Chenjerai Hove is one of Zimbabwe's most famous writers, having won several literary awards and served as the head of the Zimbabwe Writers Union.
But he has not been to his home nation for seven years. When he last spoke to his mother about it, she replied, "Don't think about coming - they'll chop off your head!"
Hove, an acclaimed author of novels, poetry, essays and plays, came to College Hill last August to begin his fellowship with the International Writers Project, which offers an office in the Watson Institute for International Studies and a stipend for living costs to writers who feel that they cannot freely express themselves in their home nations.
Hove is best known for "Bones," an award-winning novel published in 1988 about the plight of a woman in rural Zimbabwe.
But his "full-time job," as he put it, is criticizing the regime of his native country's long-time ruler, President Robert Mugabe. He has been leading what he calls a vagabond's life, travelling from country to country since he was pressured to leave Zimbabwe - harassed by the government and sent a slew of death threats.
Since the country held elections March 29, Zimbabwe has been in a state of uncertainty.
The main opposition party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, has claimed victory over Mugabe, who has ruled the country for almost 28 years.
The regime has been severely weakened by the persistence of extreme poverty, devastating malnutrition and the world's highest inflation rate during its time in power.
The government has not yet released its official vote count, saying it needs time for recounts in some areas.Meanwhile, the country's citizens and foreign leaders are growing restless.
Hove, who said he grew up with the opposition candidate Tsvangirai, described him as a fighter. If Tsvangirai comes to power, Hove himself would be likely to return to Zimbabwe, he said.
But it will take a long time for most of the educated professionals who were driven out by Mugabe, like Hove, to return to the country, he said.
These people, who will be crucial to the rebuilding the nation, will have difficulty returning if they have set up lives elsewhere, he said.
"The country is run by a man who is mad," Hove said. "Nobody has the courage to say it to him." Mugabe is known to have rigged elections in the past, most glaringly in 2002, when some think that the presidency was stolen from Tsvangirai, he added.
Hove called Mugabe's electoral tactics "vulgar." For example, even though Hove hasn't lived in Zimbabwe in seven years, he said his name still appears on voting lists, and someone has voted using his name in all of the elections since he left.
Whoever someday takes over the Zimbabwean presidency will face great challenges in rebuilding the broken country, Hove said.
There is the physical reconstruction that will come first, but more important will be the "psychological and emotional reconstruction of the people," he said.
All of Hove's writing is political, he said. He sees everything as the result of a power struggle, which is his definition of the word 'political,' he added.
Hove's writing is characterized by its wit, said Robert Coover, director of the International Writers Project and adjunct professor of literary arts.
"One of the things that appealed to me about Chenjerai's writing is that he's got a great sense of humor," he said. As a writer, Hove is able to see the irony in life, he added. "That ironic view of life does have a way of sustaining writers who get themselves into bad trouble for holding unpopular political positions."
