Zambian writer and attorney Mubanga Kalimamukwento has been revealed as the winner of the 2025 Minnesota Book Award in the Novel & Short Story category for her book Obligations to the Wounded.
The award ceremony, held on April 22 at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts, recognized Kalimamukwento’s exploration of Zambian women’s lives.
Obligations to the Wounded, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in October 2024, comprises thematically linked stories that delve into the experiences of Zambian women navigating societal expectations and personal struggles. The collection has garnered global praises, with The Boston Globe naming it among the “75 Best Books of 2024″. She was the Non-Fiction Judge for the 2024 JAY Lit Prize Awards and was featured on the JAY Lit Interview Series in July 2024.
Kalimamukwento’s stories examine themes of love, identity, and societal expectations, providing a window into the challenges faced by Zambian women both at home and abroad.
This award adds to Kalimamukwento’s growing list of laurels. She previously won the Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction (2024); the Drue Heinz Literature Prize (2024), selected by Angie Cruz; the Tusculum Review Poetry Chapbook Contest (2022), selected by Carmen Giménez; the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award (2019) & Kalemba Short Story Prize (2019), among others. Her first novel, The Mourning Bird, was listed among the top 15 debut books of 2019 by Brittle Paper. Beyond her writing, Kalimamukwento is pursuing a PhD in Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota and serves as a mentor at the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.
For more information on Mubanga Kalimamukwento and her works, click here.
Congratulations, Mubanga Kalimamukwento!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
