Wilson Katiyo (1947–2003) was a novelist from Zimbabwe. He published two novels, and died while working on a third. He is considered a writer of the second generation of pre-independence Zimbabwe.[1]
Biography
editKatiyo was born in Mutoko, in what was then Southern Rhodesia—now Zimbabwe.[2] His early education was done at Fletcher High School, but was later completed in England.
In his younger years while living in Rhodesia, Katiyo was involved in political activities and received harassment from police officers. With Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1965 declared, Katiyo fled to Europe.
He studied chemistry in Europe at London University's Queen Mary College. From that, he also lived in France and Switzerland. He later returned to Zimbabwe for work as a chemist and film producer in House of Hunger alongside Chris Austin.[3] Post-independence, Katiyo also worked with the government as a civil servant in the office of the Ministry of Information.[4]
Wilson Katiyo died in 2003 from cancer.[3]
Career
editKatiyo published his first novel, A Son of the Soil, in 1976. According to Charles Larson, this novel highlighted the European invasion and the tyranny of white police officers over African countries.[5] It also contained the childhood to adulthood of a young boy living in a racially segregated society.[4] Sequel to A Son of the Soil, Katiyo published his second novel, Going to Heaven, in 1979. Continuing the plot of the first, Going to Heaven features the main character's escape to England with the help of a sympathizing white couple. It is here that the character experiences being a black minority living in England.[4]
Works
edit- Son of the Soil (1976)
- Going to Heaven (1979)
References
edit- ^ Primorac, Ranka (2003). "The Novel in a House of Stone: Re-Categorising Zimbabwean Fiction". Journal of Southern African Studies. 29 (1): 49–62. doi:10.1080/0305707032000060539. ISSN 0305-7070. JSTOR 3557409. S2CID 145300482.
- ^ Killam, Douglas; Kerfoot, Alicia L., eds. (2008). Student Encyclopedia of African Literature. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-313-05451-8.
- ^ a b Primorac, Ranka; Dodgson-Katiyo, Pauline (2004). "Wilson Katiyo (1947-2003)". The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 39 (2): 125–26. doi:10.1177/0021989404044743. S2CID 162378394.
- ^ a b c Stokvel, Sue's (13 August 2020). "Author Profile: Wilson Katiyo". Sue-Shane Tsomondo. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ Larson, Charles R. (1977). "Anglophone Writing from Africa and Asia". World Literature Today. 51 (2): 235–236. doi:10.2307/40133296. JSTOR 40133296.