BULAWAYO - Welsh writer Owen Sheers is set to be guest speaker at the launch of Bryony Rheams debut novel, This September Sun. The launch date has been pencilled in for November 19 at the Bulawayo Club, which is mentioned in the novel.Sheers was born in Fiji and raised in Abergavenny, South Wales and educated at New College at Oxford University. He has written two award winning collections of poetry The Blue Book and Skirrid Hill. His first novel, Resistance, published last year by Faber and Faber has to date been translated into nine languages and is set to be adapted into a big motion picture film soon.
His special connection with Zimbabwe is through his great-great uncle, the maverick Chivhu missionary Arthur Shearly Cripps. He powerfully captured Cripps legacy in a series of layered interwoven narratives in his semi-fictional book, The Dust Diaries.
A previous guest at the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo in 2006, he has been published in a few amaBooks anthologies including Short Writings From Bulawayo III, Long Time Coming and more recently Intwasa Poetry.