The novel is set in Zaire in the late 1990s. President Mobutu’s thirty-year reign is tottering. In Lubumbashi, the stubbornly homeless Sanza has fallen in with a trio of veteran street kids led by the devious Ngungi. A chance encounter with the mysterious Monsieur Guillaume seems to offer a way out . . .
Meanwhile in Angola, Molakisi has joined thousands of fellow Zairians hoping to make their fortunes hunting diamonds, while Austrian Franz finds himself roped into writing the memoirs of the charismatic Tshiamuena, the ‘Madonna of the Cafunfo Mines’. Things are drawing to a head, but at the Mambo de la Fête, they still dance the Villain’s Dance from dusk till dawn.
Meet Fiston Mwanza Mujila
- Sat 16 May – European Writers’ Festival, British Library
- Mon 18 May – Austrian Cultural Forum, London
- Tue 19 May – Bàrd Books, London
- Wed 20 May – Gloucester Road Bookshop, Bristol
- Thu 21 May – Institut français d’Écosse, Edinburgh
- Thu 21 may – Tills Bookshop, Edinburgh
About Fiston Mwanza Mujila
Fiston Mwanza Mujila was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and lives in Austria. His debut novel, Tram 83, won the Grand Prix de la Société des Gens de Lettres du 1er roman and the German International Literature Award, while its English translation (by Roland Glasser) won the Etisalat Prize for Literature and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize.
His second novel, The Villain’s Dance, was a National Book Award finalist. Two collections of his poetry have been published in English: The River in the Belly and The Slaughterhouse of Dreams (both translated by J. Bret Maney). He also writes plays and opera libretti, and performs his texts in collaboration with contemporary musicians. His writing responds to political turbulence in his native country and frequently foregrounds its debt to jazz.
