Chriss Zas has released his first book in which he follows the trails of African as his characters explore and learn through their travels of our continent.
Zas said that since primary school he’s always had a strong will for literature and writing, starting with poetry and after university, he decided to formally write work that can be published.
“I grew up in the Democratic Republic Congo and moved to South Africa after high school to further my studies, I moved here alone. My family is still in DRC. I studied electrical engineering and now I’m combining what I studied with literature.”
Zas expressed that his writing journey starting in 2017, after realising that his passion would leave a greater legacy. His first manuscript was a love story that hasn’t been published yet but which he hopes will be published later.
“Africa is my continent and I thought it was so important to write something along those lines. As an African, growing up here I just wanted to pay homage to our continent. African inspires me.”
Although his book was officially launched in the Vaal area on Africa Day in June, it will also be launched in Melville in August at Book Circle Capital where the novel is already available. The book’s title is Labyrinth: A puzzled continent, and can be described as ‘a complicated irregular network of paths in which it is difficult to find one’s way – a maze.’
This is how Zas describes the African continent. “With corruption, poverty and war, one may feel trapped, we don’t really know which way to escape.”
The novel uses its characters and setting to describe black consciousness and other issues faced in Africa, in hopes of bringing that to life. “I describe Africa in the book as a whole, a nation.”
His advice to young writers is, “Whatever a writer chooses, there will always be challenges. For any young writer I’d say: Don’t stop reading and writing everything in your heart. Nothing comes easy but the journey will always be worth it in the end.”
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