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| Jennifer Makumbi African Literary Writers Winner |
The second place was taken by Liberia's Saah Millimono for One Day I Will Write About This War and the third place by Kenya's Timothy Kimutai for The Water Spirits. The competition was held in Kenya, recently.
After winning the award, Makumbi said, "It is hard for me to express my joy because sometimes language can be limited-even for a writer. When you have been writing as obsessively and for as long as I have, winning a competition like this one is like stepping out in the sun after a protracted period in the dark."
Who is Makumbi?
Makumbi is an associate lecturer at Lancaster University where she completed a PhD in Creative Writing.
She was born in Uganda and moved to the UK in 2001 to study for an MA. She lives in Manchester with her husband Damian and son, Jordan.
Her work has been published by African Writing Online and Commonword.
She also runs the African reading group, ARG! in Manchester, which focuses on obscure African writers. She is currently working on her second novel.
The manuscripts
Makumbi's The Kintu Saga, is an ambitious attempt to bring the history of Uganda into the present lives of the novel's protagonists.
Through successive generations, the author sketches out the continued relevance of the past in the present.
In her story, Kamu Kintu is brutally murdered by a mob in Bwaise. Three months later, 10 men involved in his murder are found dead, their bodies strewn along Bwaise's main street.
The story then travels back to 1750, to the beginning of the curse in the old kingdom of Buganda.
The Kintu Saga follows the misfortunes of the Kintu clan over 250 years, blending Ganda oral tradition, forms of myth, folktale and history with biblical elements.
The novel explores ideas of transgression, curse and perpetuity, looking back at the history of Buganda Kingdom and tracing birth of modern Uganda.
Millimono's One Day I Will Write About This War, provides a moving portrait of a young boy in Liberia, who finds the hardships of his life relieved by the family of a girl he meets at school. Their lives are turned upside down by the civil war.
Meanwhile, Kimutai's The Water Spirits shows great maturity in its depiction of characters and the relationships between a single mother and her two children.
The author deftly manages to tread a fi ne line between the state of the mind and the world of the imagination.
Competition
A panel of seven high-profi le judges chaired by awardwinning Sudanese novelist Jamal Mahjoub, also included deputy Editor of Granta magazine Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, leading scholar of African literature Professor Simon Gikandi, and chairman of Kenyatta University's Literature Department Dr. Mbugua wa Mungai.
Others were editor of Zimbabwe's Weaver Press Irene Staunton and internationally renowned Nigerian writer Helon Habila.
"All three titles chosen by the judges display an urge to engage with the complexities of modern day Africa. They tackle issues such as civil war, the struggle against poverty and the continent's historical heritage, among other themes," said Mahjoub, the chair of the panel.
He explained that as a manuscript award, this prize naturally seeks to focus less on finding a finished product than work which shows literary promise as well as a breadth and depth of vision.
The winner will received KSh 300,000 (about sh8.9m), Millimono in the second place received KSh150,000 (about sh4.4m), and Kimutai won KSh 75,000 (about 2.2m).
An award ceremony will be held in Nairobi in November this year, as part of Kwani Trust's 10th anniversary celebrations.
The 'Kwani?' Manuscript Project was launched in April 2012 and called for the submission of unpublished novel manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the diaspora.
The prize received over 280 qualifying submissions from 19 African countries.
In April 2013, a long list of 30 nominees was announced and on June 17, a shortlist of seven was announced.
Also shortlisted for the prize were, Ayobami Adebayo, Stay with Me (Nigeria), Ayesha Harruna Attah, Saturday's People (Ghana / US), Stanley Gazemba, Ghetto boy (Kenya) and Toni Kan, The Carnivorous City (Nigeria)
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