Malawian writer, online magazine launch The Story Club
A group calling itself The Story Club has been launched in the country courtesy of 2012 Peer Gynt Literary Award winner Shadreck Chikoti and Malawi’s online arts and entertainment magazine Malawi Heat, Nyasa Times has learnt.
Both Pius Nyondo, co-director at www.malawiheat.com and Chikoti confirmed in separate interviews about the development saying it will be a grand coming together of writers, editors, readers, teachers of literature, book lovers, critics and all that exists in the field of literature to celebrate the art of writing and reading.
“It is an attempt to create space for likeminded individuals who are passionate about literature,” said Nyondo.
He added: “Malawi has a lot of potential in the field of literature. We’ve a lot of young talent which lacks requisite interaction and exposure. This will be the ideal avenue for such talent.”
Chikoti added that at The Story Club writers will read their works and receive immediate feedback.
“Malawi lacks such kind of gatherings where lovers of literature can meet to not only share their works but also information on what is going on in the world in the field of writing,” said Chikoti.
He said the club intends to be meeting once every month, starting with Lilongwe as its base after which there will be chapters in the country’s major cities and, eventually, the plan is to have similar gatherings across the country wherever there will be individuals willing to open a story club.
According to Chikoti, activities of The Story Club will include, among others, reading of diverse works of fiction (prose in particular) before critiquing them and inviting authors who will come to read or talk about their works before the audience gives its instant feedback.
At a later stage the club will also be featuring internationally renowned writers who will come to share their works and experiences hence help Malawian writers to perfect the art of writing.
“Every month the club will be picking a book which will be read and a day will be set aside for the discussion of the book. So, in a month we will have one day for book discussions. We have already discussed with National Library Service and we will also partner with such newspapers as Malawi News,The Sunday Times and Weekend Nation which will be among the sources for our stories,” said Chikoti.
The club will open a website shortly but currently to become a member of the club, one should register through the Facebook accounts of Chikoti, Diana Satha and Alex Lily.
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