Dambudzo Marechera was born on June 4 1952 in Rusape and baptised Charles William Marechera. His father, Isaac, was a trucker and mortuary attendant, and his mother, Masvotwa Venezia was a nanny. However, Dambudzo won scholarships to St Augustine's Secondary School, to the University of Zimbabwe and to New College, Oxford. He has the distinction of having been expelled from all three.


After his expulsion from Oxford, Marechera hitchhiked to London, and claimed to have lived in a riverside tent there while he wrote 'The House of Hunger' - a novella and some short stories. With a theme that questioned what had happened to his generation--that of the first politically conscious, educated Africans--the book caused a literary stir and won several impressive reviews when it was published by the esteemed Heinemann publishing house in 1978. It was championed by well-known writers, and earned the Guardian newspaper's prize for debut fiction the following year.

House of Hunger was followed by four other novels, 'Black Sunlight' (1980),'The Black Insider' (1990) and 'Mindblast' (1884). His poetry, collected together in 'Cemetery of Mind', was published posthumously in 1992. 

After his departure from Oxford, he lived and wrote in London until his return to Zimbabwe in 1982. Dambudzo died an untimely and tragic death on August 18 1987, in Harare.

Marechera's work, his ideas and his defiance, live on in Zimbabwe, particularly amongst the youth, who find inspiration in his willingness to be the lone outsider, challenging conventional and authoritarian views.

'Dambudzo Marechera - His Life and Work' interview was made in Marechera's flat at 8 Sloane Court, Harare by Alle Lansu in February 1986.

Dambudzo Marechera - The House Of Hunger (Childhood)

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