Richard Sakala Is Taking Zambia’s Crime Fiction to the Streets

Crime fiction has long relied on familiar ingredients — money, power, betrayal, violence, loyalty and characters caught between competing worlds.

For Zambian author Richard Sakala, those ingredients do not have to belong to distant cities or fictional foreign landscapes.

His 2025 Ngoma Award-winning novel, Loyalty: To the Girl or to the Gang?, brings the crime thriller into a distinctly Zambian setting, following a young man whose life in Lusaka's criminal underworld is thrown into uncertainty when love offers him a possible way out.

At the centre of the story is Hardric.

Rescued from the slums of Lusaka and taken under the wing of a powerful gangster kingpin, Hardric grows into a ruthless and calculating figure. He has money, influence and the respect of the gang — as well as ambitions of eventually running the criminal empire himself.

Then comes Maureen.

A bold law student, Maureen wants to leave the criminal underworld behind and challenges Hardric to do the same.

The resulting conflict is not simply about choosing between a woman and a gang. It is about whether someone can walk away from the world that shaped them.

When loyalty becomes a trap

For Sakala, loyalty is the central currency of the world he has created.

In the streets, loyalty provides belonging and protection. But the same loyalty can eventually become a trap.

That idea runs through the novel as Hardric finds himself caught between the criminal organisation that gave him his identity and the possibility of a different life with Maureen.

The result is a story that combines crime, romance and suspense while examining the consequences of allegiance.

In Sakala's fictional world, loyalty can keep you alive.

It can also get you killed.

THE INTERVIEW

Richard Sakala on crime fiction, Hardric and writing from Zambia

KSJ: What is Loyalty: To the Girl or to the Gang? about?

Richard Sakala: Loyalty: To the Girl or to the Gang? is a 2025 Ngoma Award-winning Zambian crime thriller about a high-stakes clash between criminal underworld allegiance and romantic love.

At its centre is Hardric, a ruthless and brilliant gang leader in Lusaka who was rescued from the slums and shaped by a crime kingpin.

He has everything he believes the streets promised him — respect, money and a path towards power.

Then Maureen enters his life.

She is a bold law student who wants out of the criminal underworld and wants Hardric to come with her.

The story follows his struggle between the loyalty he owes to the gang and his love for Maureen and the possibility of a clean future.

KSJ: What is the central conflict in the story?

Richard Sakala: The central conflict is Hardric's dilemma.

On one side is the gang and the streets that raised him. On the other is Maureen and the possibility of leaving that life behind.

Hardric has built his identity around the criminal world, so walking away is not a simple decision.

He has to decide what matters more — the streets that saved him or the woman who challenges him to leave everything behind.

KSJ: What themes were you interested in exploring through the novel?

Richard Sakala: The major theme is loyalty.

In the streets, loyalty is everything. It is the defining currency.

But absolute loyalty can also become the ultimate trap. Something that initially gives you protection and belonging can eventually lead to destruction.

That is one of the contradictions I wanted to explore through the story.

KSJ: You describe yourself as the “King of Zambia's Crime Fiction.” Why?

Richard Sakala: I use the title because I see myself as a pioneer in a relatively new literary space in Zambia.

Zambia has a rich literary tradition, but crime fiction has historically been underrepresented.

I want to help establish Zambia's crime fiction as a genre in its own right.

The idea is to create stories rooted in our own environment and experiences while using the conventions of crime fiction.

For me, it is about pioneering a new literary genre in Zambia.

Building a local crime-fiction identity

Sakala's description of himself as the “King of Zambia's Crime Fiction” is deliberately ambitious.

But underneath the branding is a more straightforward literary argument: there is room for more Zambian stories told through the crime-fiction lens.

The genre provides plenty of possibilities in a city such as Lusaka, where questions of money, ambition, inequality, relationships, influence and survival can all become material for fiction.

For local readers, there is also something different about seeing familiar places and social realities used as the backdrop for a thriller.

Sakala's project is therefore not simply about writing crime stories.

It is also about establishing a recognisable Zambian voice within a genre that has traditionally been dominated by international authors and settings.

What comes next?

Loyalty: To the Girl or to the Gang? is the first book in the Loyalty Series, leaving room for Hardric's story — and Sakala's wider crime-fiction project — to develop further.

For a Zambian literary scene increasingly populated by authors experimenting with different genres, the emergence of locally rooted crime fiction is an interesting development.

Sakala is betting that there is an audience for it.

And with his first book already receiving recognition at the Ngoma Awards, the experiment has moved beyond the manuscript and onto the shelves.