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At once epic and deeply personal, the second novel from prize-winning author Jennifer Makumbi is an intoxicating mix of Ugandan folklore and modern feminism that will linger in the memory long after the final page. As Kirabo enters her teens, questions begin to gnaw at her - questions that the adults in her life will do anything to ignore. Where is the mother she has never known? And why would she choose to leave her daughter behind? Inquisitive, headstrong, and unwilling to take no for an answer, Kirabo sets out to find the truth for herself. Her search will take her away from the safety of her prosperous Ugandan family, plunging her into a very different world of magic, tradition, and the haunting legend of 'The First Woman'. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a Ugandan novelist and short story writer. She has a PhD from Lancaster University. Her first novel, Kintu (Oneworld, 2018), won the Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. She was awarded the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for 'Let's Tell This Story Properly', which featured in her first collection, Manchester Happened (Oneworld, 2019). She was awarded the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction 2018 and lives in Manchester, where she lectures in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2020, she was selected as one of 100 Most Influential Africans of 2020 by New African magazine.
Nigerian-American writer Chinelo Okparanta joins host Bhakti Shringarpure for an episode of BookRising as part of our Trailblazing African Feminists series. Okparanta was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States when she was 10 years old. She rose to prominence with her short story collection Happiness, Like Water (2013) which was a bittersweet reflection on the lives of Nigerian women living in Nigeria and in the US. Her next book Under the Udala Trees (2015) told the story of desire between two young girls as the war rages in 1960s Nigeria. This novel of queer, forbidden love established Okparanta as a fearless writer who could tackle difficult, politically charged topics. She has been the winner Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction in 2014 and 2016 and the Publishing Triangle's inaugural Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award. Her books have been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Etisalat Prize for Literature and many others, and she was selected by Granta for their Best of Young American Novelists list which is announced every decade. Okparanta's most recent novel is Harry Sylvester Bird which is a searing meditation on race in the United States and in which Okparanta writes through the consciousness of a liberal, white American male. In this podcast, she spoke honestly about her motivations for taking on this complicated experiment. Undergirding all her writing is her experience as a migrant in the US and challenges she is forced to navigate on a daily basis. Okparanta admits that her writing has always been motivated by a sense of social justice and a desire to work through all kinds of societal problems that plague her deeply. Bhakti Shringarpure is the Creative Director of Radical Books Collective.
Chinelo Okparanta was born and raised in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Her debut short story collection, Happiness, Like Water, was nominated for the Nigerian Writers Award, long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, as well as the Etisalat Prize for Literature. Her first novel, Under the Udala Trees, was nominated for numerous awards, including the Kirkus Prize and Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. Her new novel is Harry Sylvester Bird. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In conversation with Asali Solomon Nigerian American author Chinelo Okparanta's acclaimed debut novel Under the Udala Trees celebrates the act of loving fearlessly, even amidst the strife of prejudice and civil war. Selected for more than a dozen periodicals' 2015 ''best of'' lists, it won a Lambda Literary Award, was a finalist for the International Dublin Literary Award, and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in fiction. Okparanta is also the author of the short story collection Happiness, Like Water, winner of an O. Henry Prize, and a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and the Etisalat Prize for Literature. The director of the creative writing program at Swarthmore College, she has published fiction in various publications, including The New Yorker, Granta, and Tin House. Her latest novel delves into a young white man's journey from his prejudiced smalltown to a life of freedom in New York City. Asali Solomon is the author of the novels The Days of Afrekete and Disgruntled, the short story collection Get Down, and stories published in a wide array of periodicals, including McSweeney's, Essence, and O, The Oprah Magazine. A professor of fiction writing and literature of the African diaspora at Haverford College, she is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award and the National Book Foundation's ''5 Under 35'' honor. (recorded 7/12/2022)
NoViolet Bulawayo is the author of the novels Glory and We Need New Names, which was recognized with the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the Pen/Hemingway Award, the LA Times Book Prize Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the Etisalat Prize for Literature, the Fred Brown Literary Award, the Betty Trask Award, the Barnes and Noble Discover Award (second place), and the National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Fiction Selection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize and her first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani? Manuscript Project Prize in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. Her story “Let’s Tell This Story Properly” was the global winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Her newest book is A Girl is a Body of Water. It was TIME — The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020; OPRAH MAGAZINE — Best Books of the Year and WASHINGTON POST – Best Fiction of the Year 2020.
Today our podcast connects with Sarah Ladipo Manyika, author of novels such as Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun (Cassava Republic Press) and In Dependence (Legend Press), board member of Hedgebrook and the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), Juror of the California Book Awards, Patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and host of OZY’s video series “Write.” Producer: Jon-Barrett Ingels and Kevin Staniec Manager: Sarah Becker Host: Jon-Barrett Ingels Guest: Sarah Ladipo Manyika
Tronsmo bookshop and The Norwegian Council for Africa invites you to the launch of Chibundu Onuzo's new book, "Welcome to Lagos". Chibundu will be reading an extract from her book, and through conversation with Andreas Delset, program chief at Litteraturhuset. The event will be open for questions from the audience, and her book will be available in the bookshop. Born in 1991 in Lagos, Nigeria, Chibundu Onuzo started writing novels and short stories at the age of 10. Less than a decade later, she became the youngest woman ever to be signed by Faber and Faber, Her debut novel, "The Spiderking's Daughter" was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize, shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and Commonwealth Book Prize and won a Betty Trask Award. Her second novel, "Welcome to LAgos", is out in January. She writes opinion pieces for the Guardian, with a special interest in Nigeria. Chibundu is a History graduate and she is currently pursuing a PhD in History at King's College. The book launch is an event in a series of seminars arranged by the the Norwegian Council for Africa, all of which have a focus on Lagos, Nigeria's megacity. Lagos is a city where urban development happens rapidly - the question is, development for whom? Is there a way of building and expanding the city that does not compromise the lives and communities of those living in the city?
Chibundu Onuzo was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1991. Her first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature. She is completing a PhD on the West African Student's Union at King's College London. Her latest novel is Welcome to Lagos. Alexandra Kleeman is a NYC-based writer of fiction and nonfiction, and a PhD candidate in Rhetoric at UC Berkeley. Her fiction has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Zoetrope: All-Story, Conjunctions, Guernica, and Gulf Coast, among others. Nonfiction essays and reportage have appeared in Harpers, Tin House, n+1, and The Guardian. She is the author of the short story collection Intimations, and a debut novel You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
the Book Show we are looking at some of the books which have recently won, or are nominated for literary prizes, including : - The Etisalat Prize for Literature - The Costa Book Awards - The UK eBook of the year award