{{Short description|Angolan writer (born 1966)}} {{use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1966|1|9|df=y}} | birth_place = Dondi, Huambo, Angola | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | alma_mater = University of Westminster<br/>Seton Hall University | occupation = Author and journalist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''Patriots'' (1992) }} '''Sousa Jamba''' (born 9 January 1966)<ref name="Africa Confidential">{{Cite web |title=Sousa Jamba {{!}} Profile {{!}} Africa Confidential |url=https://www.africa-confidential.com/index.aspx?pageid=118&whoswhoid=2077 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=www.africa-confidential.com |language=en}}</ref> is an Angolan author and journalist.
==Biography== Sousa Jamba was born in 1966 in Dondi, Huambo, in central Angola. His family were all supporters of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA),<ref name=BBC /> which fought alongside the MPLA (the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola) in the Angolan War of Independence (1961–75) and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war (1975–2002). In 1975, nine-year-old Jamba with his family left the country, fleeing the violence following Angola's independence, and went to Zambia, where he lived as a refugee,<ref name="LE">{{Cite web |title=Sousa Jamba |url=https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12570 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=www.litencyc.com |language=en}}</ref> before going to England. Jamba has said: "There was a sense that if you were from Unita you either had to leave the country or go out into the bush, which is precisely what my family did."<ref name=BBC />
In 1985, Jamba returned to Angola, and worked as a reporter and translator for the UNITA News Agency.<ref name=LE /> In 1986, he went to study in Britain on a journalism scholarship, and soon began writing for ''The Spectator''.<ref name=LE /> From 1988 to 1991, he studied for a BA degree in Media Studies at Westminster University, London.<ref name="Africa Confidential" /> He also has a master's degree in Leadership and Strategic Communications from Seton Hall University in New Jersey, United States. He returned to his home country after 27 years of exile.<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |date=2004-01-06 |title=Author Jamba's emotional homecoming |language=en-GB |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3372043.stm |website=BBC News|access-date=2023-11-16}}</ref>
Jamba's books include ''Patriots'' (1992), an autobiographical work of fiction that received much critical acclaim. Andrew McKie of ''The Telegraph'' writes of it: "Sousa Jamba's brilliant and terrifying (and often very funny) novel Patriots gives an account of a child's view of the war in Angola."<ref>Andrew McKie, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140727044905/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmckie/3695161/Too_young_to_die/ "Too young to die"], ''The Telegraph'', 6 November 2007.</ref> Jamba's second novel, ''A Lonely Devil'', was published in 1993. He has written widely for newspapers and journals, among them ''Granta'', ''The Spectator'' and the ''New Statesman''.<ref name="Africa Confidential" /><ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/sousa_jamba Sousa Jamba page] at ''New Statesman''.</ref> He writes a weekly column for the Angolan newspaper ''Semanario Angolense''. He also writes a column on leadership for the business magazine ''Exame''. He currently lives in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Jamba is a contributor to the 2005 book ''The Silver Throat of the Moon: Writing in Exile'', edited by Jennifer Langer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fiveleaves.co.uk/product/the-silver-throat-of-the-moon-writing-in-exile/|title=The Silver Throat of the Moon: Writing in Exile|editor-first=Jennifer|editor-last=Langer|publisher=Five Leaves Publications|isbn=9780907123651}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * ''Patriots'' (1992)
* ''A Lonely Devil'' (1993) * ''On The Banks Of The Zambezi'' (1993)
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP2oIbQg_HM "Angolan journalist Sousa Jamba analyzes the current socio-political and economic situation in his country"], MBC TV Mozambique, 27 March 2026.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamba, Sousa}} Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century male writers Category:20th-century novelists Category:21st-century Angolan writers Category:Alumni of the University of Westminster Category:Angolan journalists Category:People from Huambo Province