Republished with permission from Dr. James Arnett from his blog. [speech given at Pamberi Trust’s ‘Celebration of Yvonne Vera,’ Harare, National Gallery, October 3, 2017] In Memory There is no question that Yvonne Vera’s work holds a special place in both Zimbabwean and African literature. But by virtue of her lyricism, her ambition to depict a broad sweeps of histories otherwise swept under the rug, her literature is a…