Uganda's literally icon to head UK book award 2024
The 2024 commonwealth short story prize will be chaired by a Ugandan novelist and short story writer, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi.
The prize might not be known to a lot of the people in the commonwealth confederation but it is very crucial to the world’s literal communities. The short story prize is open to any member(s) of the commonwealth community, from age of 18 and above with judges from each of the globe’s subcontinent.
Next year’s chair to this prestigious prize will be a Ugandan- British author. Not known to many back home but highly appreciated and honoured world over.
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi wrote The First Woman (2020), which in 2021 won the Jhalak Prize, was shortlisted for The Diverse Book Award, the Encore Prize and the James Tait Black Prize, and longlisted for The Aspen Words Literary Prize.
Her first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013, the Prix Transfuge du meilleur premier roman francais in 2019 and, in the same year, she was shortlisted for Edward Stanford Awards and longlisted for the Prix Médicis.
Her collection of short stories, Manchester Happened, was shortlisted for The Big Book prize: Harper’s Bazaar in 2019 and longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Jennifer was the recipient of the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize in 2018.
She was also the overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2014. She was part of the DAAD Artist-in–Berlin programme in 2022 and currently she is Artist in Residence at STIAS Stellenbosch. She has a PhD from Lancaster University and has taught in several universities in the United Kingdom.
The Kintu Saga or famously known as ‘KINTU’, follows the misfortunes of the Kintu clan more than 250 years ago, blending Ganda oral tradition, forms of myth, folktale and history with biblical elements. The novel explores ideas of transgression, curse and perpetuity, looking back at the history of the Uganda kingdom and tracing the birth of modern Uganda.
“Kintu opens with unbridled authority and mercilessness. In just few pages a man has been hunted down by an angry mob in Uganda. He is then brained with a concrete slab; his wife is left in widowhood and has the hard task of dealing with her man’s debt. Blood flows easily, and quickly, when your family’s steps are haunted by a curse that spans generations.”
Manchester Happened. Olugambo tebalunkubira.
In this stunning anthology, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi creates characters who field uncomfortable questions in the diaspora.
‘Let me buy you a cup of tea.. what are you doing in England?
‘Do these children of yours speak any Luganda?’
‘Did you know that man Idi Amin?’
But perhaps the most difficult question of all is the one they ask themselves: ‘You mean this is England?
As hilarious as they are compassionate, these vibrant stories re-imagine the journey of Ugandans who choose to make England their home. Weaving between Manchester and Kampala, this dazzling collection will captivate anyone who has ever wondered what it means to truly belong.
Ladies and Gentlemen; our own Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi chairs the 2024 Commonwealth short story prize.
