My wife and I host the occasional braai. I do the shopping, she makes the salads. I barbecue the meat, she drinks the wine; simple division of labour.
Having friends over means that our downstairs toilet receives a steady stream (ugh, sorry) of visitors spiritually fulfilled through burnt offerings and constant libation.
So I keep a tray in said loo, with a selection of magazines for gentle perusal during pitstops. There are GQs and FHMs and various other acronyms I have collected over the years.
Don’t worry, I am getting to the point now now.
See, the way I select my reading material, especially reading material which will be accessible to my friends and family, is simple. Am I entertained? Will I be entertained if I read it again? Am I willing to present this as entertaining reading material to visitors?
This is the same principle I am trying to apply with NBO. It is not just a way to present and promote writing that is not readily available in Zimbabwe’s mainstream media (although that is a large part of it).
This isn’t a vehicle to solicit and discover quality short story writing and literary discussion (although that is a large part of it, too).
I am also just trying to share the kind of shit I like with as many people as possible, and to display the kind of thing I enjoy reading.
I am quite sure some of the stuff we’ll carry is best read on the dunny, but I hope that most of our content will be worth your time (and, maybe one day far away, money).
Only the web version is available for now, and the Launch Edition of our digital magazine will be available through various channels before the end of this month.
Please subscribe to our newsletter for updates, look around and get comfortable because I mean to take this a very long way.
Welcome to NBO, and thank you for your visit.
Enjoy your stay.