Dambudzo Marechera was a celebrated Zimbabwean writer and enfant terrible, as famous for his explosive behaviour as for his powerful prose. Born in a Rhodesian township, he went on to win the Guardian First Book award for his short story House of Hunger - but on 18 August 1987, he died of an AIDS-related illness after living rough on the streets of Harare.

Witness speaks to his publisher, James Currey.

Photo: Dambudzo Marechera in Zimbabwe, Harare, February 1986. Copyright Ernst Schade