The youth are not silent about the issues affecting society, such as mental health, suicide, domestic violence, to name a few, and are using writing as a means to tackle them. Recently, a group of 44 authors and poets from Writers Space Africa—Rwanda (WSA-R) released a book titled “Voices of Space”, an almanac containing 43 poems, 10 stories, two essays and 10 quotes that portray and tackle a number of issues. Some of these include; mental health, healing, love, humanity, domestic and gender-based violence, drug use, motherhood, culture, among others thoughts, feelings and philosophies. According to one of the authors and editor of the book, Parfait Nzeyimana, the collection is one of a kind as it offers readers a variety of topics and knowledge, which is rare to find in one book. Group photo of some of the writers. “We want to let people speak out about the issues they face at home, work, school, with peers and society and seek solutions, help and counselling. We also anticipated writing a book that would showcase the different genres that we do. We didn’t limit members from submitting works about any themes or genre they prefer. “This is because we believe that a writer should be free to write about any topic they wish and think will have an impact on society,” he says. Nzeyimana also says that the book permitted young writers to have a space to publish their works and earn from it. Not just writing and keeping the written work in their computers or phones, but seeing it published and valued. ‘Many people, especially the youth, are talented in writing but lack training and a platform to exhibit their work. Some have even given up on writing because they don’t have money to publish their craft, which is why as a group, we want to seek means of supporting one another in all aspects,” he says. He also points out that the book, written in English and Kinyarwanda, aims to educate, entertain and promote Rwandan literature and values. “Reading this book means exploring the voices of 44 young Rwandan writers, at WSA-R. We believe in the power of collaboration. It is our role as Rwandan writers to uplift the literary industry in Rwanda, hence, impacting society. In this book, we have included different themes that can be relatable to many people,” he states. Nzeyimana also says that the book contains 56 works and each of them conveys a unique message in a certain way, which will give readers options to resonate to different topics and pick lessons. The book is divided into three parts; poetry, stories and, essays and quotes. He says that the book that was published this month took them about 14 months to complete because they wanted it to be rich with information that would be useful to both the young and the old. The 23-year-old author also adds that if they had rushed it, it wouldn’t have served its purpose, considering they were also doing enough research on diverse topics. He also notes that the book is based on both fictional and non-fictional characters. The book is not yet in bookstores but can be bought on Amazon, or ordered via their social media platforms. The hard copy can be accessed at Rwf 15,000 and delivery is free. According to Nzeyimana WSA-R helps writers to enrich and deepen their skills, network and collaborate. It also aims to promote creative writing and the culture of reading in Rwanda by providing learning platforms for writers and linking writing art with other different forms of art. “In order to boost the writing culture among Rwandans, we have so far organised six online creative writing workshops for our members who are currently 103 and we are looking forward to arranging more this year. We provide regular productive assessments to different works shared by our members to help them improve their writing and spoken word skills,” he says.
