Mujajati scoops first prize for Fear Not, My Brother

Standard People
BY TINASHE SIBANDA Established author, George Mujajati, recently won the Zimbabwe Book Publishing Association’s Writing and Publishing Award first prize in the “Best Children’s Literature” category with his latest book titled Fear Not, My Brother.

Mujajati, who has bagged various awards in the past seven years, said he is happy about his latest achievement and assured his readers that there was more to come.

“I am very grateful for this award because it is very much rewarding and inspires me to continue writing,” Mujajati said.

Fear Not, My Brother is a story based on the lives of Chiyedza and Blessing who are very close school friends separated by family problems but remain in touch through a series of letters.

Through their letters, they open their hearts and their most intimate thoughts to each other as they struggle to overcome their difficulties, which include family deaths, property ownership wrangles, neglect and abuse.

Any reader, as the plot develops, would tend to wonder how these girls would overcome such challenges that mercilessly torture their teenage minds.They struggle with problems created by an adult world which they are about to enter yet they do not fully understand it.

“My themes in the book dwell on victimisation of the most vulnerable groups in the society, including women, children and the poor,” Mujajati said.

His writing is fictitious but appears real as it always reflects on what happens in people’s lives daily.

Mujajati said he is already working on a sequel to the book in which the girls would finally reach adulthood.

“I am currently working on two other books with a similar style and of course a bit of innovation.”

The 52-year-old writer, who is also an environmental science lecturer at Morgan Zintec College, said his job and writing passion did not affect each other because he has time for either duty.

Mujajati said he had a lot of time to fulfill his passion since he prioritises writing over many other activities that compete for his attention.