Lawrence Vambe

Lawrence Vambe (1917–2019) was a Zimbabwean writer and journalist. Early life Vambe was born in the village of Chishawasha in what was then Southern Rhodesia. His father, Joseph, was a peasant farmer; his mother died when he was a baby due to the influenza epidemic. He was then raised by Jesuit missionaries. Education He attended Kutama College, the same school as Robert Mugabe, before embarking on teacher training in South Africa at South African Native College, which became University of Fort Hare. Journalism career He quit teaching after five years, and decided to become a journalist. He joined African newspapers where he rose through the ranks to become editor-in-chief. Besides an illustrious journalism career, Vambe also developed a reputation as an important black intellectual who significantly contributed to the struggle against colonialism in Rhodesia. He published two books, An Ill-Fated People: Zimbabwe Before and After Rhodes (1972) and From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe (1976). This made him one of the pioneering Black writers from Zimbabwe. He was awarded the MBE in 1959. In the 1980s he was one of the founders of the Britain-Zimbabwe Society, an organisation which continues to this day.