- Source: Malama Katulwende
Malama Katulwende is a Zambian author and thinker, born in the Luapula province. A teacher by profession, he was educated in Catholic seminaries and at the University of Zambia (UNZA). He first entered the literary scene in 2001 with poems published in the anthology Under the African Skies: Poetry from Zambia.
In 2005, Malama Katulwende's novel Bitterness was published in the United States, launching him internationally as a promising young African writer. For this novel, he received the 2006 Julius Chongo Best Creative Writer in Zambia award at the Ngoma Awards Ceremony held in Lusaka. The book has also been used in anthropology courses at institutions such as Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2011, Malama Katulwende published a collection of philosophical essays titled The Fire at the Core: Discourses on Aesthetics, Music, Jurisprudence, Ethno-Politics, and Good Governance. In this work, he explored recurring themes of Zambia's underdevelopment and political decadence. Notably, the essays "Why Should We Obey the Law?" and "The Clouds" established him as one of Africa's most profound and compelling thinkers, making his work worthy of study.
His 2018 poetry collection, Drums of War, showcased his mastery of African imagery and solidified his reputation as a distinguished poet.
In addition to his literary achievements, his work at Knowledgegates, an Information Technology company he co-founded in 2006, led to the co-writing and publication of the 2014 book Teach Yourself Computers: A Practical Guide to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Internet Applications.
Katulwende is the owner of the Thorn Bird Literary Agency in Lusaka and serves as the editor of The Zambian Teacher, a Zambian magazine.
Publications
Books:
Under the African Skies: Poetry from Zambia, Zambia Women Writers Association (2001), 142 pages.
Bitterness (novel), New York: Mondial (2005), 288 pages.
The Fire at the Core: Discourses on Aesthetics, Music, Jurisprudence, Ethno-Politics, and Good Governance (essays), New York: Mondial (2011), 218 pages.
(with James Kapesa) Teach Yourself Computers: A Practical Guide to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Internet Applications, Lusaka: Mafinga Publishers Limited (2014), 376 pages.
Drums of War (poetry), AuthorHouseUK (2018), 92 pages.
Other Texts (Selection):
"Re-evaluating Mwanawasa's Legacy, 3rd Edition." In: Zambian Economist, 13 October 2008.
"The Lumpa Massacre." In: Zambian Economist, 27 March 2010.
"A Dogged Abuse of Copyright Rules..." In: Zambian Economist, 29 August 2010.
Foreword to This Time, Tomorrow: A Compendium of Laboured Voices from the Zambian Komboni – an anthology of poems by the late Mwange Kauseni, edited by Malama Katulwende.
"Zambia’s Kalindula Music: Death, Drums, and Poetry." In: The Culture Trip, 20 October 2016.
"Classroom Questions and Their Formulation." In: The Zambian Teacher, 29 January 2018.
"Schemes of Work." In: The Zambian Teacher, 8 July 2018.
"Teaching as an Art and as a Science." In: The Zambian Teacher, 8 July 2018.
"How to Create a Lesson Plan." In: The Zambian Teacher, 26 October 2018.
The Novel Bitterness
For his 2005 novel published in New York, the author received the 2006 Julius Chongo Award for Best Creative Writing at the Ngoma Awards Ceremony.
"Tribal and social affiliations, along with the student riots at the University of Zambia, are explored in a captivating and intelligent story about love, political involvement, and individual responsibilities. This is one of the most realistic and passionate contemporary novels about the lives of young people in today's Africa, written by Malama Katulwende, a Zambian poet and intellectual. It examines the seeming incompatibility between old African traditions and modern life, depicts the political struggles of Zambia's students, and captures the hope and despair of the main character, his family, lover, and friends. Based on real events, this novel provides an insightful portrayal of African history, daily life, and culture within the context of an oppressive society. Imagine Europe's revolts of 1968 transplanted to Austral Africa..." (From the back cover).
"Malama Katulwende’s Bitterness was published in 2005 by Mondial in New York. It is a Bildungsroman, it is not only a boy’s growth from childhood to adulthood but also his psychological growth from ignorance to an open minded awareness of himself. In order for this transformation to take place, the protagonist Besa must defy all odds and defy his family’s wishes. His journey takes him from his home village in Samfya to the University of Zambia,
back to his village and finally Lusaka. – The novel mixes fact and fiction. Although the characters are fictional, the settings are real places which a reader may recognise when reading. The University of Zambia for example is a factual place. One may further realise that the timing of the novel in terms of duration is realistic. For example the time Besa spends at the university is believable. Further, the plot is believable because it fits into the real world’s dimension and even gives the impression that such a story has happened before in the real world. While this technique of blending fact and fiction helps to make the story believable, it raises complexity in that one can no longer differentiate fact from fiction." (Mwaka Siluonde, cf. note 20)
"Published by Mondial in New York, the 281-page novel resonates with the anger of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, the pessimism of Ayi Kwei Armah and the lyricism of Chinua Achebe, but in his own voice, Katulwende explains why the centre can no longer hold in a land where a beggar who stretches out his hand for a cob of maize is beaten to death by an angry, blood thirsty mob, and where youth is powerless against the inscrutability of a future which runs like a river with no end... In his view, things are falling apart because the shrine is no more. The gods of his forefathers are dead and his people have befriended those who have always stood against them, imitating their ways and worshipping their gods. At this point, Katulwende's anger slowly crystallizes into an Africanist ideology." (Excerpt from Edem Djokotoe's book review A Taste Of Bittersweet Bile. In: The Post (Zambia) - 24 February 2006)
Texts about Malama Katulwende
Siluonde, Mwaka (2015). A Comparative Analysis of Narrative Technique and Plot Structure in two Zambian Novels: John Luangala's The Chosen Bud and Malama Katulwende's Bitterness (Thesis).
Malama Katulwende: A Zambian Literary Voice (Culture Trip, 11 October 2016)
Kelvin Kachingwe: Mwange Kauseni's anthology of poems published. In: Zambia Daily Mail Limited, 1 February 2017
References
External links
Malama Katulwende's Facebook Page
Bitterness page on the website of Mondial (Katulwende's publisher in New York, NY)
Page of The Fire at the Core on the website of Mondial (Katulwende's publisher in New York, NY)
