Julius Masimba Musodza (born 29 March 1976) is a

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

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 Mutoko is a small town in Mashonaland East province, Zimbabwe. It was established as an administrative station in 1911. It lies 143 km from Harare. It is named after the local chief, Mutoko. The town is the capital of the Mutoko District, ...

, north east Zimbabwe. Reading was encouraged in the Musodza household. He was educated at Avondale Primary School,

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

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 Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

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. Musodza has contributed to ''StoryTime''

e-zine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer maga ...

, which was founded by Sweden-based Zimbabwean author and publisher, Ivor Hartmann., ''Jungle Jim'', ''Bookends'', ''Winter Tales'' and other periodicals. He is also the author of the first definitive science fiction novel in the

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people * Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today Shona may also refer to: * ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing * Shona (given name) * S ...

language, ''MunaHacha Maive Nei?'' Musodza states that he began to write science-fiction in ChiShona when he was 10, when he translated Mary Shelley's

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ...

for his maternal grandmother. His use of ChiShona challenges the widely-held perception that indigenous languages lack the "sophistication" with which to conceptualise and articulate "complex" ideas such as are found in science-fiction. He has also stated that he is inspired by

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English. He has been described as having been "considered East Africa’s leading novelist". His wo ...

Decolonising The Mind ''Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature'' (Heinemann Educational, 1986), by the Kenyan novelist and post-colonial theorist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, is a collection of essays about language and its constructive role in ...

. Musodza explores writing science -fiction in ChiShona in an essay, Writing and Publishing 'Complicated Stuff' in an African Language, which appeared in Vector 289, the magazine of the British Fantasy Association He is one of two Zimbabwean writers who have been featured in Geoff Ryman's 100 African Writers of SF In addition to two personal blogs, Musodza, an advocate for Zionism, blogs for ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman.

''. He has taken part in the Battle for Ideas Festival

Novels and novellas

* '' Aquilina (kana kuti, Reuriro yaHatifari Maforimbo)'', 2020, Belontos Books, * '' Shavi Rechikadzi'', 2015, Belontos Books, * '' MunaHacha Maive Nei?'' (2nd edition), 2016, Belontos Books, * ''Uriah's Vengeance'', Lion Press, 2009, Coventry, United Kingdom

Short fiction

* ''The Sandship Builders Of Chitungwiza'', ''Save The World: Twenty Sci-Fi Writers Save The Planet'', ed. J.Scott Coatsworth, Other Worlds Ink, United States, 2022 * ''Here I Am, My Son'', ''Sticks & Stones Magazine'', Bright Lights Media House, United Kingdom, 2022 * ''Warrior Mine'', ''Omenana Speculative Fiction Magazine, Vol. 19'', Seven Hills Media, Nigeria, 2021 * ''Tek-Tek's Game'', ''Other Side of Hope Vol 1'', Other Side Of Hope Publishing, United Kingdom, 2021 * ''What Bastet Saw'', ''Undead Press'', online, 2021 * ''Imba YaSekuru Browne'', ''Mosi-oa-Tunya Literary Review'', Zimbabwe, 2021 * ''The Rapture of Pastor Agregate Makunike'', ''Chitungwiza Musha Mukuru: An Anthology From Zimbabwe's Biggest Ghetto Town'', Mwanaka Publishing, Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, 2020 * ''Aquilina (kana kuti, Reururo yaHatifari Maforimbo'', Belontos Books, United Kingdom, 2019, * ''The Witch of Eskale Hall'', "Creep" anthology, ed. Jay Chakravarti, ''Culture Cult Magazine'', India, 2019, * ''The Interplanetary Water Company'', ''AfroSFv3'', 2018, StoryTime, * ''African Roar'' (Anthology, contributed ''Yesterday's Dog'', a short-story) edited by E. Sigauke/I.W. Hartmann, Lion Press, 2010, * ''Here be Cannibals'', ''Jungle Jim'' #23, Afreak Press, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa,2014 * ''When the Trees were Enchanted'', ''Winter Tales'', Fox Spirit Books, London, United Kingdom, 2014 * ''Chishamiso'', ''Bookends'', ''The Sunday Observer'', Kingston, Jamaica, 2012 * ''To The Woods, With A Girl'', StoryTime e-zine, Sweden * ''In The Blood'', StoryTime e-zine, Sweden, 2008 * ''Framed'', StoryTime e-zine, Sweden, 2008 * ''The Village Idiot'', ''Trends'', Bulawayo, 2006

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, which put on themed sketch shows at the Arc Theatre,

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimat ...

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. He can also be seen in the festival teaser and UK trailer for

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...

I, Daniel Blake ''I, Daniel Blake'' is a 2016 drama film written by Paul Laverty and directed by Ken Loach. The film stars Dave Johns as Daniel Blake, a middle-aged man who is denied Employment and Support Allowance despite being declared unfit to work by his ...

. He has also appeared in ''Make! Craft Britain'', which was aired on BBC4 on June 9, 2016. His most recent appearance has been in the short film ''I Need help'' (Ben Stainsby, 2018), where he plays 'The Wise Man'

References

External links

Masimba Musodza at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Musodza's website

A Moment With Masimba Musodza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musodza, Masimba Zimbabwean writers Zimbabwean novelists Zimbabwean male writers Male novelists Zimbabwean male actors Zimbabwean Rastafarians Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom People from Harare Living people 1976 births