Griots and Galaxies: Tendai Huchu

This week’s episode of Griots and Galaxies features a conversation with hosts Chinelo Onwualu, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, and guest Tendai Huchu, published under T.L. Huchu. Originally from Zimbabwe, but based in Edinburgh, Huchu is the author of the Edinburgh Night series, which concluded with the fifth and final British Science Fiction Award shortlisted novel, Secrets of the First School. He also writes short fiction, which has appeared in numerous venues, and he dabbles in translation between the Shona and English languages. In this episode, they talk about pitfalls of the publishing market, hurdles specific to African writers, and Tendai’s journey through different genres of fiction. He shares elements of his world-building and series planning, and the influences behind work.

This week’s episode of Griots and Galaxies features a conversation with hosts Jenna Hanchey and Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, and guests Chido Muchemwa and Mubanga Kalimamukwento. Muchemwa, published under C.T. Muchemwa, is a Zimbabwean writer and academic, author of the short story collection ‘Who Will Bury You?’ and Other Stories. Kalimamukwento is founding editor of Ubwali Literary Magazine, and the first African winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. She is an award winning writer and author of ‘The Mourning Bird’, ‘Unmarked Graves’, ‘Obligations to the Wounded’, and ‘The Shipikisha Club’. In this episode, they talk about grief and the specific challenges of losing parents overseas. Further in the conversation is what it means to preserve black women and their influence after their passing, how we build communities around their teachings in their honor, and the catharsis of writing speculative fiction for processing trauma and building a cultural archive.

This week’s episode of Griots and Galaxies features a conversation with hosts Chinelo Onwualu, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, and guest ‘Pemi Aguda from Lagos, Nigeria. ‘Pemi is the author of ‘One Leg on Earth’ and ‘Ghost Roots’, a finalist for the 2024 National Book Awards in Fiction, the LA Times First Fiction Prize, and the Penn Faulkner Award. In this episode, they discuss the connecting line of setting, symbolism, and spirituality in her stories, how it ties in to ‘Pemi’s background in architecture, and the importance of facing evocative subject matter head-on in speculative fiction.