Charles Mungoshi

Ranka Primorac (University of Southampton)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 7.2.3.03: South Africa and other Southern Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

Born 2 Dec 1947
Died 16 Feb 2019
Activity 1972-2017

Places

Born in Zimbabwe
Active in Zimbabwe

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Poet
Story-writer

Resources

Mungoshi's Works

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Born in a rural area near Chivhu in central Zimbabwe, Charles Mungoshi always seemed destined to be a writer. He was educated in mission schools – All Saints Primary, Daramombe and St Augustine’s – and published his first short story while still a secondary school student. After leaving school he worked as a bookshop clerk and an editor, and was Writer-in-Residence at the University of Zimbabwe in 1986-87. Mungoshi is one of the most prolific and versatile Zimbabwean writers. Among his publications are a play and three novels in his native Shona, to which he introduced unprecedented stylistic and compositional complexity. One of these works – the 1975 novel

Ndiko kupindana kwa mazuva

[That’s How Time Passes] - won him the International PEN Award in 1975. Mungoshi has also…

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1674 words

Citation: Primorac, Ranka. "Charles Mungoshi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 January 2005; last revised 22 July 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5410, accessed 22 November 2024.]