Episode 15: Neema Shah

Neema Shah’s day job is in marketing, specialising in TV, digital and brand strategy for companies including the BBC, and it was on her commutes that she started writing Kololo Hill six years ago. Her writing is the historical fiction retelling of the expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972 by Idi Amin and the impacts of diaspora, but it is endless in humour, love and joy - the things which Neema believes, in spite of struggle, humans use to survive. 

Neema was born in London and spoke English at home, and yet elements of both Indian and East African culture were present in her life, be they ways of cooking Indian dishes with African spices, or using Swahili and Gujarati words when speaking. She uses her writing to explore themes of identity and belonging, and Kololo Hill is an insightful, entertaining and eye-opening piece of historical fiction out 18 February 2021 for readers to devour. 

Kololo Hill was a “2021 Pick” for Foyles, Daily Mail, The Irish Times, Cosmopolitan and Eastern Eye. She won the Literary Consultancy Pen Factor Live 2017 with an early extract of Kololo Hill, was runner-up in the York Festival of Writing Best Opening Chapter 2017 and the DGA First Novel Prize 2018, she was shortlisted for the Bath Novel Prize 2018 and longlisted for the Exeter Novel Prize, SI Leeds Literary Prize and Retreat Novel Prize, all in 2018.