NUST student 'dethrones' Shakespeare

Zimbabwe's youngest mainstream columnist Stanely Mushava has published a sizzling poetry collection entitled "In Memory of the Future."  

Mushava, a final year Journalism and Media student at the National University of Science and Technology, released the book through his Pro-Faith Press.

"In Memory of the Future" is comprised of 28 poems which deal with a range of issues from international affairs to the immortal questions of love, meaning and suffering, from an overtly Christian perspective.

Mushava easily stands out of the current paste-and-rephrase generation of Zimbabwean literature as an authentic force with his witty, imaginative and deeply conscious approach.

"In Memory of the Future" is currently available as an e-book on Mazwi Books.

"I have been writing this book for the past five years. The issue is not so much about publishing but delivering real content to the people," said Mushava.

"Publishing is easier than ever before and cannot be an accomplishment by itself. I knew I was signed up to a responsibility to give a timeless message to the people and I had to do so in the most artistic and durable way possible," said the versatile young artist.

Mushava is a respected literary critic who has reviewed a diverse range of literature, local and international, contemporary and classic.

"'In Memory of the Future' is all about spreading love to all humanity and redeeming the future," Mushava said.

"We are living on the edge of jeopardy. The future of the world is under threat. That's why I make it loud and clear from the outset that Jesus is the answer. I believe in Christ as the centre, stand and work ethic of all that I do," he said.

Prominent author and academic Memory Chirere compared Mushava's work to English greats G.M Hopkins and Lord Byron.

"These pieces remind me of Gerard Manley Hopkins for their dappled energy and musical cadence as they deal with our need to return to the divine because 'The door of mercy is now closing!'And the overriding insistence that: 'Worship is the staircase to heaven,'" Chirere said.

"But sometimes I find here echoes of Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage because of the young man's reflections on travels from innocence to experience," he said.

"Stanely Mushava writes with a triple awareness of God, Country and the Universe. He can create a terrible beauty with these lines until you feel that indeed, 'Love is the title deed to heaven,'" Chirere said.

In Memory of the Future is available at mazwi.co/product/memory-future/#

Musavengana Hove is a Bulawayo based freelance journalist. Email soldierjournalist@gmail.com for feedback.