By Fungayi Sox
On July 31, 2021, author Faith Mudiwa Chipangura broke barriers when she launched four books on a single day titled Dungeons, Uncapped Thoughts, Things We Never Say Out Loud and Letters to My Younger Self, which are all life-coaching, mentorship and personal development books mainly centred on youths and young women.
The only person in Zimbabwe to have such a record is the late Patson Dzamara, who launched five books on a single day in July 2014 and one can only conclude that the month of July seems to be a history-making month in as far as authorship and book launches are concerned.
Chipangura’s seems to be on a trajectory to re-write her story as the girl who emerged from the southern part of Zimbabwe, which never took writing and publishing seriously and her story is one of defying the odds.
The highly self-driven and energetic Chipangura, who is a flight attendant by day and author by night, is undoubtedly one of the upcoming young women authors to watch out for if her consistency is anything to go by.
For the purposes of this review, my breakdown of Chipangura’s books will be in order of my own preferences beginning with my favourite one, Letters To My Younger Self.
Keep Reading
- 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
In the book Letters To My Younger Self, Chipangura takes the reader through her younger self and strikes a balance between her terrible life experiences growing up and how they emboldened her character.
The Letters to My Younger Self are a literary tool in which the author bridges the gap and void she experienced as a young girl who grew to becoming a young woman who had been lonely and deserted as she grew up. The author was left to figure out most things by herself and only got counsel whenever she had messed up or gotten caught up in “some sort oftrouble”.
For young people who might not have a close relationship with their parents or guardians, The Letters To My Younger Self is a book that forges adulthood into experience and empowers young people to introspect and know their selves as a foundation for emotional intelligence and embracing one’s own identity.
Moreover, the author also uses the Lettersas a recipe to instil self-love and confidence in youths. Other topics such as relationships and friends,alcohol, drugs and sexuality amongst others are clearly elaborated through a series of letters on various topical issues
The next book, the anthology Things We Never Say Out Loud fulfils the English adage, which says “character is what you are when no one is looking”.
It is abundantly clear that the anthology focuses on nurturing everyone to build strong authentic characters as a source of embracing one’s identity.
For me the Things We Never Say Out Loud is a passionate and philosophical anthology in which the flight attendant turns to being an author, poet and philosopher in one go. She questions the essence of life, particularly our characters and personal monologues when no one is looking at us.
She questions: If you saw yourself walking on the street, would you recognise yourself?
If you heard yourself having a conversation with someone, would you stop to listen?
Chipangura’s prevalent themes in her books are mainly centred on identity, but poses essential questions through a series of monologues touching on a variety of topics, including those which inspires self-confidence and hope to the targeted audience.
Finally in book The Dungeons, Chipangura focuses on her life story and journey as well as the lessons she picked up along the way leading up to where she is now following what had seemed to be a series of heartbreaks and disappointments she experienced in her earlier years.
While Chipangura’s consistency is yielding positive results in growing her as an author, her book Uncapped Thoughts, which I did not review in this article, consist of thoughts which can be harnessed and creatively expanded with highly positive potential to complement topical issues tackled in the other three books.
- The Writer Fungayi Sox is a Harare-based communications consultant specialising in book editing, education, personal development, digital media technologies and publishing. He can be contacted on +263 776 030 949 or follow him on Twitter @AntonySox or connect with him on LinkedIn on Fungayi Antony Sox.