By Fungayi Sox Audrey Chirenje continues to build narratives that entertain, inspire and motivate and has solidified her personal brand as one of the most consistent, hardworking and creative authors of our time.
She recently added four new book babies namely Guilt — a fiction novel whose setting alternates between Botswana and Zimbabwe as well as The Mhofu’s — an educative children’s series with illustrations, which is now readily available in the three main languages, The Mhofu’s (English), Vana Mhofu (Shona) and O Mpofu (Ndebele) at a colourful book launch in Harare.
Chirenje is a marketer by day and an author by night and has three prior novels to her name Life Will Humble You (2019) Chances (2020) and Appearances or Not (2021). She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing. Her day job is in a chain wholesaler in Zimbabwe. She is also a founder of Chances Inspiration Inc — a literacy and marketing consultancy company which is also the publisher of her latest novel titled Guilt as well as The Mhofu’s series. Her objective in writing is to entertain, inspire and motivate.
Speaking at the launch, top public relations and communications expert Beatrice Tonhodzayi described Chirenje’s latest novel Guilt as “one which spoke to the reality of our lives as we lived them today.” Tonhodzayi said the book enabled her as a mum to teach her daughter to prepare for the realities of life.
The panel discussion was facilitated by author and entrepreneur Jonathan Kadurira and featured award-winning author and speaker Tendai Dara as well as certified coach and finance guru Liznet Chirenje.
Chirenje’s latest novel explores controversial issues which most authors usually avoid. She disclosed that her writing in general continues to be embroiled with great controversy.
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“When life humbles you and you have hit rock bottom, you just become bold. You say those things which people don’t want to talk about for example I will talk about modern Christianity and how people act like they are all perfect but behind the scenes they are doing funny things. They want to judge those sins we call visible sins but there are those sins which people are committing behind the doors. In terms of all my books, this is one that I was afraid of putting out there because of its controversial issues for instance I spoke about date rape. If a girl is invited to a guy’s place and she says no to a sexual encounter, then it’s a no and the minute you entice and force her that’s called date rape and some of us will simply term it rape!”.
She also dabbled into cultism and all sorts of stories and modern-day topical issues which she packaged into a beautiful love story.
Commenting on why she titled her children’s series The Mhofu’s, Chirenje says she used to hate her totem “Chihera”, which people often associated with negative attributes. She added that it was only after googling it’s meaning that she then figured out that the Chihera’s were actually hardworking women who went an extra mile and hustled harder. Chirenje said the Mhofu’s series was thus meant to make children and people in general embrace their totems and identities with a great sense of pride and positivity.
Book summary— Guilt
Nomhle is on the run from her past and thinks she has found an opportunity to turn her life around. Unknown to her, she has just signed her freewill. Jonah is haunted by his past and just when he thought he had dealt with it, a bizarre incident happens. His failed opportunity to avert the catastrophe sets him back on a downward spiralling journey. Will the penance be worth it and signal a new beginning or will it all be in vain?
Book summary — The Mhofu’s
The Mhofu’s is a children’s series with illustrations and it is narrated in the voice of the last-born daughter Ruponeso Mhofu. She navigates her family’s world and also their family friends (The Greys. The book explores a mixture of urban and rural world.
- Fungayi Antony Sox is the managing partner at TisuMazwi — a communications centred social enterprise that facilitates book project management including writing and publishing, distribution, printing, ghost-writing, content development and marketing, digital media and personal development. He writes in his personal capacity. For feedback contact him on 0776 030 949, follow him on Twitter: @AntonySox or connect with him on LinkedIn on Fungayi Antony Sox.