Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is a fantastic example of never, ever, ever give up on your dreams.
She was born and raised in Uganda. While she won awards for plays that she wrote while in high school, she didn’t think of creative writing as a career, instead becoming an English teacher . But she longed to write, and decided to take the very daring step of going to the UK to do a Masters degree in creative writing.
In 2003, initially inspired by her father’s battle with schizophrenia, Jennifer started writing what would become her first published novel ‘Kintu’. Jennifer was also intrigued by the way the western world characterizes Africa as a “place of madness”.
Jennifer approached several publishers when she had finished the book. But despite winning major awards, including the Commonwealth prize, the international publishing world didn’t take any notice. In fact she was told by one publisher that the books was “too African”!
Jennifer eventually won the Kwani Manuscript Project in 2013, and the book was published in 2014 by Kwani. In 2018, Jennifer was awarded the Wyndham-Campbell prize, which is considered the richest price in literature.
Jennifer is currently researching her second novel, currently called ‘The Women.’ She will also be publishing a book of short stories in 2019.
Jennifer’s website
