Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Millions

    Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s Rising Star

    by Brooke Lea Foster Jul 29, 2020 5 minutes

    When Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi began writing her ambitious novel A Girl Is a Body of Water in 1998, she knew it would center on a young woman’s coming of age in Uganda. What she didn’t anticipate is that she would revise the novel on and off for 20 years, perfecting the sweeping multigenerational tale while working full-time in nursing homes and airport security.

    “I was so close to giving up,” says Makumbi, grinning, her yellow knit head wrap matching the cheery yellow walls of her living room in Manchester, England, where she also works as an adjunct professor. Behind her are stacks of books growing up like trees from the floor. That she can’t stop smiling on this Zoom call isn’t surprising: is giving Makumbi her starring moment, with the novel attracting buzz in publishing circles

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Millions

    The Millions5 min read
    Old Lesbian Love
    The sexual objectification of the body, of our bodies, is less an insult these days and more of a goal.  The post Old Lesbian Love appeared first on The Millions.
    The Millions6 min read
    Álvaro Enrigue Won’t Romanticize Mexican History
    "'You Dreamed of Empires' is at open war with the romantic representations of the Mexican past." The post Álvaro Enrigue Won’t Romanticize Mexican History appeared first on The Millions.
    The Millions19 min read
    Several Attempts at Understanding Percival Everett
    I knew from the dozens of other interviews I had read with him that Everett doesn’t love doing press. “I wonder why?” he joked to me. The post Several Attempts at Understanding Percival Everett appeared first on The Millions.

    Related Books & Audiobooks