City of Refuge

In 2001, Chenjerai Hove was driven out of his homeland, Zimbabwe, after years of persecution by Robert Mugabe's government. Hove drew Mugabe's ire with plays like Sister Sing Again Someday about the plight of Zimbabwean women, leading his to home being burglarized, his works stolen and his movements placed under...

By Tim Elfrink

November 18, 2010

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In 2001, Chenjerai Hove was driven out of his homeland, Zimbabwe, after years of persecution by Robert Mugabe's government. Hove drew Mugabe's ire with plays like Sister Sing Again Someday about the plight of Zimbabwean women, leading his to home being burglarized, his works stolen and his movements placed under surveillance. Finally, his passport was seized and he fled to Norway. But Hove hasn't stopped writing, thanks to the City of Refuge program, an international group founded by Salman Rushdie and others to give threatened authors a safe haven to work. Hove is Miami's first City of Refuge fellow. Ahead of his appearance at the Miami Book Fair International this weekend, he talks to Cultist about crafting exile literature -- and his hopes for Zimbabwe's future Hove's best known work, 1989's Bones, explored the violence and loss rooted in the Zimbabwean liberation war. He himself was forced to leave his wife and youngest child behind when he fled to Scandanavia.
Sat., Nov. 20, 2 p.m., 2010

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Tim Elfrink is a former investigative reporter and managing editor for Miami New Times. He has won the George Polk Award and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Contact: Tim Elfrink

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Twitter: @timelfrinkmia