The Dust Diaries by Owen Sheers describes the well-loved poet's journal through contemporary Zimbabwe in an attempt to better understand the devotion to the country held by an obscure relative of his, Arthur Cripps, a lyric poet and maverick missionary to Rhodesia.

When Owen Sheers discovers a book in his father's study he stumbles upon the life of an obscure relative: Arthur Cripps, lyric poet and maverick missionary to Rhodesia. Compelled by the description of Cripps' extraordinary life in Africa, Sheers embarks on a journey through contemporary Zimbabwe in an attempt to better understand his ancestor's devotion to the country and its people and the dramatic, often bloody, differences that echo across the years.