an emerging voice in the face of oppression.

Poet, Author, Essayist, Dramatist, Human Rights Activist and Educator,Chenjerai Hove (pronounced chen-jeh-rye, hoe-ve) does everything in his creative arsenal to reign down the struggles that are bleeding his native Zimbabwe’s true beauty.

He has made it his life’s work to write and educate the world about his beloved homeland and bring to light the shadowy corruption, abuse and torture by the country’s despotic government. “A country,” he writes, “which is now run by a group of thuggish military generals and bands of youth militias spread throughout the country that are spitting on its people and plundering all of Zimbabwe’s beauty”.

Hove is a founder of the Zimbabwe Writers Union, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights) and a co-founder of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, serving on its board for nearly 10 years. He has lectured on the craft of writing as well as social justice at major universities across the globe and has received the highest prize in literature given on the African Continent (the NOMA award) for his novel Bones in 1988. Furthermore, his essays on social justice earned him the German-Africa prize in 2001 for his collection of articles entitled, Palaver Finish. His has been a journey of creative success but also of heartache.

For over thirty years Hove wrote from his native country unafraid of the risks involved in writing about the ugliness of his government. As time went on his work became an increasingly political target of attack and so, after endless bribes and countless death threats, Hove finally fled into exile in 2001. He has led a migrant’s life around Europe since then lecturing and presenting the issues alive in his heart-wrenching stories. Today he is in Miami as a writer-in-residence for the Miami: City of Refuge, a project coordinated by the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College with the generous financial support of the Knight Foundation. He is here to share in solidarity his story of exile with students and the people of Miami, and to talk and write about the issues of political repression and social justice in Zimbabwe.

The International Cities of Refuge Network is an association of cities around the world dedicated to the value of Freedom of Expression. Writers have consistently been targets of politically motivated threats and persecution, and the network believes it is necessary for the international community to formulate and implement an appropriate response.

Each ICORN city focuses on one writer at a time, each writer representing the countless others in hiding, in prison or silenced forever. By providing a Guest Writer with a safe place to stay and economic security for a standard term of two years, ICORN cities make an important, practical contribution to the promotion of Freedom of Expression.

[Wednesday, April 7, 2010 | 12:30 p.m.]
English Discipline Meeting.
Mr. Hove will read from his works and briefly talk about his passion for writing and how students can relate to his experiences.
Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus

[Wednesday, April 14, 2010 | 7 p.m.]
Conversation with Kenyan writer Ngugi Wa Thiong'o.
Books & Books
265 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables
Free and open to the public.

[Saturday, April 17, 2010 | 10 a.m.]          
Conference: Causes of Ethnic Conflict in Africa and How Reconciliation is Necessary to Prevent Further Conflict.
Mr. Hove will be part of a panel discussion. He will also speak about his experiences and discuss the causes of conflict in Zimbabwe and the possibilities for the post-Mugabe future.
LaSalle High School
3601 South Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33133
Conference free and open to the public.

[Thursday, April 22, 2010 | 7 p.m.]
Poetry reading and discussion at the Boas Poetry Club.
Mr. Hove will read a few poems, talk about himself, and discuss issues pertaining to his native Zimbabwe with invited guests.
Aventura, Florida

[Friday, April 23, 2010 | 7 p.m.]
Poetry reading and discussion.
Mr. Hove will read a few poems and discuss issues pertaining to his native Zimbabwe with invited guests.
California Club Library
Ives Dairy Road, Miami

[Wednesday, May 5, 2010 | 6:30 p.m.]
An Inspiring Conversation with Chenjerai Hove during the Florida Center for the Literary Arts' 2010 Writers Institute
Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus,
Room 2106 (Building 2, First floor),
300 N.E. Second Avenue, Downtown Miami
Free and open to the public.