Morgan Mahanya


Morgan Mahanya is a Zimbabwean Shona-language writer of detective fiction and war fiction. He has published 13 books since 1976, including books in Shona and in English, both fiction and nonfiction. Mahanya is one of the pioneering writers of detective stories in the Shona language. His books Chidamwoyo, Zvinoyera and The Wound are about the Rhodesian Bush War.

Background

Morgan Mahanya was born at Zimuto Mission in Masvingo Province in a ChiShona-speaking family. His father Nicholas, who died in 1966, was the headman in Mahanya Village, Zimuto. Mahanya went to Mutatiri for primary school and Zimuto Mission for secondary school before joining Mambo Press as a shorytories freelance writer and contributor in 1972. He worked for the now defunct Moto Magazine in the 1970s. Mahanya also taught at Sherwood Primary School near Kwekwe from 1968 to 1970.
His first book published was Rufu Runobereka Rufu. He has since written 13 books, two of them in the English language.
Mahanya's novels have been used in several dissertations and theses.
Mahanya was a Sidakeni/Empress Mine ward councillor and the Mashambazhou Council chairman in the former Mashambazhou District Council from 1982 to 1991. He also was one of the five commissioners in the amalgamation of Kwekwe Rural Council and Mashambazhou District Council forming the Zibagwe Rural District Council in 1991-1993.

Works

Mahanya has written 13 books, 11 of them in Shona.
Mahanya is married to Rebecca and has four daughters. The last-born, Grace, is a budding novelist. He lives a humble life in Zhombe, Empress Mine Ward in a village called Totororo.