Help Chido get to VONA!
Donation protected
Hi there! I am Chido Muchemwa and I am a writer. I cannot tell you how long it has taken me to reach a place where I am confident enough in my ability to be able to claim the title writer. And now I'm hoping you'll help me in the next stage of becoming a better writer. I have been accepted to VONA, the only multi-genre writing workshop for people of color in America. I'll be attending the "Political Content in Memoir, Poetry and Prose" with Elmaz Abinader, but I’m going to need your help to cover the costs of this workshop and tuition is due June 1st. You can learn more about VONA here: http://vonacommunity.org/community/ .
I’ve been writing short stories and essays since I was six, but I never considered it as a career until I read Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah at age seventeen. Despite the fact that I grew up in Zimbabwe, I had never read a book by a non-Zimbabwean African writer until that point. I thought that Africa had no tales to tell me. Instead I read books about England, America, stories with people who led lives that looked nothing like my own. Then I read Anthills of the Savannah and my eyes were opened. It felt like Achebe was introducing me to my own continent and showing me that this was a place with a history just as rich as anywhere else, and a million stories waiting to be told, stories that I could tell.
And I’ve been working away at telling these stories ever since. I’ve had several essays published and I had a short story on the shortlist for the Short Story Day Africa Prize. My favored genre is memoir because I can use personal stories to discuss larger issues in Zimbabwe like patriarchy, patriotism and the legacies of colonialism. For a better sense of who I am as a writer, please check out my blog at curiouschido.wordpress.com .
So why VONA? VONA will give me access to a community invested in the same social justice goals as me as well as a community that understands the challenges of being a POC writer in America. Further more, VONA is the kind of opportunity that leads to more opportunities. There are several writing retreats like Hedgebrook and the Norman Mailer Writers Colony that have special funding reserved for VONA participants. And often when people in publishing are looking to add diversity to their line-ups, they look up VONA past participants. But most importantly to me, VONA is a chance to have my work examined without having to feel like the other because I’m the only person of color in the room. It’s getting to be just a writer as opposed to being “the black one”, or“the African writer”. It’s the chance to spend a week working on an essay to get it to publishable quality while building a supportive network that will help me achieve my writing dreams.
So how can you help?
I received a partial scholarship that covers half the tuition, but I'm hoping you can help me cover the rest. I'm Zimbabwean, so you know I'm out here hustling and I think I’ll be able to cover the costs of getting from Austin, TX to Philadelphia, PA. But I need help to cover the rest of tuition and the cost of room and board.
Tuition: $350
Room and board: $750
I leave you with the last paragraph of my VONA application which explains what kind of writer I am:
"I am not a politician. I’m not a journalist. I’m a writer and the best way I know to deal with oppression is to write. And I use my personal stories as a window into larger conversations about oppressive structures of power be that colonialism, an authoritarian government or a paternalistic culture. That said, I know what black African memoirs are supposed to look like. I know the way these narratives tend to be written. The people of Zimbabwe should be victims and the West should be the enemy. The people should be facing incredible challenges but still managing to smile through it all, and I should dwell on those smiles as a symbol of incredible human endurance. These are things that I have tried to work against. I don’t want to write a pretty story. I don’t want to write a story that warms my reader. I want to make them think. I want to make them uncomfortable. I want to write about things that feel urgent and tell the story of my country with nuance."
I’ve been writing short stories and essays since I was six, but I never considered it as a career until I read Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah at age seventeen. Despite the fact that I grew up in Zimbabwe, I had never read a book by a non-Zimbabwean African writer until that point. I thought that Africa had no tales to tell me. Instead I read books about England, America, stories with people who led lives that looked nothing like my own. Then I read Anthills of the Savannah and my eyes were opened. It felt like Achebe was introducing me to my own continent and showing me that this was a place with a history just as rich as anywhere else, and a million stories waiting to be told, stories that I could tell.
And I’ve been working away at telling these stories ever since. I’ve had several essays published and I had a short story on the shortlist for the Short Story Day Africa Prize. My favored genre is memoir because I can use personal stories to discuss larger issues in Zimbabwe like patriarchy, patriotism and the legacies of colonialism. For a better sense of who I am as a writer, please check out my blog at curiouschido.wordpress.com .
So why VONA? VONA will give me access to a community invested in the same social justice goals as me as well as a community that understands the challenges of being a POC writer in America. Further more, VONA is the kind of opportunity that leads to more opportunities. There are several writing retreats like Hedgebrook and the Norman Mailer Writers Colony that have special funding reserved for VONA participants. And often when people in publishing are looking to add diversity to their line-ups, they look up VONA past participants. But most importantly to me, VONA is a chance to have my work examined without having to feel like the other because I’m the only person of color in the room. It’s getting to be just a writer as opposed to being “the black one”, or“the African writer”. It’s the chance to spend a week working on an essay to get it to publishable quality while building a supportive network that will help me achieve my writing dreams.
So how can you help?
I received a partial scholarship that covers half the tuition, but I'm hoping you can help me cover the rest. I'm Zimbabwean, so you know I'm out here hustling and I think I’ll be able to cover the costs of getting from Austin, TX to Philadelphia, PA. But I need help to cover the rest of tuition and the cost of room and board.
Tuition: $350
Room and board: $750
I leave you with the last paragraph of my VONA application which explains what kind of writer I am:
"I am not a politician. I’m not a journalist. I’m a writer and the best way I know to deal with oppression is to write. And I use my personal stories as a window into larger conversations about oppressive structures of power be that colonialism, an authoritarian government or a paternalistic culture. That said, I know what black African memoirs are supposed to look like. I know the way these narratives tend to be written. The people of Zimbabwe should be victims and the West should be the enemy. The people should be facing incredible challenges but still managing to smile through it all, and I should dwell on those smiles as a symbol of incredible human endurance. These are things that I have tried to work against. I don’t want to write a pretty story. I don’t want to write a story that warms my reader. I want to make them think. I want to make them uncomfortable. I want to write about things that feel urgent and tell the story of my country with nuance."
Organizer
Chido Muchemwa
Organizer
Austin, TX
