Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, the author of Kintu, is the latest recipient of the Windham Campbell Prize. Kintu is a novel based on Buganda oral history and myth. The $165,000 prize is awarded to 8 artists every year. The prize which has been in existence for 6 years aims to help artists focus on their craft.
Eight writers in the drama, poetry, fiction and nonfiction genres receive the prize. Previous African recepients of this prize include Helon Habila, Ivan Vladislavic, Teju Cole and Aminatta Fornaand.
The artists are notified of their win via phone call. Jennifer confesses that she was over the moon when she received the call. Her husband and son could hardly wait for her to put down the phone before shouting for joy. “This prize for me is like having been working without pay for a long time and then someone comes a long and says, ‘Will a salary for the past ten years do?’ Then you’re left speechless,” she said.
Jennifer began writing at the age of 15 when she wrote, directed and produced a play for school competition. She undertook her Masters and PhD at the University of East Anglia. She is based in Manchester, UK. She’s a Creative Writing lecturer at Lancaster University. Other awards she has clinched include the Kwani? Manuscript Project Award for Kintu in 2013, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2014 for Africa and worldwide. 2015 saw her receive a nomination for the Miles Morland Scholarship.
Jennifer’s star keeps shining. Her collection of short stories Love Made in Manchester will be released in January 2019.