Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Born Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Kampala Uganda
Occupation writer
Nationality Ugandan
Alma mater Lancaster University
Genre Fiction
Website
jennifermakumbi.net

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a Ugandan novelist and short story writer.[1] Her doctoral novel, The Kintu Saga, was shortlisted[2] and won the Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013.[3] It was published by Kwani Trust in 2014 under the title Kintu.[4][5][6] She was shortlisted for the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story "Let's Tell This Story Properly",[7] and emerged Regional Winner, Africa region.[8] She was the Overall Winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.[9][10] She was longlisted for the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature.[11] She is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.[12] She lives in Manchester with her husband Damian and son, Jordan.[13]

Early life and education

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi was born and grew up in Kampala, Uganda. She is the eldest child of her father Anthony Kizito Makumbi and the third of her mother, Evelyn Nnakalembe. Her parents separated when she was two years old and for two years she lived with her grandfather Elieza Makumbi. During Amin's regime, her father a banker was arrested and brutalised. While he was saved from being killed, Jennifer's father lost his mind for the rest of his life. Jennifer was brought up by her Aunt Catherine Makumbi-Kulubya. She lived with her family first at Nakasero then later at Kololo.

She went to Trinity College Nabbingo for O-levels and to King's College Budo for her A-levels. She did a B.A. degree with Education majoring in teaching English and Literature in English at the Islamic University in Uganda, where she edited the university magazine, The IUIU Mirror. Jennifer first taught at Nakasero High an A-level school then for eight years taught at Hillside High School, an international school in Uganda. At that time she wrote another play, Sitaani Teyebase, in Luganda for an inter-zone competition. This play won the competition and toured many of the SDA churches within Kampala. In September 2001 she joined Manchester Metropolitan University to do an MA in Creative Writing. She completed a PhD in Creative writing at Lancaster University.[14] Makumbi has taught at various universities in the UK teaching both English and Creative Writing as an Associate Lecturer. Her writing relies heavily on Ganda oral traditions, especially myths, legends, folktales and sayings.[15]

Writing

Jennifer started writing at 15 when she wrote, directed and produced a play for a school competition. It came third. She wrote another play when she was 18, and it too came third. While in Senior 3 she wrote her first play for an inter-house competition which came third. She wrote her second play for again for an inter-house competition at A-level, once again the play came third. Both these plays were written in English.[14] In 1994, she started writing a diary in poetry form to expunge her feelings as she was going through a rough patch in her life. She wrote more than 50 poems but never bothered to share them with the public. She started writing prose in 1998 while she was teaching in Kampala.[16]

Jennifer's writing is largely based on oral traditions. She realised that oral traditions were so broad and would be able to frame all her writing regardless of subject, form or genre. She also noticed that using oral forms which were normally perceived as trite and 'tired' brought, ironically, a certain depth to a piece that I could not explain. It is important to note that her intentions in using oral traditions in fiction were not conservationist as is often presumed in African writing. She draws on oral forms because they anchor her writing in Ganda culture. At the same time, because these oral forms are rooted in her first language, she is confident using them. Most of all, I celebrate them.[17]

Her work has been published by African Writing Online and Commonword. She also runs the African reading group ARG! in Manchester, which focuses on obscure African writers.[13] In 2012, her short story "The Accidental Seaman" was published in Moss Side Stories by Crocus Books. In 2013, her poems "Free Range" and "Father cried in the kitchen" were published in Sweet Tongues.[7]

She won the Kwani? Manuscript Project, a new literary prize for unpublished fiction by African writers,[18][19] and was shortlisted for the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.[20][21][22]

Published works

Novels

Short stories

Awards and honours

References

  1. ↑ "Ugandan Author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi wins 2013 Kwani? Manuscript Prize", africabookclub.org. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "Interview with Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, shortlisted for her novel The Kintu Saga", kwani.org. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Winner: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, The Kintu Saga", kwani.org. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Kwani Trust launch award-winning writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's debut novel Kintu", kwani.org. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Beatrice Lamwaka, "Jennifer Makumbi narrates the Ugandan story in Kintu", Daily Monitor (Uganda), 28 June 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Ali Mazrui, "Of Kintu, the witty, sensual and provocative page turner", Daily Nation, 27 June 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2014 Shortlist" commonwealthwriters.org. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Commonwealth short story prize 2014 regional winners", commonwealthwriters.org. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  9. ↑ Jennifer Makumbi, Overall Winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, commonwealthwriters.org. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  10. ↑ Alison Flood, "Commonwealth short story prize goes to 'risk-taking' Ugandan", The Guardian, 13 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  11. ↑ "South Africans Dominate the Longlist for 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature", BooksLive. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "Jennifer Makumbi", antonyharwood.com. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  13. 1 2 "New chapter for African writer after top award", Lancaster University, 26 July 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  14. 1 2 "Jennifer Makumbi", lancaster.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  15. ↑ About, jennifermakumbi.net. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  16. ↑ Jennifer Makumbi: Winner of Kwani?'s Manuscript Project, the-star.co.ke Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  17. ↑ "On how I started to write from African oral traditions" jennifermakumbi.net. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "Jennifer Makumbi wins award for The Kintu Saga", Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research, 18 July 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  19. ↑ Japhet Alakam, "Jennifer Makumbi wins Kwani Manuscript Prize", Vanguard (Nigeria), 18 October 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  20. ↑ "Uganda’s Makumbi shortlisted for Commonwealth story prize", monitor.co.ug. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  21. ↑ "Commonwealth Short Story Prize Shortlist Announced", africabookclub.com. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  22. ↑ African authors shortlisted for 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, thenigerianvoice.com. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  23. ↑ 2014 "Etisalat Prize for Literature announces longlist", news24.com.ng. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  24. 1 2 "Ugandan writer wins Commonwealth short story prize". BBC News. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.

External links

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