Meet Mubanga Kalimamukwento | Storyteller

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mubanga Kalimamukwento and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mubanga, what matters most to you?
From a very young age, the most important thing to me has been staying true to myself, no matter how ridiculous my actions may seem to someone else. Even when hindsight has shown me that I miscalculated a move, I am more comfortable facing regret if a decision was entirely my own. I wasn’t always able to articulate the why, but now, I think this specific principle is cardinal to me because I know that when it comes down to it, I only owe myself an explanation. If I can look myself in the mirror and stand by anything I have done, it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. I can live with myself. Obviously, there are mistakes along the way, but even then, I try my best to extend grace to the version of myself that made that decision, knowing that that Mubanga was doing her best.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always been a storyteller, sometimes much to my mother’s chagrin, so in a way, I was always going to be a writer. I started writing stories when I was ten and began my first novel when I was about 17, but it was only ten years later that I committed to myself and the story and really wrote The Mourning Bird. At the time, I was living in Kabwe and working as a criminal lawyer, which was very time-consuming, so all my writing happened literally in the middle of the night when I should have been sleeping. It was easy in the sense that I really enjoy writing, so the difficult aspects of it, like doing research and teaching myself how to properly frame a story, felt more like an adventure than a chore. The biggest challenge at the time was getting published because I was determined to be published traditionally, and I didn’t have any resources to tap into to make my work very competitive. And for that leg of the journey, determination was my fuel. I have a spreadsheet that shows that I submitted to about 100 different agents before I got a yes from my first publisher, and that was enough. After that first, Yes, I knew I would get more. When you’re in the struggle, it can feel all-consuming, but once you succeed, it seems like a blip. That has been my lesson, knowing that a struggle isn’t a forever thing; it’s just a period when I’m trying to figure my way out, and each time it really does get easier, my mind remembers the way out.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friend lives in a different country, and we actually haven’t seen each other in years although we talk almost every day, so this wasn’t at all difficult to imagine, though it is more likely we will spend a couple of days at home just happy to be physically together again. I’d take her first to Minnehaha Regional Park, home of a gorgeous waterfall by the same name. I love it because it was the very first park I visited on my own in the United States. It was summer and so gorgeous, and it was just spacious enough that it never felt crowded, even though the voices flitting up everywhere told me otherwise. Whenever I go back, it’s like I’ve gone back in time. Because I’ve never been there with my best friend, that would be our first stop. She loves a good steak, which I’ve always enjoyed at Baldamar in Minneapolis. She loves to thrift and is an all-day shopper, so the last stops would be Nordstrom Rack or Believe. We are both writers and book lovers, plus she doesn’t drink alcohol, so our last stop would be Black Garnet Books, a Black-owned and operated bookstore in St Paul.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people, of course, but always first on that list is my mother, whom I only knew for ten years but whose light has never dimmed in my memory. The aunts and grandmothers (I have so many; if I try to name them all, I will forget someone, and I don’t want that) who raised me after she died continue to be so instrumental to the way I see myself in the world. Being surrounded by them and their achievements really planted the belief in me that anything was and is possible. Over the years, I’ve had a few kind and very generous mentors who have helped shift my thinking and bring me closer to my dreams. As an attorney, those people are Thandiwe Daka-Oteng and Linda Kasonde, both brilliant attorneys in Zambia who have always been open to answering my endless questions and helping me navigate the maze that is legal practice. As a writer, I’m so grateful to Ellen Banda-Aaku for taking me under her wing when I knew absolutely nothing and placing words on a page. But also, my professor and thesis advisor, Sheila O’Connor, whose belief in my work sometimes surpasses mine.

Website: www.mubangakalimamukwento.com

Twitter: Utushimitwandi