Malama Katulwende is a Zambian author and thinker, born in the Luapula province of this Southern African country. A teacher by profession and educated in Catholic Seminaries and at the University of Zambia (UNZA), he first appeared on the literary scene with poems published in an anthology titled Under the African Skies: Poetry form Zambia in 2001.
In 2005, his novel Bitterness was published in the United States and launched him internationally as a young, promising African writer. For this novel, he was awarded the 2006 Julius Chongo Best Creative Writer in Zambia at the Ngoma Awards Ceremony held in Lusaka. The book has been used by Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, among others, for its courses in anthropology.
In 2011, Katulwende published a philosophical collection of essays, The Fire At The Core: Discourses on Aesthetics, Music, Jurisprudence, Ethno-Politics and Good Governance, in which he tackled recurring themes of Zambia's underdevelopment and political decadence. The treatises "Why Should We Obey the Law" and “The Clouds” in this collection of essays placed him as one of the most profound and interesting thinkers to have emerged from Africa, worthy of study.
In 2018, his collection of poetry titled Drums of War was released, which establishes him as a poet with great command of the African imagery.
His work at Knowledgegates, an Information Technology company he co-founded in 2006, led him to co-write and publish, in 2014, the 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 editor at the Zambian magazine The Zambian Teacher.
Publications
Books: Under the African Skies: Poetry form Zambia, Zambia Women Writers Association (2001), 142 p. Bitterness (novel), New York: Mondial (2005), 288 p. The Fire At The Core: Discourses on Aesthetics, Music, Jurisprudence, Ethno-Politics and Good Governance (essays), New York: Mondial (2011), 218 p. (with James Kapesa) Teach Yourself Computers: A Practical Guide to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and Internet Applications, Lusaka: Mafinga Publishers Limited (2014), 376 p. Drums of War (poetry), AuthorHouseUK (2018), 92 p.
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 composed 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 this novel published in 2005 in New York, the author received the Julius Chongo Award 2006 for Best Creative Writing at the Ngoma Awards Ceremony.
"Tribal and social affiliations and the student riots at the University of Zambia, 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 life of young people in today's Africa, written by Malama Katulwende, a Zambian poet and intellectual. It describes the seeming incompatibility of old African traditions and modern life, depicts the political struggle of Zambia's students, and the hope and despair of the book's main character, his family, lover, and friends. Based on real events, this novel provides an insight into African history, daily life, and culture, at the example of an oppressive society. Imagine Europe's revolts of 1968 in Austral Africa..." (From the back cover).