Zimbabwe's Rebel Writer
Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera died of an AIDS-related illness on 18 August 1987
Witness History: Archive 2014 · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
Dambudzo Marechera was a celebrated Zimbabwean writer and enfant terrible, as famous for his explosive behaviour as for his powerful prose. Born in a Rhodesian township, he went on to win the Guardian First Book award for his short story House of Hunger - but on 18 August 1987, he died of an AIDS-related illness after living rough on the streets of Harare.
Witness speaks to his publisher, James Currey.
Photo: Dambudzo Marechera in Zimbabwe, Harare, February 1986. Copyright Ernst Schade