In which I am moved by the kindness of strangers

Sixteen days to Easterly, people, sixteen days, and the butterflies in the stomach, oh how they flutter. In the next week or so, the critics are going to weigh in on my book. I will be posting all reviews on my website as they come in. I am prepared for even the most negative review believe me, because no critic will ever be as harsh as my own internal critic, that still small voice that keeps trying to convince me that I have managed to pull quite the most spectacular con in the history of publishing!

Ahead of the reviews, we had some very nice comments from different people. Late last year, my editors put together galley or review copies to send to different writers, newspapers etc. I have been moved and humbled by the words that some of the writers that I admire the most have used about my work.  I wish in this post to express my appreciation to JM Coetzee, Yiyun Li and Owen Sheers who provided us with "blurbs" for the book. I have also been informed that one of the finest exponents of the short story, James Lasdun has written a big essay on the short story for this Saturday's Guardian Review, in which he discusses a number of writers and  compares me to, wait for it, Chekhov. Gulp.  Then there were Michela Wrong and Tim Butcher who read the book and sought me out to send messages of congratulations and encouragement.  

I am grateful indeed to the generosity of these writers, and especially to JM Coetzee whose very kind words about my story back in 2007 were as water to a parched land.  I can only hope to give back the good karma by passing it on to others. Please join me in hoping that Easterly, and later Memory, will be successful enough to make my name mean something, so that I can one day do for others what these wonderful writers have done for me. Aiwa tinovuchira, tinopa kutenda.  Zvaitwa zvaitwa zvaitwa.