Jennifer Makumbi – Oxford Festival

20th March, 2018

The novel reimagines the history of Uganda through the cursed bloodline of the Kintu clan. It begins in 1750 when Kintu Kidda sets out for the capital and unleashes a curse that will trouble his family for generations. The novel follows succeeding generations as they try to break from their past and reconcile their traditions with the modern world.

“A soaring and sublime epic. One of those great stories that was just waiting to be told.” Marlon James, Man Booker Prize-winning author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

Makumbi was born and raised in Uganda. She has been teaching English and creative writing in British universities for 10 years and is a winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She won one of this year’s Windham Campbell Prizes worth £119,000 from Yale University. The prize aims to help writers to work independently of financial concerns.