Idza Luhumyo is inaugural Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award recipient.

Idza Luhumyo has been announced as the inaugural recipient of the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award today, July 21, 2020.

In 2019, the Margaret Busby edited New Daughters of Africa anthology showcased the work of more than 200 women writers of African descent from around the world. It included memoir, short stories, speeches, novel extracts, poetry, and journalism to demonstrate the diversity and remarkable literary achievements of black women who remain under-represented, and whose works continue to be under-rated, in world culture today. Among the contributors were Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zadie Smith, Warsan Shire, Malorie Blackman, Patience Agbabi, Roxanne Gay, Bernadine Evaristo and a host of literary stars of the now and the future.

The landmark anthology was launched in the UK with a new award for black, female students resident in Africa to study at the University of London School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). The recipient of the award, to be known as the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award, would have their tuition and accommodation costs for the duration of the course covered. Margaret Busby and the contributors of the anthology, alongside the publisher, donated a proportion of their royalties to this cause.

The first recipient of the anthology is Kenyan Idza Luhumyo who works as a screenwriter and copywriter. Her writing has previously 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, and The New Internationalist. Her work has been shortlisted for the Short Story Day Africa Prize, the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship, and the Gerald Kraak Award.

Luhumyo, who holds a degree in Law from the University of Nairobi, will be starting her studies at SOAS University of London in the autumn.