Masimba Musodza

Julius Masimba Musodza (born 29 March 1976) is a Zimbabwean author.

Life

Musodza was born at the cusp of the emergence of the new Zimbabwe, the eldest son of a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Lands. The Musodza family are of the Buja people of Mutoko , north east Zimbabwe. Reading was encouraged in the Musodza household. He was educated at Avondale Primary School, Harare and St Mary Magdalene's High School, Nyanga. After school, he trained as a screenwriter, selling his first screenplay to Media For Development Trust in 2002. Barely a month after, as political and socio-economic uncertainty engulfed Zimbabwe, Musodza relocated to the United Kingdom, where he has lived ever since. He lives in the North East England town of Middlesbrough.^[1][2]

Writing

An avid reader as a child, Musodza aspired to be a writer from the time he discovered that it was possible to earn a living from it.^[3] His first book was The Man Who Turned Into A Rastafarian, 2006, an anthology of short stories about Rastafarian life in Zimbabwe. This anthology, with the Dread Eye Detective Agency stories have established his reputation as a pioneer in African "Rastafarian Literature".^[4][5][6]

Musodza has contributed to StoryTime e-zine, which was founded by Sweden-based Zimbabwean author and publisher, Ivor Hartmann.,^[7] Jungle Jim,^[8] Bookends, Winter Tales^[9][10] and other periodicals.

He is also the author of the first definitive science fiction novel in the Shona language, MunaHacha Maive Nei?^[11][12] Masimba Musodza is a Charter Member of the African Speculative Fiction Society.^[13]He is one of two Zimbabwean writers who have been featured in Geoff Ryman's 100 African Writers of SF^[14]

In addition to two personal blogs, Musodza, an advocate for Zionism, blogs for The Times of Israel.^[15]

Publications

• The Village Idiot, Trends, Bulawayo, 2006
• The Man who turned into a Rastafarian,2007, Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-537-5
• Uriah's Vengeance, Lion Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9558082-5-8
• African Roar^[16] (Anthology, contributed Yesterday's Dog,^[17] a short-story) edited by E. Sigauke/I.W. Hartmann, Lion Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9562422-8-0
• Chishamiso, Bookends, The Sunday Observer, Kingston, 2012
• Here be Cannibals, Jungle Jim #23, Afreak Press, Cape Town, 2014
• Shavi Rechikadzi, 2015, Belontos Books, ISBN 978-1-908690-24-1
• When the Trees were Enchanted, Winter Tales, Fox Spirit Books, ISBN 978-1-909348-88-2
• MunaHacha Maive Nei? (2nd edition), 2016, Belontos Books, ISBN 978-1-908690-24-1

Acting

Masimba Musodza's professional acting debut was in Edgar Langeveldt's play, No News, which premiered at Theatre-In-The-Park, Harare, in 1997. He also appears in a short film, Vengeance is Mine (2001) by Tawanda Gunda. However, it was not until he settled in Middlesbrough that he began to pursue acting more seriously. He appeared in a short play, To Be Or Not To Be, written by compatriot Dictator Maphosa, as part of the Middlesbrough Council-sponsored Boro Bites short plays (August, 2010). In 2011, he joined the Arc Sketch Group, an extension of the Writers Block North East workshops,^[18][19][20] which put on themed sketch shows^[21] at the Arc Theatre, Stockton-on-Tees until it disbanded in 2012.

Since then, Masimba Musodza has been a film and TV extra, appearing in such productions as Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands (Episode 11), where he plays a Vani warrior.^[22] He can also be seen in the festival teaser and UK trailer for Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake.^[23] He has also appeared in Make! Craft Britain, which was aired on BBC4 the 9th of June 2016.^[24]

References

External links

• Masimba Musodza at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Interview with Musodza
• Musodza's website
• A Moment With Masimba Musodza