Mulberry Dreams

We chat to Violette from Bulawayo, an author with a strong journalistic background.We will be unpacking her latest novel Mulberry Dreams and looking into her the politics and perspectives around the 'coloured issue' , identity - both social and political and the Zimbabwe story.This is a podcast where we talk art and art processes.TranscriptWesley Pepper: [00:00:00] Hey greetings everybody. This is Wesley pepper and you're tuned into my podcast Wesley Pepper’s Art Lexica, which is brought to you by spudcaster and baobulb, um, yeah, man, um, Just before we start, like, uh, recap on last week's episode. I had a lot of fun with the Erica last, um, last week, I think we touched on some really cool stuff.[00:00:33] We spoke about some really cool stuff. And, um, she does, um, um, you know, I really think those, uh, uh, ice sculptures are incredibly beautiful. And, uh, I know she was also working on that, uh, trying to raise funds for that project in Worcester. So all the best for that. I kind of hope that my, um, our episode yesterday, would help somewhat, you know, maybe somebody would hear it somewhere, some potential or whatever.[00:00:59] Yeah. So yeah, big up to her for that. I think that was a, that was a lot of, that was fantastic. Fantastic episode. Yeah, man. Uh, moving on to this week, um, this week we're talking to an author from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Uh, her name is Violette Sohaili Kee-tui. Um, I hope I pronounced that correct. Um, so she's the, uh, um, she's an author of a book titled, uh, Mulberry dreams.[00:01:30] And I actually came across the book very interestingly enough, um, through Philani, uh, we know we spoken with, we spoke to him a few times on this podcast and, uh, Philani made me, uh, uh, you know, made me do it and like added what he said about it. And I read the, uh, uh, what John Eppel, uh, was also a very, uh, for those of you don't know, he's a really highly rated, um, um, poet in Zimbabwe where I've read a lot, bunch of his stuff too.[00:02:00] And I think he's an incredible writer as well. Um, and that really made me like, then I got really, um, or other, those, you know, reading up about that, like really I said, okay, sure. I really would like to talk to this, um, to, um, to talk to the author and, um, you know, we set it up in and everything and like one of the things that, um, Um, from what I can, from what I can tell that, um, that she writes about, um, something that strikes home to me, you know, given that I am, um, um, um, mixed race or whatever you want to call it.[00:02:33] Um, yeah, is the, you know, is the whole like, uh, I guess Southern African, uh, um, Identity politics around mixed race people. Um, you know, I don't speak to it. I don't speak about it too much. In fact, I've memory serves me. This will actually be the first episode where I sort of tackle or, or speak about that through, um, through, um, through another artist’s work.[00:03:00] Uh, yeah. Cause it's a topic that is just so complicated for me and so layered. And I think it'll just take me for you, for me to give. Uh, for other, for me to give you my perspectives on, that'll take a whole bunch of episodes and it's a really complicated thing. Um, but yeah, but anyway, um, but besides that, that's not just, we're going to talk about, about the entire book, about publishing or rather her career before.[00:03:25] Um, I know she started off as a journalist, so we were talking about her career before she started, um, um, um, um, you know, became a full-time writer and what she's doing now and of course moving forward and like, you know, like with everybody else, I'm also interested in how about, how are they adapting to the post COVID world, you know?[00:03:42] Oh, in terms of technology? Um, yeah, so, so a lot of cool stuff to look forward to our chat, to you’s towards the end of the episode...