What are the right questions to ask when seeking out the true spirit of a nation?

In November 2017 the people of Zimbabwe took to the streets in an unprecedented alliance with the military. Their goal, to restore the legacy of Chimurenga, the liberation struggle, and wrest their country back from over thirty years of Robert Mugabe's rule.

In an essay that combines bold reportage, memoir and critical analysis, Zimbabwean novelist and journalist Panashe Chigumadzi reflects on the 'coup that was not a coup', the telling of history and manipulation of time and the ancestral spirts of two women - her own grandmother and Mbuya Nehanda, the grandmother of the nation.

About the Author

Panashe Chigumadzi was born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa, where she is considered one of the most promising young writers of the 'Born Free' generation. Her debut novel Sweet Medicine (Blackbird Books) was published in 2015 and won the K. Sello Duiker Literary Award.

She is the founding editor of Vanguard magazine, a platform for young black women coming of age in post-apartheid South Africa, and a contributing editor to Johannesburg Review of Books. Her work has featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, Washington Post, Die Zeit and Transition.

Reviews

'In a searing account that explores the heady post-independence days of the eighties, the economic downturn of the nineties, through to the effects of the land reform policies at the end of the century, Chigumadzi weaves together reflections on a nation's founding spirit'

https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/these-bones-will-rise-again-is-an-intimate-telling-of-zimbabwean-history-shaazia-ebrahim/

-- Jennifer Malec * The Johannesburg Review of Books *

'Best summer books 2018, as picked by writers and cultural figures - part 2'

'an extraordinary and thrilling history of Zimbabwe'

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/08/best-summer-holiday-reads-2018-philip-pullman-maggie-ofarrell-nina-stibbe-part-two

-- Alex Preston * The Guardian *

'These Bones Will Rise Again reminds its readers of the complexities in the cultures of Africa . . . Panache Chigumadzi's essay is a welcome addition to the new cannon of decolonised historical literature.'

https://livemag.co.za/book-review-panashe-chigumadzis-these-bones-will-rise-again/

-- Terry Simelane-Mathabathe * Live Mag *

http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2018/08/27/i-wanted-to-interrogate-the-legacy-that-belonged-to-me-panashe-chigumadzi-on-these-bones-will-rise-again/

-- Rufaro Samanga interviews Panashe Chigumadzi * Okay Africa *

'By refusing to conceal the marks of its making, Chigumadzi's essay lays bare the challenges of constructing historical narratives'

http://review31.co.uk/article/view/592/perhaps-she-was-this-perhaps-she-was-that

-- Jacqueline Landey * Review 31 *

'Chigumadzi writes of her feeling of dislocation from the land of her birth having been raised in South Africa and her ancestral connection to Zimbabwe. Her sincerity to seek truth carries out beautifully throughout the book.'

https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/these-bones-will-rise-again-is-an-intimate-telling-of-zimbabwean-history-shaazia-ebrahim/

-- Shaazia Ebrahim * The Daily vox *

'the author has masterfully succeeded in providing the reader with a book that is a powerful ode to the various women, both great and small, who took Zimbabwe through its multiple phases of liberation'

http://www.rewritelondon.com/portfolio/book-review-these-bones-will-rise-again/

* Rewrite *

'Panache Chigumadzi passionately places her personal story, connected to the family history and the history of her nation, within a blend of Zimbabwe's national mythology & socio-political turmoil'

https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/books/non-fiction/2019-05-02-these-bones-will-rise-again-breaks-120-years-of-oppression/

-- Bryan Davis * Sunday Times Books *

Opinion: Mugabe Is Dead, but Big Man Politics Lives On

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/opinion/robert-mugabe-zimbabwe.html

-- Panashe Chigumadzi * New York Times *

10 Best Political Activism Books of All Time

https://bookauthority.org/books/best-political-activism-books?t=h63snq&s=author&book=1999683307

* Book Authority *

Panashe Chigumadzi ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture 2023

https://youtu.be/LuuV1KFei-0

* ZAM Magazine *


Awards
Winner of K. Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award 2016.



Book Information
ISBN 9781999683306
Author Panashe Chigumadzi
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint The Indigo Press
Publisher The Indigo Press
Weight(grams) 120g
Dimensions(mm) 178mm * 111mm * 11mm