down whenever he was in the “city of roses”; with typical munificence, once presenting me with both a jacket and a lovely jersey one stultifying winter; Charles’ unfluttered and unperturbed mien despite his towering height; prodding me to intermittently eat not only Zimbabwean, but also Ethiopian and Ghanaian food… memories…” – O Bolaji (distinguished writer)

THE GROWTH OF FREE STATE BLACK WRITING, 2002 to 2009

'Written word lives forever' - Maree Clarkson. We have been pleasantly surprised by the increasing number of people who still continue to express interest in the 'defunct' series, The Growth of FS Black Writing. Can we get past editions of the journal? Can the text of such editions be posted online? Will the series be resuscitated? These are common questions always being asked. In respect of scholars and researchers, past editions of the series are available at the University of Free State Library, and many other literary centres worldwide; e.g The National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown , South Africa.

PULE LECHESA - Poet, Literary critic, essayist, polemicist

BLACK FREE STATE LITERATURE IN 2014

At a chance meeting with some writers this week a couple of them voiced their belief that Free State Black Writing was on the wane. One of them blasted: "The situation there (in the province) is now like a desert; gone are the days when the literary scene there was dynamic and exciting," Then a lady among them added: "It's like the people are no longer writing there, though I hear poets are still performing that side," It might well be, as Mark Twain might couch it, that rumours of the demise of FS Writing are being exaggerated. One has to agree though that the year 2014 has been a very disappointing year in terms of clear literary production. What this translates to practically is that very few quality books if any have been published - quite surprising when one considers the fact that there are many black writers and published authors in the Free State. The big names have apparently delivered very little this year. Observers might well believe that the writers were not motivated...or/and writers' block crept in for most.

Yet this would be unfair to a number of spoken word poets in the province who remain as enthusiastic as ever. Nobody would accuse the likes of Charmaine Kolwane, Jah Rose and Hector Kunene in particular of not being dynamic. This year they did their stuff as usual, waving the flag for poetry all over the place. Various reports in the media indicate their effectiveness in this wise. Charmaine in particular is almost a force of nature with her enthusiasm and unlimited energy in propagating literature and poetry. To her credit she also published a book in an African language this year. We await serious reviews and criticism of the work. Matshidiso Taleng, another female poet also deserves praise for her poetic input this year. In terms of authentic literature though, Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga stands out for his never-ending literary articles, essays, critiques this year. To crown it all he also published an eponymous book of this genre.

What strikes the observer is that Soqaga really loves the world of reading and writing. His vision bears allegiance to the Free State, but also to national, African and world literature; that is why his essays include tributes to the likes of Lorraine Hansberry and Obi Egbuna. One hopes Mr Soqaga can keep it up. Teboho Masakala earned praises for publishing yet another book - a religious book. Earlier in his career he published a lot of fiction. And it is not as if other established essayists wrote nothing at all this year; though their output has been minor. But Paul Lothane, Raphael Mokoena, Tiisetso Thiba, Leke Giwa, Pule Lechesa etc wrote the odd literary essay this year.

I found Thiba's essay "transferential displacement in Bolaji's Far up! Far out! Far more!" quite interesting. So all in all it can't be said FS writing did not exist at all this year...

TEBOHO MASAKALA (Novelist and short story writer)

Now Available:

Phone 074 0467177 to obtain your copy of this book

Bolaji's 2014 book: FAR UP! FAR OUT! FAR MORE!!