The Hope Prize is an annual award presented by Ubwali Literary Magazine. It recognizes Zambian writers of prose and poetry featured in the magazine.

One winner will receive an honorarium of $500 and will be featured in the fall issue of Shenandoah. One runner-up will receive a six-month virtual mentorship from a writer in their genre. Another runner-up will have the opportunity to attend a class offered by Caine Prize–winning writer Makena Onjerika. The winner will be announced in June.

As part of the Ubwali Hope Prize Interview Series, we sit with each of the six shortlisted writers. They talk about their journey, the work that earned them a spot on the list, and the process behind their craft.

In this conversation, we speak with Mwila Agatha Zaza, a Zambian-born writer living in Helsinki, Finland. She works in the international development sector specialising in institutional giving and human rights.   She completed her first novel, The Pretenders, in Singapore where she lived as a trailing spouse for three years. While in Ireland, she earned a Master’s in Equality Studies from University College Dublin and worked in a real Irish pub. Agatha’s work can be seen in the Johannesburg Review of Books. She has also contributed to various magazines and websites on development cooperation and human rights. She can usually be found remote working in cafes in Helsinki’s historic centre, perusing its second-hand clothing or running very slowly in the early hours. Her latest novel, The English Speakers, is with her agent.

Mwila Agatha Zaza was shortlisted for her story, A Time to Ask.

 

Hello Mwila, Congratulations on being shortlisted for the Ubwali Hope Prize.  Could you briefly introduce yourself and share how your journey as a writer began? Was there a particular moment or experience that nudged you towards storytelling?

Hi Emmanuella. I’m a Zambian-born writer living in Helsinki, Finland. Right now, I work in communications and development for an international non-governmental organisation that supports widows living in poverty.

I can’t recall there being a moment or an experience that nudged me towards writing. I always enjoyed writing stories when I was a child and I still do it in my free time. However, when the internet first became accessible in Zambia, I published a few shorts on an online magazine called The Asylum. Back then, I was part of a British Council initiative for writers called Crossing Borders, which was, I suppose, when I became a published writer. 

I did, however, have a nudge to publishing when I was living in Singapore and I found myself with the time and drive to write a full novel, The Pretenders, published while I was in New Zealand. I have another manuscript with my agent.

 

A Time to Ask gripped me from the start. While reading, I kept imagining different kinds of betrayal that could explain the characters’ panic, but I never saw that ending coming. What inspired this story, and what was the writing process like for you, especially in building tension and keeping that twist so well-concealed?

The story was inspired by an article I read years ago about a band. One of them was arrested for horrific crimes. What struck me was that the band members had been the best of friends and yet hadn’t had a clue about what he was doing. I wondered how it must have felt to realise how dangerous someone you loved had been.

The story is structured as a journey, beginning when Adam speaks to Lyandu and then following him home. It’s about the obstacles that stand between him and the task he has to perform.

I don’t have a set writing process and I very rarely submit anything for publication. However, when Ubwali sent me an invitation, I left it until the last possible minute, procrastinated, hemmed and hawed and then finally realised that, since I’d promised to write something, I had to.  Because the structure is so simple and so linear, I wrote the first draft in a few hours. Then I returned later to revise it and layer in the complexity – such as changing their origins to Zambian. In the first draft they were generic; they could have been Black British, American or European.

 

What does being shortlisted for the Ubwali Hope Prize mean to you personally and as a writer? 

I’m so chuffed. I can’t believe someone wants to give me a prize.

As a writer, it’s an acknowledgement. When I finished the story I felt so proud of myself. It was as if the story showed how much I’d grown since my first stories. Just having readers gives me an immense sense of achievement, but being considered for a prize is even more emotional.

 

Your biography mentions that you’ve lived and worked across several countries. A Time to Ask also appears to be set outside the African continent. How has this cross-cultural experience influenced your storytelling voice, themes, or even how you build your characters?

My characters are a lot like me. I now live in Finland, this is where I’ve made my home. 

The essence of my cross-cultural experience is that my parents were from two distinct ethnic groups and both migrated to Lusaka in the sixties. Our upbringing was very distinct from most other Zambians at the time, our first language was English, our names were mixed and we were raised not to follow what many would identify as “Zambian culture”.  Moreover, even though our appearance was no different from most Zambians, we experienced a lot of hate speech and bullying because of our heritage, far more than I’ve received anywhere else I’ve lived. 

As a result, I believe that most of my characters live in situations where tribe and ethnicity are more nuanced than a major theme. A Time to Ask could have been a very different story if it were about a family who had some traditional or religious beliefs that forced or influenced their responses. Taking this away means I rely on more universal themes, emasculation for instance – the fear Adam has of having failed his family, his inability to fulfil his task, and migration – how many migrants create new lives and cultures for themselves and their children – and do not have any particular longing for “home”.

Another theme that I find enriches literature about and from Africa is class. Adam and Lyandu’s families are a cut-and-paste of people I knew in Zambia. Many of them had attended Oxford and other universities overseas, trained as lawyers, economists, and doctors, and became Zambia’s first politicians, at a time when the vast majority of Zambians were still illiterate. This posits their offspring’s migration differently from many other people’s – they have expectations about wealth and affluence and as Adam believed, that they will be treated better than other migrants because of their status.

 

Writers often begin as readers, and reading continues to shape their voice. Which books or authors have left a lasting impact on you, and are there any you return to often?

Many books, good and bad, have left a lasting impact on me. For instance, The Da Vinci Code illustrated what I should never write. But it was a good laugh.

There are specific influences on A Time to Ask, including some books that I feel directly influenced it, such as Édouard Louis’ A History of Violence. Like my story, the protagonist isn’t a superhero, he doesn’t know what to do, he prevaricates – he doesn’t leap into action guns blazing (so to speak). The book proceeds quite slowly, painfully slowly in some places, which intensifies our own fears even though we know what’s going to happen.

Also, Leila Slimani’s Lullaby (The Perfect Nanny) and At Night all Blood is Black by David Diop – they are also about violence in original and emotive ways.

However, these are very different from the books that shaped me – the books from my childhood.

 

Are there any projects you’re currently working on—writing or otherwise—that you’re excited about?

Watch this space. My second novel is with my agent.

I have a Substack newsletter called Tea and Foxfires (https://wherefoxfiresglow.substack.com). Foxfires or revontulet is Finnish for the Northern Lights. I post my thoughts and opinions and an occasional short story.

 

What advice would you give emerging writers navigating the evolving landscape of African literature today, especially those who may feel unseen or uncertain?

Don’t limit yourself. Don’t wait to be seen.

For years, I was held back because I felt certain themes were authentically African – poverty, war, abuse. If you want to write romance and science fiction, go ahead. Imagine how wonderful it would be to be the first at something instead of always being compared to someone who came before you.  

You should understand that the publishing industry is a business and its primary purpose is to make money. Your work might not interest standard publishers because they don’t see the potential for profit. That’s nothing to do with whether it’s good or not. The sad fact is that there are millions of writers fighting for visibility. If you are not published, you have not failed.

I’d encourage writers to explore self-publishing and consider creating collectives to help market their work. There are so many opportunities available, and if you can’t find a publisher, become a publisher.

Read: How to Self-Publish Your Book

Congratulations once again on being shortlisted for the Ubwali Hope Prize. Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. We’re looking forward to all of the things you do in the near and far future.