In formally adventurous stories rooted in Zambian literary tradition, Obligations to the Wounded explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad. The collection converses with global social problems through the depiction of games, social media feuds, letters, and folklore to illustrate how girls and women manage religious expectation, migration, loss of language, death, intimate partner violence, and racial discrimination. Although the women and girls inhabiting these pages are separated geographically and by life stage, their shared burdens, culture, and homeland inextricably link them together in struggle and triumph.
Winner of the 2024 Drue Heinz Literature Prize Longlist, 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction Finalist, Minnesota Book Awards of 2025 Finalist, 2024 Foreword Indies Award Co-winner The Boston Globe's Best 75 Books of 2024 Winner The Minnesota Star Tribune Best Book of 2024 Co-winner, Brittle Paper 100 Notable African Books of 2024 Co-winner, The Continent's Top 5 African Books of 2024 In formally adventurous stories rooted in Zambian literary tradition, Obligations to the Wounded explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad. The collection converses with global social problems through the depiction of games, social media feuds, letters, and folklore to illustrate how girls and women manage religious expectation, migration, loss of language, death, intimate partner violence, and racial discrimination. Although the women and girls inhabiting these pages are separated geographically and by life stage, their shared burdens, culture, and homeland inextricably link them together in struggle and triumph.