‘Talking about becoming a writer and thinking of becoming a writer are never short cuts to becoming a writer. A writer is one who writes,’ says Tinashe Mushakavanhu, who got his start in the British Council’s Crossing Borders programme.

Hardworking, focused and ambitious are some of the words he uses to describe himself. Born in 1983 in the capital city of Zimbabwe, Harare, he says that writing ‘crept up on him’ in his younger years.. After he participated in Crossing Borders he became the first African writer to receive an MA in Creative Writing at Trinity College, Carmarthen in Wales.

The story of how he got into the world of writing shows just how persistent he is. ‘I happened to watch one of the proprietors of Weaver Press, a small publishing firm in Harare, talking about writing in Zimbabwe on a Catholic-sponsored weekly documentary-style magazine show, Faith Lines. It was as if that particular show had been specifically made for me.’

Mushakavanhu asked Weaver Press for an internship and didn’t take no for an answer.

‘Eventually they hired me as an apprentice editor. Learning to be an effective editor was the best lesson to become a disciplined writer. I have not looked back ever since.’

At the age of 21, in 2004, he was selected to take part in the British Council co-sponsored programme Crossing Borders.

‘I remember the first meeting, held at Corner House in Harare, when I walked into the building to be greeted by a small group of accomplished individuals – university lecturers, school teachers, marketing executives, a school bursar, and me, then just a college student with oversized ambitions, a faded pair of jeans, an old T-shirt and a pimpled face. Crossing Borders was good in so many respects,’ he says.

Crossing Borders, now known as Radiophonics, was a cross-cultural distance learning scheme which linked young African writers with experienced UK mentors and developed their work through e-mail tutorials.

The purpose was to get students to hear, identify and develop their voices as writers. This initiative operated in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana and Cameroon.

Mushakavanhu says the Crossing Borders project broadened his perspective and made him aware of the contemporary world of writers outside Africa.

‘It gave me an effective understanding and appreciation of internet technology and it just lit the fire of my imagination.’

At age 20, he gave his first talk at the Uncwadi Writers Conference hosted at the University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

‘I believe that initial exposure gave me confidence to face the world. Writing has been my travel ticket within Southern Africa, East Africa and now Europe.

‘Crossing Borders equipped me with the gift every writer needs: to distinguish between confidence and pretension. Confidence is being comfortable in your own skin and pretension is forcing yourself to be what you are not. Through the Crossing Borders experience, and with the support of the British Council, I became the first African writer to receive an MA in Creative Writing at Trinity College in Wales, an experience that has forever changed my worldview.’

The course was formatted in email tutorials over a nine-month period. The interaction was always illuminating and refreshingly honest, he says.

‘It was the sexiest thing to have someone you have never met, will likely never to meet, intimately engage with your work and offer their opinion in good faith.’

He says the British Council should continue funding such programmes as they are a real help to up-and-coming writers.

‘I think the British Council is a necessary cultural conduit between Africa and the West and it has played and continues to play a legendary role in that pursuit. As the world is increasingly becoming a global village, the cultural interaction between nations and continents should continue to make all of us aware of each other’s cultures. After all, we are citizens of a shared world.’

Being a writer requires more writing and less talking, he says.

‘The other lesson I have learnt is that the best education for any writer is to read other writers. How can you write as if no other writers have existed?’

Among the other things that Mushakavanhu does is work in an advisory capacity with the Midlands State University Writers’ Club, Zimbabwe, which he founded when he was a student at the institution, five years ago. He still keeps in touch with the Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe (BWAZ) and its projects.

Mushakavanhu has recently started an e-journal, Mazwi.net, to give young writers across Africa a chance to share their creativity.  ‘I hope that this will grow into an informative forum that engages with the day-to-day realities of Africa.

‘I am also working on a draft of a novella, The Harare Hermit, which engages with the Zimbabwe crisis in a “docu-fictional” fashion, merging fact and fiction, blurring truth and imagination. Essentially the Zimbabwe question has become a big romance story, a stereotypical African outpost of tyranny with its blood-curdling dictatorship personified by an ageing and stubborn Mugabe.

‘The Zimbabwe crisis has faces and feelings and names and dreams. It is not mere statistics or party emblems and hypocritical leaders who cannot have enough cakes in Harare hotels. Zimbabwe is the people.’

Mushakavanhu adds that life is a journey and one learns as one goes along.

‘I think that’s what makes life exciting; you have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or ever, or if you will still be around then to be a witness.’

In the next five years he wants to finish his PhD and write one big, ambitious novel.

The Crossing Borders project has been replaced by Radiophonics, an African creative writing initiative also sponsored by the British Council. To read more about Radiophonics visit this page.

If you are an aspiring writer and you would like to get hold of Mushakavanhu visit this page and leave a comment for him. To read more about British Council events and programmes, please visit this page. Read our latest news here: News in Africa section.