Masimba Musodza ascends the literary ladder with his brand of “intelligent pulp”, fast-paced thrillers with a serious underlying theme. He has been described as a “Rasta Hemmingway”. When he writes in his own language, he explores the dark themes of his people’s lore in a style that is both original yet revealing the strong influence of Stephen King, among others. At home, he is often compared to another thriller writer of emergent note, Chris Mlalazi. At any rate, Masimba Musodza is a major feature of what some are calling a Zimbabwean Renaissance; a revival of Zimbabwean art and entertainment at home and abroad following over a decade of political, economic and social deterioration.
Julius Masimba Musodza was born in 1976, as independence and all it offered to an erstwhile-disenfranchised Black majority dawned on the country now known as Zimbabwe. He was educated at Avondale Primary School, Harare, and St Mary Magdalene’s High School in Nyanga.
In addition to the school magazine, Musodza’s early work appeared in The New Generation, a youth newspaper published in the late 80s and early 90s by Jamaica-born Ben Hanson.
Musodza enrolled at the now defunct Vision Valley Film Video & Television Institute, majoring in Screenwriting and Directing. He also honed his skills with Edgar Langeveldt’s Nexus Talent Agency, the African Script Development Fund, the Zimbabwe International Film Festival, the College of Journalism and the Raindance Institute, the latter two in the United Kingdom. He holds a degree in Media Studies.
In addition to the Dread Eye Detective novels, Musodza is the author of The Man who turned into a Rastafarian, Mhuka Huru and Zizi reRima. The latter two are in his mother tongue, ChiShona, and usher a whole new genre in the development of literature in that language. Musodza also contributes articles to various magazines and newsites on a wide range of issues including his Rastafarian Faith. He has featured on Story Time, the widely acclaimed e-zine devoted to contemporary African literature.
Although only recently coming to public attention as an author, Masimba has been a screenwriter of some merit, having sold his first screenplay in 2002. He is now working to put some of his own writing to screen as a producer/director. In the Blood, a short-movie based on his short story has been made in Australia.
