George Kasonde, author of The Padre and the Pagans of Ituna, revealed that his new novel aims to narrate Bemba history to a Zambian audience. Speaking at the Henry Tayali Art Gallery on 13 October 2026, he explained that his book offers an alternative to European accounts of African history.&nbsp;“With my book, what I tried to do was to present history from our own point of view,” Kasonde said in the gallery at the Lusaka Showgrounds.&nbsp;The novelist also observed that African history is often written for Western consumption. However, The Padre and the Pagans of Ituna targets Zambians who want to know more about their own heritage.&nbsp;“My book was not written so that the Western world could approve it,” Kasonde disclosed. “I knew that they would not approve it, and they wouldn’t even publish it.”Kasonde’s remarks were made during a seminar convened by Gadsden Publishers and facilitated by John Corley. Statements made during the seminar will be used to inform Corley’s research on postcolonial literature.The seminar participants included poet Nicholas Kawinga, 5fm journalist Esnart Lungu, creative writer Chiseche Mutale, storyteller Anthony Lupeke, artist Ruth Hartley, as well as editors and publishers from the Zambian Reprographic Rights Society, the Zambia Women Writers Association, Pen Zambia, and the National Writers Association of Zambia.When sharing his position on postcolonial writing, Kasonde divulged that the scarcity of historical fiction for Zambian audiences motivated him to deliver The Padre and the Pagans of Ituna.“I thought that the time had come for us to write our own history from our own perspective,” Kasonde said. “So when you read that book, you are reading history as told by ourselves.”Kasonde’s readers will gather at The Mocha Puddle Café on Saturday 17 October from 14:30 to 15:30 to discuss Chapter 1 of The Padre and the Pagans of Ituna. Queries: +260977954869

Rewriting Bemba history through Zambian fiction

George Kasonde Writes for Zambians

Borniface Kanyamuna, author of Chasing Stardom, is back with another novella that delves into the music industry.Fortunaire: A Novella imagines the world of Zambia's top rapper. Fortunaire is so big, his shadow paints the hip-hop community black.At the absolute peak of his powers, with fans still starving for more of his music, he makes a bold decision: one final album. His vow going forward is to put family first, nothing else.After years of unmatched dominance at the top of the charts, he expects his last recording deal with his longtime record label to be the biggest in Zambian music history.However, his label delivers an offer that is small, disrespectful even. Will Fortunaire take the deal or ignite a firestorm?Pre-order your copy now from 0974997403 or 0760810873.Book: Fortunaire: A NovellaAuthor: Borniface KanyamunaRelease Date: 28 November 2026ISBN: 978-69990-50-83-7

Kanyamuna reappears with another explosive novella about Zambian music.

Borniface Kanyamuna Returns with Fortunaire: A Novella

I am writing to invite you to a virtual Meet the Novelist session with Penias Phiri, author of Preparing the Ground. The author will discuss his life story, read from his debut novel, and answer your questions.&nbsp;Penias Phiri, born in 1997, grew up in rural Chadiza and is still based in Zambia's Eastern Province.&nbsp;The worldviews in Preparing the Ground astonished me, and I was astounded by Penias Phiri's account of village life in Chadiza. I was particularly stunned by how the novel depicted the widespread belief in witchcraft.&nbsp;I believe that we should do more to support writers from rural Zambia. That is why I'm organizing this virtual event to give Penias Phiri a platform to reach a wider audience.Do join us on Saturday 3 October from 16:30 to 17:30 hours CAT.&nbsp;Entry is free and all are welcome. Do invite other lovers of Zambian literature.Novel: Preparing the GroundAuthor: Penias PhiriYear: 2026Publisher:<a href="https://sotranepublishers.com/shop" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;"> Sotrane Publishers</a>Licensed Promoter:<a href="https://annazgambo.com/biography" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;"> Anna Zgambo</a> Preparing the Ground follows Zakeyo, an ambitious young man navigating life in the village of Kalikongwe, where traditional customs meet modern challenges. Facing hardship, village dangers, and family struggles, Zakeyo relies on community support, hope, and his childhood sweetheart, Zilile, as he fights for his education and survival.﻿Order the paperback at K350: +260770621881<a href="https://a.co/d/0bPk6QNZ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Get the ebook at $9.99</a>

Meet the Novelist: Penias Phiri

Sometimes leaving home is the beginning of a new life. Sometimes, it is also the beginning of a few wrong turns.That tension runs through Lost in the City, a young adult novel by Lusaka-born writer Kelvin Siabunkululu.The story follows Mapenzi, a young man who leaves Nyawa in Southern Province for Lusaka, hoping to make something of himself. He has a clear ambition: to study medicine at the University of Zambia and build a future his parents can be proud of.But life in the city introduces him to a different set of influences. Mapenzi falls in with bad company, and the consequences are eventually severe. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself being pushed through the corridors of Levy Mwanawasa Teaching Hospital on a gurney after suffering a gunshot wound.For someone whose future had been centred on becoming a doctor, the moment is a sobering one.But Lost in the City is not only about the dramatic events that happen to Mapenzi. It is about the decisions that lead him there.It is about friendship, parental advice, ambition and what can happen when a young person is trying to find their identity away from home.<h3>In Conversation with Kelvin Siabunkululu</h3>KSJ: Where did the idea for Lost in the City come from?Kelvin Siabunkululu: I have always been interested in people and the way we live. I wanted to write something that young people could actually see themselves in. The idea developed around a young person leaving home, coming to the city and trying to find his way.KSJ: Why Mapenzi? What attracted you to his story?Siabunkululu: I think Mapenzi represents a lot of young people. He has dreams. He wants to succeed. He wants to become something. But along the way, he meets people who influence him, and things start changing.I wanted to show that sometimes it is not the absence of ambition that gets someone into trouble. You can have very good intentions and still make wrong choices.KSJ: And why move the story from Nyawa to Lusaka?Siabunkululu: I liked the contrast. You have this young man coming from a small village into a much bigger environment. Everything is different—the people, the opportunities, the pressures.Lusaka can be exciting, but it can also expose you to things you have never encountered before. I thought that made it an interesting setting for Mapenzi's journey.KSJ: His parents try to guide him. Was that an important part of the story for you?Siabunkululu: Very much. Parents don't always get everything right, but most parents want to see their children do well. Sometimes young people think their parents are simply restricting them, when actually they are trying to protect them.With Mapenzi, the tragedy is that he had been warned. He had people telling him to be careful, but he did not listen.KSJ: There is quite a dramatic turn when Mapenzi ends up at Levy Mwanawasa Teaching Hospital. Why take the story there?Siabunkululu: I wanted the consequences to feel real. It wasn't enough for him to simply get into trouble and then walk away from it.The gunshot wound shows how serious things have become. At that point, you start wondering what will happen to his education and his future. This is someone who wanted to become a doctor, and now he is lying on a hospital bed.KSJ: What would you like a young reader to think about after finishing the book?Siabunkululu: I would like them to think about the people they surround themselves with and the decisions they make.But I don't want the book to feel like someone is preaching to them. It is a story. They should enjoy the story first, and hopefully some of those things will stay with them afterwards.KSJ: What keeps you interested in writing?Siabunkululu: People, really. Humanity. Leadership. Family. I enjoy seeing people succeed, and I think stories give us a way of understanding each other a little better.<h3>The Author</h3>Born in Lusaka, Siabunkululu describes himself as passionate about humanity, leadership and family life. He is married to Catherine T. C. Siabunkululu, and they have a daughter, Gianna Siabunkululu.With Lost in the City, he turns those interests towards a young man's difficult transition from the familiarity of home to the uncertainty of city life.The result is a distinctly Zambian coming-of-age story—one that moves from Nyawa to Lusaka, from university ambitions to difficult consequences, and from parental warnings to lessons that may come too late.<h3>Where to Find Lost in the City</h3>Lost in the City is available at Bookworld, Manda Hill Branch, for K150.Countrywide delivery is available through a courier service of the buyer's choice.Kelvin Siabunkululu📞 +260 979 263 000✉️ <a href="mailto:ksiabunkululu3@gmail.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ksiabunkululu3@gmail.com</a>

Kelvin Siabunkululu on Youth, Choices and the Road to Finding Oneself

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.<h3>When loyalty becomes a trap</h3>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. <h2>THE INTERVIEW</h2><h3>Richard Sakala on crime fiction, Hardric and writing from Zambia</h3>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. <h2>Building a local crime-fiction identity</h2>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.<h3>What comes next?</h3>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.<h3>Where to find the book</h3>The paperback is available for K250, inclusive of delivery within Zambia, through Anna Zgambo.The e-book is available through:<ul><li>Amazon</li><li>Utushimi</li><li>AIMBUC Gallery</li><li>DL Bookstore</li></ul>Richard Sakala📞 +260 766 850 045📧 <a href="mailto:richardsakala310@gmail.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">richardsakala310@gmail.com</a>Facebook: Richard SakalaLinkedIn: Richard SakalaKatondo Street Journal's Author Spotlight features Zambian writers, their books and the ideas shaping the country's literary scene.

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

On Saturday 17 October 2026, readers will convene at The Mocha Puddle in Mass Media for “Chapter and Conversation,” an hour focused on George Kasonde’s novel, The Padre and the Pagans of Ituna.The setup is simple and welcoming. Guests are asked to arrive early to buy a drink and settle in. The group will then read the first chapter out loud together before opening the floor for discussion.If you want to pick up a copy of the novel, it is available locally at Bookworld and online through<a href="https://a.co/d/0hmgtNz6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"> </a><a href="https://a.co/d/0hmgtNz6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent;">Amazon</a>.Event Details: <ul><li>Date: Saturday 17 October 2026</li><li>Time: 14:30 to 15:30 hours</li><li>Venue: The Mocha Puddle, 7 Kenneth Maduma St, Mass Media</li><li>Queries: +260977954869</li></ul>About the NovelThe 19th Century is ending. In the northern part of the country now known as Zambia, the Arab slave trade is in its final phase. The two most important Bemba Chiefs, Chitimukulu and Mwamba, are in the grips of a battle to maintain their power. At this critical time two white men arrive in the territory. The first, Fr. Moreau tasked with claiming the souls of the Natives for Church and God. The other, Captain McCoy, is eager to secure the land for Queen and the British South Africa Company.Trapped within these forces, the Bemba Chiefs fight to regain control and the lives of their subjects cannot go on as they had done before. The Padre and The Pagans of Ituna is a tale of intertwined quests for power, love and gain told against the backdrop of Bemba cultural beliefs, traditions and practices. It tells of how unlikely parties become allies, if not in intent, then in effect and of the everyday actions that echo through time.

Sipping George Kasonde's The Padre and the Pagans of Ituna

Sipping George Kasonde’s The Padre and the Pagans of Ituna

A new Zambian novel is using the story of one child to examine some of the less visible challenges facing families and communities.Under the Mango Tree, the first published book by Zambian writer and filmmaker Yoweli Chungu, follows Junior, an autistic child growing up in Chibolya.The novel explores autism through the experiences of Junior and his family, but its subject is broader. It touches on childhood, poverty, family, faith, community life, disability and the difficulty of understanding people whose experiences do not fit familiar expectations.Chibolya is central to the story.Rather than using the compound simply as a setting for hardship, Chungu presents it as a community with its own relationships, beliefs, humour, conflicts and aspirations.That approach gives the story a distinctly Zambian setting while allowing it to examine issues that extend beyond one community.<h3>A mother searching for answers</h3>In one of the early chapters, "A Different Child," Junior's mother Hildah begins to recognise that her son is developing differently from other children.She notices his fascination with light, shadows and particular sounds. He observes people differently and does not always respond to faces or his name in the way she expects.When some of the few words he has begun using disappear, her concern deepens.But Hildah initially has no clear explanation for what she is seeing.The uncertainty becomes part of her own struggle. She begins questioning whether something during pregnancy or early childhood could have caused the changes she is seeing.Her mother-in-law, Ba Ruth, challenges that guilt, telling her that the child's condition is not the result of her mistakes.It is a small family exchange, but it captures one of the themes running through the novel: the burden parents can carry when they do not have enough information to understand what is happening to their children.<h3>When information is limited</h3>As Hildah searches for answers, the community offers its own explanations.Some interpret Junior's behaviour through traditional beliefs. Others see it through a religious or spiritual lens.Hildah eventually seeks help from a church, hoping that prayer might provide an answer. Instead, the experience leaves her confronting the limits of explanations based solely on faith.The novel uses this part of the story to explore a difficult reality: when reliable information about disability and developmental conditions is limited, families may turn to whatever explanations are available to them.That can include family advice, traditional beliefs, religious interpretations or other community explanations.For Hildah, the turning point is the realisation that what she needs is knowledge and a language through which she can understand her son.<h3>Beyond the autism story</h3>This is what makes Under the Mango Tree broader than a story about one child's condition.Junior's experience is connected to the circumstances around him.His family has its own pressures. The community has its own beliefs. Poverty shapes the choices available to people. Faith provides both comfort and explanations. And traditional ideas continue to coexist with modern life.The novel therefore places autism within the everyday realities of a Zambian community rather than treating it as an isolated medical or social issue.It also raises questions about how society responds to difference.What happens when a child behaves differently but the people around him do not understand why?How does a family respond when professional information is difficult to access?And how much can a child's experience be shaped by the assumptions of the people around him?These questions give the novel relevance beyond its fictional setting.<h3>Chibolya as a community</h3>The choice of Chibolya is also worth noting.Zambian compounds are often represented in public discussions primarily through poverty, crime or inadequate infrastructure. Chungu's story takes a wider view.Chibolya becomes a social environment — a place where people raise children, form relationships, hold religious beliefs, deal with conflict and find ways to survive.That allows the novel to present the community with both its difficulties and its humanity.It is also part of what makes the story recognisably Zambian. The setting is not simply a backdrop to Junior's life; it influences the people around him and the explanations they use to make sense of the world.<h3>A conversation about disability and understanding</h3>At its centre, Under the Mango Tree is concerned with the gap between difference and understanding.Junior experiences the world differently. The people around him must decide how to respond to that difference.The book consequently opens a wider conversation about autism and disability in African communities, including the role of family, faith, cultural beliefs and access to information.For Chungu, the book also represents a move from filmmaking into fiction.That shift gives him a different space in which to explore a subject that is difficult to capture through headlines or statistics: the private experience of a family trying to understand a child.The result is a story rooted in Chibolya but dealing with questions that will be familiar to many families — how we understand children, how communities explain difference, and what happens when love is present but knowledge is limited.Under the Mango Tree is Chungu's first published book.It is available through Booklovers Namibia.Purchase the book:<a href="https://booklovers-namibia.com/shop/under-the-mango-tree?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Booklovers Namibia — Under the Mango Tree</a>KSJ Book Spotlight is an editorial feature highlighting books by Zambian and African authors and the social, economic and cultural questions explored in their work.#UnderTheMangoTree #YoweliChungu #ZambianLiterature #AfricanLiterature #ZambianWriters #ZambianStories #AfricanStorytelling #AutismAwareness #DisabilityInclusion #Chibolya #Lusaka #BookSpotlight #KatondoStreetJournal

Beneath the Mango Tree: Yoweli Chungu’s Story of Childhood, Autism and Belonging

For many young people growing up in rural Zambia, education represents a route towards a different life. It promises opportunity, mobility and a chance to move beyond the economic circumstances into which one was born.But getting an education does not necessarily mean the struggle is over.That is the starting point for Preparing the Ground: Zakeyo’s Struggle for Education and Freedom, a literary novel by Zambian author Penias Phiri.The novel follows Zakeyo, a young man from the rural community of Kalikongwe, whose determination to pursue education takes him from village life to university and eventually into the difficult reality that follows graduation.Zakeyo's journey begins with the familiar hope that education can change the trajectory of his life. But as the story develops, that promise meets the realities of unemployment, financial hardship, difficult relationships and limited opportunities.In this sense, the novel moves beyond the familiar narrative of education as an automatic pathway to success.Zakeyo earns his education, but the next stage of his life presents another set of challenges. The transition from university into the wider economy becomes a test of resilience, particularly in an environment where qualifications do not always translate into employment or financial security.The story also remains connected to the community Zakeyo comes from.Traditional beliefs, cultural expectations, jealousy and conflicts within the community continue to shape his experiences. His movement into university and the wider world does not completely separate him from the social environment that formed him.This gives the novel two dimensions: it is both the story of one young man's attempt to build a better life and an exploration of some of the pressures surrounding education, poverty and social mobility.Phiri also draws on African oral traditions and village life, giving the story a distinctly Zambian setting while engaging with contemporary issues.Questions around unemployment, education, poverty, cultural identity, love and the search for opportunity run through Zakeyo's journey.The title itself offers an important clue to the novel's central idea.Preparing the Ground suggests that progress is often preceded by a long period of work that may not immediately produce visible results. The effort invested in education, personal development and perseverance may take time before its value becomes apparent.That idea gives the novel relevance beyond Zakeyo's individual story.For many young people, particularly those from communities where economic opportunities are limited, education can represent years of sacrifice and expectation. Yet the transition from education to independence can bring another period of uncertainty.Preparing the Ground explores that space between aspiration and reality.Rather than presenting success as a straight line, Phiri's novel follows a young man through setbacks, relationships, social pressures and economic difficulties as he continues trying to find his place.For readers interested in contemporary Zambian fiction, the novel offers a story grounded in rural life while engaging with questions that extend well beyond the village — what education can and cannot provide, what happens after graduation, and how much persistence is required when the promised opportunities do not arrive immediately.Preparing the Ground: Zakeyo’s Struggle for Education and Freedom is available through Sotrane Publishers for ZMW 350.Book Spotlight is a KSJ editorial feature highlighting books by Zambian and African authors and the ideas, experiences and social questions explored in their work.

When Education Is Only the Beginning: Penias Phiri’s Preparing the Ground

Book Review | Katondo Street JournalThere are novels that use mythology as decoration, and then there are novels that use mythology as a language through which to interrogate society. Copper Coins and Curses belongs to the latter category.Written by Zambian economist and author Kampamba Shula, the novel is an ambitious fusion of African mythology, fantasy, adventure and economic allegory. At its centre are two young boys, Mosi Nuka and Mwansa Kabinga, whose encounter with the legendary Nyami Nyami and the mysterious Copper Bloodstone opens a much larger story about power, extraction, history and destiny. Their journey extends from the Zambezi to pirate kingdoms, ghost markets, storm-battered islands and haunted Caribbean waters, while ancient relics begin to disturb the boundaries between past, present and future.But beneath the adventure lies a more serious question: what happens to a society when the thing that gives it wealth also becomes the source of its curse?That is where Copper Coins and Curses becomes particularly interesting. <h2>The resource curse in mythological form</h2>The concept of the resource curse is usually discussed in the language of economics. Countries endowed with valuable natural resources can paradoxically experience weak institutions, inequality, political instability, corruption, economic volatility and underdevelopment.Shula takes this familiar economic problem and transforms it into mythology.Instead of presenting the resource curse through graphs, commodity prices and fiscal statistics, the novel gives it supernatural form. Copper becomes more than a mineral. It becomes an object around which power, greed, history and destiny converge.The title itself is revealing. Copper represents wealth; curses represent the consequences of how that wealth is acquired, controlled and distributed.This creates an allegory that is particularly resonant in Zambia, a country whose modern economic history has been deeply intertwined with copper. The author has explicitly described the novel as an exploration of what happens when an economy is built around something it cannot control, arguing that commodity movements ultimately affect ordinary people's jobs, school fees, rent and food prices.The novel therefore asks an uncomfortable question: Is the resource itself the problem, or is the problem what humans do with it?Its answer appears to be the latter. <h2>Nyami Nyami as more than a mythical creature</h2>One of the novel's most compelling choices is its use of Nyami Nyami, the legendary Zambezi river spirit, as a force within the story.In conventional fantasy, a mythical creature can simply function as a source of wonder or danger. Here, mythology performs a deeper function.Nyami Nyami becomes a bridge between nature, memory and human ambition.The river is not merely scenery. It represents a world that existed before modern economic systems and will, potentially, survive them. The demand for the return of the Copper Bloodstone therefore carries an almost ecological and moral dimension: something has been taken, and something must be returned.That makes the mythology feel less like an escape from reality and more like an alternative way of understanding reality.The supernatural becomes a language for asking questions that economics sometimes struggles to express emotionally.What does extraction mean to the people who live beside the resource?What happens when wealth is removed from a place but the costs remain?Who owns the past?And can a society extract from nature indefinitely without eventually confronting the consequences? <h2>Copper as metaphor</h2>The copper in the novel operates simultaneously on several levels.It is a physical resource, a source of wealth, a historical commodity and a symbol of desire.But perhaps most importantly, it becomes a metaphor for value itself.Human beings assign value to copper because economies require it. Yet the novel reverses the relationship: copper begins to exert power over human beings.This is one of the book's richest allegories.The question is no longer simply, What can copper do for us?It becomes:What are we willing to do for copper?That distinction is fundamental to understanding the resource curse.Natural resources can finance schools, infrastructure, industry and prosperity. But they can also create incentives for rent-seeking, political competition and short-term extraction. The same resource can become either a foundation for development or a source of distortion.Copper Coins and Curses dramatises that contradiction through fantasy. <h2>The curse is institutional, not supernatural</h2>Perhaps the most interesting reading of the novel is that its "curse" need not be understood literally.The curse can be read as an allegory for institutions.A society does not necessarily become cursed because it possesses a valuable resource. It becomes vulnerable when the institutions surrounding that resource are unable to manage its power.This is where Shula's background as an economist gives the novel an unusual dimension. The story appears to understand that economic systems are ultimately human systems. Commodity prices may move globally, but the consequences are experienced locally.A fall in copper prices can become unemployment.A boom can become currency appreciation and inequality.A mineral discovery can generate political competition.A valuable deposit can attract foreign capital while leaving communities questioning what they actually received in return.The supernatural curse therefore mirrors a very real economic phenomenon: wealth can produce vulnerability when the systems governing it are weaker than the forces exploiting it. <h2>The danger of controlling destiny</h2>The novel's antagonist, Nsembe, adds another important dimension to this argument.Nsembe is described as a fallen guardian seeking to restore a single "perfect" timeline, even if doing so requires erasing civilizations, futures and lives.This introduces a second allegory: the danger of believing that complex societies can be engineered towards a perfect outcome by concentrating extraordinary power in the hands of one actor.There is a striking parallel here with resource economies.Resource wealth often creates enormous concentrations of economic and political power. Whoever controls the resource can gain disproportionate influence over the country's future.The novel therefore moves from the question of resource extraction to the broader question of control.Who gets to decide the future?Who gets to determine what is sacrificed for progress?And can the pursuit of a supposedly perfect future justify destroying alternative futures?These are questions that extend well beyond mythology. <h2>Two boys confronting the machinery of history</h2>Mosi Nuka and Mwansa Kabinga provide an important counterweight to the larger forces surrounding them.They are young, and their journey places them inside conflicts that existed long before they understood them.That makes their story symbolic.They represent a generation inheriting systems, histories and consequences that they did not create.This is arguably one of the strongest ways to read the novel in a contemporary African context.Young Africans inherit economies shaped by colonial extraction, commodity dependence, global markets, debt, infrastructure deficits and institutional choices made before their birth. Yet they are also expected to create a different future.Mosi and Mwansa's journey therefore becomes a journey through inherited history.The question confronting them is not simply how to defeat the forces pursuing them. It is whether they can break the pattern. <h2>A distinctly African mythology of modernity</h2>There is also something significant about the geographical imagination of the novel.The story refuses to keep African mythology confined to a narrowly defined African setting. Its journey moves through the Zambezi, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean, connecting different histories and mythological worlds.That approach challenges the idea that African mythology belongs only to the past.Instead, the novel treats mythology as living intellectual material capable of engaging with modern questions about capitalism, extraction, technology, political power and globalisation.That is an important contribution.African mythology does not have to be presented solely as folklore. It can also become a framework for speculative thought. <h2>The curse of extraction</h2>Ultimately, Copper Coins and Curses can be read as a story about extraction in its broadest sense.Humans extract minerals from the earth.Empires extract wealth from territories.Markets extract value from commodities.Power extracts obedience from people.And sometimes societies extract from the future in order to satisfy the present.The mythology makes these abstractions visible.The Copper Bloodstone, the Cursed Copper Coin and the other ancient relics become symbols of concentrated power capable of reshaping destiny. Their danger lies not necessarily in their existence, but in the desire of humans to possess and control them.This is precisely what makes the novel's resource-curse allegory effective.The curse is not simply that there is treasure.The curse is the belief that possessing treasure gives one the right to control everything around it. <h2>A novel worth reading beyond the adventure</h2>As a work of fantasy, Copper Coins and Curses offers mythology, mystery, time travel, supernatural forces and adventure. But reading it purely as an adventure story would miss much of what makes it distinctive.Its deeper ambition is to ask economic and political questions through myth.For readers interested in Zambia's copper economy, African development, political economy or the relationship between natural resources and institutions, the novel offers an unusual proposition: perhaps some economic problems are easier to understand when they are turned into stories.And perhaps mythology has not disappeared from modern African life.Perhaps it has simply changed form.The gods have become institutions.The sacred relics have become commodities.The curses have become economic structures.And the ancient struggle over resources continues under the language of markets, contracts and development.That is the real strength of Copper Coins and Curses. It does not merely place African mythology inside a fantasy adventure. It uses mythology to interrogate one of Africa's most enduring economic questions: why does extraordinary natural wealth so often fail to produce extraordinary human prosperity?For a Zambian novel, that is an ambitious question.For an African novel, it is an important one.And for readers of Katondo Street Journal, it makes Copper Coins and Curses more than a fantasy novel.It is a story about copper.But ultimately, it is a story about power, memory, extraction and the price of wealth.

Copper Coins and Curses: When Myth Becomes an Economic Allegory

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