Abstract
Novelist and poet Chenjerai Hove gained international fame in 1988 with his novel Bones. In recent years, his work (which revolves around the theme of the spiritual importance of land in African cultures) has gained a new significance in the light of the social crisis unfolding in his native Zimbabwe. In 2001, Hove left his country of birth amid the escalating violence triggered by the government of Robert Mugabe. He now leads a migrant's life in the West and is an outspoken critic of the Mugabe regime. Interviewed in London by Ranka Primorac, Hove speaks about the circumstances of his leaving, the Zimbabwean land reform, traditional attitudes to land and how the corruption of language can become the basis of other corruptions. He also discusses his relationship to literature, his friendship with fellow-writer Yvonne Vera and his hopes for the future.