Shamiso

Shamiso is a young girl, thoughtful but uncertain, taken by her family from rural Zimbabwe to bustling Harare. As she grows up there, she watches the world: her distant, stern father, her angry stepmother and her father's strange, loving cousin, the elderly Jimson, who encourages Shamiso to discover her passion for art, her place in their family, and her voice in the world. When she takes a leap to leave Zimbabwe behind for Brighton, England, Shamiso must find a new family and a new way of living. There she falls in love for the first time with George - whose female identity, Georgie, is everything Shamiso has ever wanted or needed. But can such happiness last, when neither of them knows yet who they truly are? Quirky, challenging and mischievous, this tender coming-of-age story brilliantly examines selfhood, love and the many shapes family can take. From first moments to final steps, Shamiso is a thought-provoking, blazing work of modern existence and all its contradictions.

Brian Chikwava is a London-based writer and author of Harare North, longlisted for the 2010 Orwell Prize for political writing. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies published by Picador, Granta, Weaver Press, Jacana, Umuzi and has been aired on BBC Radios 3, 4 and the World Service. He has held fellowships at Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (South Africa), the University of East Anglia (Charles Pick Fellowship, UK), the Santa Maddalena Foundation (Italy), Maison Dora Maar (France), Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Italy) and Marguerite Yourcenar Villa (France). Brian won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2004 with his short story 'Seventh Street Alchemy'.@BrianChikwava