Drawing her inspiration from her home town of Kilifi on the Kenyan Coast, Idza Luhumyo tells the story of a lonely but gifted young girl who has the gift of growing rain in her hair. This gift however comes with its own challenges as she falls out of favour with her family and her quarter. Along the way, she will also meet people who will disguise their true intentions for her. Will she discover this too late? On this episode, Idza speaks to us about her inspiration for this 2022 AKO Caine Prize shortlisted story ‘Five Years Next Sunday’, her writing process and what it means to go through life as an observer. Listen in and enjoy!
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Idza Luhumyo was born in Mombasa, Kenya, and holds a law degree from Nairobi University.
She was the recipient of the Inaugral Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award 2020
Luhumyo is currently a student and Rose Fellow in the MFA Creative Writing program at Texas State University.
Her work has been published by Popula, Jalada Africa, The Writivism Anthology, Baphash Literary & Arts Quarterly, MaThoko's Books, Gordon Square Review, Amsterdam's ZAM Magazine, Short Story Day Africa, the New Internationalist, The Dark and African Arguments.
She won the Short Story Day Africa Prize 2021 with her story "Five Years Next Sunday", which in June 2022 was also announced on the shortlist for the Caine Prize.
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This conversation has been made possible in partnership with the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing.