
Raising Baya in Algiers, this French surrogate mother encouraged Baya to pursue art as a means of developing her imagination and self-expression. Her grandmother cared for her until 1942, after which Marguerite Caminat Benhoura became her adoptive parent. PERSONAL HISTORYīorn on 12 December 1931 in Bordj-el-Kifan near Algiers, Baya was orphaned five years later. Her distinctive style has attracted the attention and inspired the commentary of such figures as Pablo Picasso, André Breton, ASSIA DJEBAR, and Jean Pélégri.

Using gouache (a medium resembling watercolor) Baya portrays women, animals, and floral motifs with decorative patterns and vivid colors that seem to blend ancient Islamic art with modern occidental abstractionism. And many more.Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine (Madiedine, Mehiedine born Fatma Haddad), known simply as Baya, illustrates an imaginative world of fantasy through her semifigur-ative, semiabstract approach to painting. In the pages of Where to Now? you will meet the prostitute who gets the better of her brothers when they try to marry her off, the wife who is absolved of the charge of adultery, the hero who drowns in a bowser of cheap beer and the poetry slammer who does not get to perform his final poem. Even though some speak from the diaspora, their inspiration comes from their homeland and their stories tell of Zimbabwe. Its people are left to ponder - where to now? All the voices are Zimbabwean. The writing in this collection, at times dark, at times laced with comedy, is set against the backdrop of Zimbabwe's 'lost decade' of rampant inflation, violence, economic collapse and the flight of many of its citizens. The collection, Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe, features sixteen Zimbabwean writers - Raisedon Baya, NoViolet Bulawayo, Diana Charsley, Mapfumo Clement Chihota, Murenga Joseph Chikowero, John Eppel, Fungai Rufaro Machirori, Barbara Mhangami-Ruwende, Christopher Mlalazi, Mzana Mthimkhulu, Blessing Musariri, Nyevero Muza, Thabisani Ndlovu, Bryony Rheam, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma and Sandisile Tshuma.
