marangwanda

Shards is an allegorical, amorphous soliloquy about two pivotal days in the life of a troubled young woman from a middle-class Zimbabwe family. The rhapsodic story follows the protagonist as she experiences a profound existential crisis precipitated by an ancestral calling she has long refused to accept and grows increasingly disillusioned and alienated. It is set against the backdrop of a country beset by sociopolitical troubles and grappling with unfulfilled hopes in the dregs of the colonial era.

Cynthia Marangwanda’s background as a spoken word artist is evident throughout her writing as she deftly explores African spirituality and how it clashes with the dictates of modernity.

Shards is the first novella by Marangwanda. It was well-received in her native Zimbabwe, earning her a National Arts Merit Award for debut published work in 2015.