ZIMBABWE Publishing House chief executive officer, Blazio Tafireyi has urged authors to treat their works as a professional business and ensure that there are clear succession plans to ensure that their literary estate would be properly handled after their deaths.
BY TINASHE MUCHURI
Speaking during a gathering to celebrate the life and works of the late author, Samuel Chimusoro, in Harare recently, Tafireyi described writing as a business that needs to be handled as such with the family’s involvement.
“When (the authors are) still alive, we can call them and pay them their royalties,” Tafireyi said during the event, which coincided with the Zimbabwe Writers’ Association’s bi-monthly meeting.
“Most of them don’t give the right records on who should take over their estate. There are thieves among us.”
The meeting, which was held at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair offices, was attended by several authors, as well as Chimusoro’s relatives and friends.
Tafireyi said it was important for authors’ families to understand the value of the author’s work.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“At ZPH, we had a case where someone came claiming to be a writer’s son. He told us his father was working in Mozambique and communication with him was not easy. We believed him, only to discover after two years that we were paying money to the wrong person,” he said.
Tafireyi said in another case, the brother of a late author came with the deceased’s death certificate.
“We asked him to bring the children so that we could pay the royalties. We spent one and a half years searching for the children. By the time we found them, they had dropped out of school, but their father’s estate had $15 000 lying idle,” he said.
He urged writers to respond to ZPH’s call for manuscripts, as keeping unpublished works at home was risky since they could be lost.
Tafireyi said he was happy that through the publisher’s proper management of the funds, the writer’s daughter was able to complete her university education, while his son was currently in second year at university.
Chimusoro’s relatives gathered to commemorate his life and works, describing the late author as a man who loved nature and was misunderstood by many.
The author published two poetry anthologies, Dama Rekutanga and Flames and Smoke.
He left behind several unpublished works, which the family will publish.
The family said they were setting up a trust to manage his estate.
