4It is this indescribable feeling I get whenever I visit Vic Falls that inspired the name of ourliterary review. It is the same breathless contentment that comes from reading a perfectlycrafted story or poem. It is the feeling that we want to share with the world.Thank you for embarking on this new adventure with us!With love,Tendai MachingaidzeFOUNDER & EDITOR
5Dear Family,Let me introduce myself as the co-founder and editor of Mosi oa Tunya Literary Review. Myname is Ellen Chipo Machingaidze, a retired linguist who continues to be fueled and enrichedby great storytelling. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed reviewing literature of all genres inmy different capacities as a high school English teacher, Principal Writer at the CurriculumDevelopment Unit, Examinations Subject Specialist, and Educational Assessment Director forTest Development, Research and Evaluation at the national examinations council.I served as a reviewer for the Annual Literary Awards for a number of years, during which Ifelt the need for grassroots writers to be encouraged because there were few submissions insome of the categories of writing. English, Shona, and Ndebele were the only officiallanguages in Zimbabwe then, but now there are sixteen. As such, the previously so-called'minority languages' (many of which are also spoken by our neighbors in the countries thatsurround Zimbabwe) now urgently require literature for adults and children to study andenjoy.A growing concern to do my part to fill this gap is what led to this new partnership with mydaughter, Tendai, to create a pan-African platform for Zimbabweans and other writers fromAfrica. Tendai is a medical doctor who from an early age had a passion for books and writing.She has now published a novel and several short stories in literary journals in Zimbabwe,Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, India, and the United States of America. Her struggles andsuccesses trying to get published as a fiction writer from Zimbabwe formed the seed that hasnow blossomed into Mosi oa Tunya Literary Review.My writing energies have led me to publish English Today, a comprehensive EnglishLanguage course that includes Forms 1-4 student and teacher's books; co-publishing apoetry anthology titled Many People, Many Voices; co-publishing a Grade 6 textbook Englishin Action; and publishing Time Revision books for Grade 7 and Form 4. I have also beenprivileged to work as one of the Educational Advisers for CAMFED (Campaign for FemaleEducation), an NGO that has uplifted the lives of many disadvantaged girls in Zimbabwe.Travelling is one of my joys. I have experienced unity in the cultural diversity of the manyregional and international countries that I have visited with my family, as a member of theAssociation for Educational Assessment in Africa, and as part of the International Associationfor Educational Assessment. Our beautiful country Zimbabwe has many places of interest.Out of all those I have visited, Mosi oa Tunya stands out as the 'melting pot' for local,regional, and international ideas and cultural traits, due to the thousands of tourists fromaround the globe who come to see this natural wonder. It is true that culture is embedded ina people's language. We are excited by the prospect of having the full spectrum ofZimbabwean culture represented in our magazine as we embark on this journey to publishand promote storytelling in the rich diversity of all our languages.
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