Many British passport holders arrived in the UK, dispossessed. Stripped of their wealth, almost 80,000 people were forced to flee to anywhere that would have them. It seems extraordinary now that in 1972 Amin ordered the expulsion of Uganda’s minority Asian population from the country within 90 days. It follows the fortunes of a family fleeing from a country they call home and arriving in the UK with mixed emotions and a suitcase full of memories, needless to say not all of them good. Neema Shah’s debut novel Kololo Hill explores these nuanced themes of identity, displacement and loss against the backdrop of Idi Amin’s murderous reign in Uganda during the 1970s. And in particular, what of Asian Africans who came to live in the UK? Where should they go back to? India, Pakistan, Bangladesh versus Kenya, Uganda or South Africa, for example? But what of the many immigrants that came to live in countries indirectly? The African versus West Indian populations, the Eastern European descendants or the East Asians from Japan, China or Korea? All lumped in together for the same treatment. The people who regularly shouted this none-too-friendly command would most probably not stop and think where the target audience actually hailed from… to them, all these ‘foreigners’ were/are one homogeneous group. If you’re non-white living in a majority white place or indeed a visible or identifiable ‘foreigner’ in a land, the chances are you will have at some point been told to “go back to your own country”. This cover is proof once again, that I really did find a publishing home that day.“ Devastatingly beautiful… Every sentence is a revelation.” Nikita Gill I remember talking at length with the editorial and marketing team, who understood what I wanted to achieve with Kololo Hill completely. I remember admiring the beautiful covers on the shelves and wondering if mine would day appear alongside them. When I first went to my publisher Picador’s offices with my agent, appropriately enough for a novel about belonging, it felt like coming home.
It’s not out until 18th Feb 2021 but you can request it from Netgalley now! For a physical copy, please contact my publicist Kate Green at Picador on Twitter or via email.
The literary equivalent of a firework, if you like. It’s been a long old wait for Kololo Hill‘s launch but this cover has kicked it off with a bang, rattle and a whizz. To top it all off, this animation is beyond my wildest expectations. And if you look closer, there’s more than meets the eye to that zingy bright yellow. The design blends a Modern Batik print, popular in Uganda in the 60s and 70s, and British artist Barbara Brown’s 1968 ‘Complex’ fabric. My beautiful cover was designed by the very talented Lucy Scholes at Picador.
Cover reveal time for Kololo Hill! I’m so excited to share this with you and now that you’ve seen it too, perhaps you can understand why I’m like a kid at Christmas.
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