Petina Gappah Meet the Author

Now on BBC news, it's time for Meet The Author.

Petinah Gappah writes about a country that some may think

one of the most miserable on earth - Zimbabwe.

Where political disintegration and total economic collapse

in recent years have consigned so many people to a life

Yet, in her collection of short stories, Rotten Row,

as in her previous books, she finds a reservoir of resistance,

The people in these pages have the same hopes

and fears as they would have in a world of plenty.

And although they live in a collapsed state,

they are, extraordinarily, as recognisable as

In a way, these stories are miraculous, because they are

a tapestry of survival, really, in a country...

That's so lovely of you to say, because I see myself

as writing about resilience, because resilience is the quality

that strikes me as being the most extraordinary about Zimbabwe

It's a really difficult environment, economically,

politically, socially, and yet, somehow, people manage

to find ways to love, ways to be, that are really...

And the fundamentals of human behaviour and human

interaction come through, because there's nothing else left.

It's really about, ultimately, human relationships.

I wanted to write a book that looks at human relationships

through a particular prism, and that's the prism

And so I thought that this world is an interesting commentary

about the political situation in Zimbabwe without necessarily

You're talking about a society in which violence and death are ever

We have the story of Zaka the Zulu who ends up

And the people who were at school can't really believe 15 years

This is all something that's very close to the surface.

I love that story in particular because it's very much inspired

by one of my favourite authors, PD James, for whom the character

of the person is partly what leads to what happens to them.

It's really a character driven story.

Zaka the Zulu is a little bit unusual in this book in that it

doesn't have anything to do with the circumstances

in the country, because a lot of the crimes that I discuss

in the book are opportunistic crimes.

Crimes that come out of rage and stress and anger.

But that one is a particularly interesting one, because it's

You talk about the politics without giving a running commentary on it.

There's a wonderful story called The President

But, just take us back to the moment when a difficult

situation suddenly became one of utter desolation, economically.

People fleeing, people with no money.

It was as if all the normal functions of a state just stopped.

I always say that in many other countries -

in normal countries - government is supposed

In Zimbabwe, government is an inhibitor.

Government is a thing that stops you from achieving your dream.

And in many ways these stories reflect that aspect of government.

I love that you mentioned The President Always Dies In January

because, in my defence, that's actually a statement

Because there are always these rumours in January

that the president has collapsed and died.

But yes, the economic situation does play a very important role in that

a lot of people have left the country to make better lives

But the people in my book tend to be the ones who have stayed.

And they have stayed in these really difficult circumstances.

I really admire people who have stayed.

I don't like the phrase "brain drain", because it suggests that

people who have left the country are better than those

I think it's actually a very offensive term, the brain drain,

because I think the people that have remained in Zimbabwe are actually

We shouldn't give people the idea that this is a book

that is going to be depressing from beginning to end,

Clearly, there's a depressing political background,

I know you are a supporter of the opposition in Zimbabwe.

And of course there is poverty, of course there is violence,

But there's this sort of well of cheerfulness

It's kind of a mordant humour, isn't it?

If we cannot change the situation, we may as well laugh at it.

I sometimes think that Zimbabweans are not able to have any kind

of African or Zimbabwean Spring, in part because we are able

How would you describe the character of the country now,

the place that you grew up, which went through this terrible

I'm very much influenced by something that

He said, the thing that makes me sad about Zimbabwe is that I no longer

recognise the places of my childhood.

Physically recognise, as well as emotionally recognise.

But at the same time, I wonder whether I'm not caught up

And I don't know whether - having left Zimbabwe when I was 23

and only going back for occasional visits - whether I'm really

the right person to say, this is what Zimbabwe has become.

Because obviously, Zimbabwe to me is a very sad place

at the moment, because it's not the Zimbabwe I remember.

But maybe that Zimbabwe is what has to be in order to get

How do you explain Mugabe's grip on power?

One, he obviously controls the state.

But this is something that Western audiences don't

He's extremely charismatic, especially when he's

So there's a mix of popularity and power there.

There are people who genuinely vote for ZANU-PF, much

There is rigging, and there is, you know, coercion,

but there are also people who genuinely vote for him.

As I say, in the book you present these portraits of characters

who are very resilient and full of fun and full of...

I don't know, a philosophical wisdom about their plight.

Do you think it's a place where there still is hope?

Maybe it's a desperate kind of hope, but I really do believe

that there is enough in our past and in our present to give us

It's interesting, you have written before about life in Zimbabwe.

And these are vivid, vivid pictures of people who are living

It's almost as if you don't want to let this experience go,

because it's so rich it provides a writer with so much material

and so much evidence of what human beings have to do.

That's actually a very acute observation.

In many ways, this book is everything I'm thinking

about Zimbabwe right now, because I want to step away from it

So this is my Goodbye Zimbabwe Book for the time being.

Because I will come back to Zimbabwe, I hope,

two or three books from now, but for now, I think I've said just

about all I want to say about the richness of Zimbabwe.

So there will be a pause and then you will say,