KINTU by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

KINTU by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Saturday 12 July, 13:30 – 14:15
BL Conference Centre, FREE

Book launch of Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s KINTU, winner of the 2013 Kwani? Manuscript Project. Chaired by Kate Haines, Associate Editor of Kwani Trust.

In 1754, Kintu Kidda, Ppookino of Buddu Province, in the kingdom of Buganda, sets out on a journey to the capital where he is to pledge allegiance to the new kabaka of the realm. Along the way, a rash action in a moment of anger unleashes a curse that will plague his family for generations. Time passes and the nation of Uganda is born. Through colonial occupation and the turbulent early years of independence, Kintu’s heirs survive the loss of their land, the denigration of their culture and the ravages of war. But the story of their ancestor and his twin wives Nnakato and Babirye endures. So too does the curse. In this ambitious tale of a family and of a nation, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi skilfully weaves together the stories of Kintu’s descendants as they seek to break with the burden of their shared past and to reconcile the inheritance of tradition and the modern world that is their future.