Writer Ekari Mbvundula Chirombo has resurfaced with a new ebook titled Green Shadows: Vinjeru’s Awakening.
Ekari returns to the fold barely a year after she released an anthology titled Mombera Rising alongside Muthi Nhlema.
The writer, who is now based in Zimbabwe, said yesterday she has been working on this story since 2012 and that it was on and off.
“Along the way, I took breaks to write short stories for competitions and to co-find Story Ink Africa – a platform where aspiring writers could share their stories with live audiences.
“After 2020, following some major life changes, including marriage, motherhood and relocating to Harare, I restructured Story Ink into a writing and editing service, then decided to focus on my personal writing goals again,” she said.
Ekari said Green Shadows originally began as Green Imperialism.
“A scene from it even won second prize in a Nigerian-based short story competition in 2016, which showed me the story had potential. After clearing my calendar of other commitments, I returned to it and was fortunate to receive the Kekere Storyteller Fund, which supports African writers,” she said.
Ekari said the inspiration for the work came from her love of science fiction and background in environmental sciences.
The book – Green Shadows: Vinjeru’s Awakening is an African scifi young adult eco-fiction thriller based in Malawi in the year 2097.
It tells the story of Vinjeru and Sphiwe, students at an underwater university, who get involved in a plot to illegally bury Vinjeru’s grandfather (instead of submitting the body to the state for recycling) and it is not long before they become fugitives, running for their lives and freedom.
“Witnessing environmental degradation in our region, I wondered what it might take to truly safeguard our environment. This led me to imagine a futuristic eco-dictatorship that uses technology to maintain ecological balance – but at the cost of human rights and freedoms,” she said.
The writer said through the book, she is trying to send a message that responsibility must go hand in hand with freedom.
“Without it, we risk either irreversible environmental destruction or losing our rights in the name of the greater good.
“Science fiction helps us look beyond the present and explore both the possibilities of what we could achieve and the warnings of what we should avoid based on our current choices,” Ekari said.
The writer prides in a number of other works which include Montague’s Last and Undying Love.
“The book is available as an ebook on Amazon.com and this is all to keep up with the digital landscape. As writers we need to adjust and look beyond if we are to stay relevant and keep up with the current trends and changes,” she said.
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