Virtually Yours #10 Rémy Ngamije

A series of online discussions - Virtual Gatherings - with the award-winning author Zukiswa Wanner exploring contemporary African Literature with authors.

The Eternal Audience of One
Seraphin Turihamwe is a young man whose life is characterised by movement. After leaving Rwanda under duress and never feeling at rest in Namibia, which he believes is slow and boring, he finds himself fighting to fit in in Cape Town. So much about the city is designed to push people like him out. Through his interactions with a few reluctant mentors, loyal friends and the women he carries on relationships with, he explores and performs different parts of his identity while dealing with other issues of family, race, immigrant life and love.Seraphin and his pursuit and struggle for inner peace and identity effortlessly meld together geography, history and how one’s experience of a place can be perceived as a relatable journey. The themes of movement or displacement, life as an immigrant or refugee and the life of a black youth are neatly unpacked. His relationships with women become markers of the passing of time and lessons learnt and provide insight into who he is and who he wants to be. Whether he ever finds rest and truly comes to know himself is up to the reader to decide.

Rémy Ngamije is a Rwandan-born Namibian writer and photographer. He is the founder, chairperson, and artministrator of Doek, an independent arts organisation in Namibia supporting the literary arts. He is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Doek! Literary Magazine, Namibia’s first and only literary magazine. His debut novel "The Eternal Audience Of One" was first published by Blackbird Books in South Africa in 2019 and is available worldwide from Scout Press (S&S). His work has appeared in The Johannesburg Review of Books, American Chordata, New Contrast, Lolwe, Granta, and Lithub among others.

He won the Africa Regional Prize of the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. He was shortlisted for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing in 2020 and 2021. He was also longlisted and shortlisted for the 2020 and 2021 Afritondo Short Story Prizes respectively. In 2019 he was shortlisted for Best Original Fiction by Stack Magazines. More of his writing can be read on his website: remythequill.com

Unfortunately we had technical problems during our recording on Virtually Yours. We therefore recommend that you watch the recording of the African Book Club with Rémy Ngamjie and Faith Adiele.