Chairman of Fools
Shimmer Chinodya, NOMA 2007 award-winning author


Chairman of Fools examines the plight of a supposedly successful writer, and professor of literature, Farai Chari, an ambitious artist whose self-confidence is under threat. Increasingly paranoid, he feels the pull of tradition and culture and the hollowness of middle-class aspirations in a cruel country. He yearns for a world in which men and women can freely associate with one another, students respect their teachers, wives honour their husbands, and he can enjoy the freedom to gratify his passions without chastisement.

Whether examining the fears and prejudices associated with mental breakdown, male chauvinism, or moral self-righteousness, Chinodya consummately combines humour with pathos and absurdity with seriousness. Is our hero an ingenuous, self-indulgent fool or a brave, self-aware man with the strength to overcome his own weaknesses and prejudices?