A review by seeyouinorbit
Jambula Tree and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 8th Annual Collection by Monica Arac de Nyeko

5.0

I only read “Jambula Tree” by Monica Arac de Nyeko but I’m definitely going to read the other stories as well. “Jambula Tree” was written beautifully and I was moved by Anyango and Sanyu’s love story. It’s the first lgbtq+ story set in East Africa that I’ve read and I enjoyed it. This short story inspired the film “Rafiki” showed at Cannes in 2018. The story in the film takes place in Kenya instead of Uganda like in the short story. “Rafiki” stirred up a lot of controversy in Kenya where it was banned. It’s unfortunate this happened but I’m still hopeful that one day the lgbtq+ community in Africa will no longer be persecuted for being who they want to be and loving who they want. Love is Love!