George Mason University and the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center is pleased to welcome Dr. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, a Ugandan novelist and short story writer whose novel, Kintu, has been called “The Great Africanstein Novel.” Dr. Makumbi joins Mason for the remainder of the spring 2019 semester and will join several classes to present and discuss her writing while also continuing work on current writing projects. She will participate in events both on and off campus, including the Annapolis Book Festival. Her public, on-campus event will be announced soon.
"When we started the Cheuse Center, one of our hopes was to give students and the Mason community access to writers and thinkers from across the world,” said Matthew Davis, director of the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center. “Writers, of course, learn from other writers. But I think there is a special kind of learning that takes place when writers learn from writers whose origins are different from their own. This learning underscores our shared humanity through literature and narrative but also allows students to understand the different approaches to language and writing. Jennifer's visit means that our students get to meet and learn from one of the most respected international literary voices working today. We're thrilled to have her."
Dr. Makumbi’s first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani Manuscript Project in 2013. It was published by Kwani? (Kenya 2014) Transit Books (USA 2017) and Oneworld (UK/Commonwealth 2018) Her short story, Let’s Tell This Story Properly won the regional (Africa) and overall Commonwealth Short story prize 2014. In 2015, Dr. Makumbi won an Arts Council Grant to research her second novel, The First Woman, which will come out in 2020 (Oneworld). Her collection of short stories, also called Let’s Tell This Story Properly for USA publication and Manchester Happened for UK and Commonwealth publication, comes out April (USA) and May 2019 (UK/Commonwealth). She has a PhD from Lancaster University and is a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Dr. Makumbi is a recipient of the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize 2018.
The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center at George Mason University celebrates the art of creative writing as a means of international dialogue, education, and understanding. At its core, The Cheuse Center facilitates the exchange of international creative writers and writing in order to help foster the tolerance and understanding a more connected world requires.
April 01, 2019
