Merna Wilson


Daphne Merna Wilson, who wrote as Merna Wilson, was a Zimbabwean journalist, poet and novelist. She became active as a writer in pre-independence Rhodesia.

Life

Merna Wilson was born in Kwekwe and educated at Mutare High School. She was a correspondent for African World from 1965 to 1967, and later worked as a buyer.
The plot of Wilson's first novel Explosion depicted nationalist politics playing out in a mining compound. The novel, typically for white Rhodesians at the time, treated nationalist leaders as cynically power-hungry rather than having popular legitimacy. The book gave a fictional portrayal of Terrence Ranger as 'Professor Granger', a pro-Communist manipulator of liberal opinion outside Rhodesia.
Wilson won the Rhodesian P.E.N. award in 1978. She was on the editorial board of Two Tone.

Works

Explosion. London: Robert Hale, 1966. Novel.Turn the Tide Gently. London: Robert Hale, 1967. Novel.Reap the Whirlwind. London: Robert Hale, 1968. Novel.