The Queen of Katwe

Resource Information

The work The Queen of Katwe represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in DC Public Library System. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The Queen of Katwe

Creator

• Crothers, Tim

Subject

• Biography & Autobiography
• Games
• History
• Nonfiction

Summary

Now a major motion picture starring Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo, directed by Mira Nair. The "astonishing" (The New York Times Book Review) and "inspirational" (Shelf Awareness) true story of Phiona Mutesi—a teenage chess prodigy from the slums of Uganda.One day in 2005 while searching for food, nine-year-old Ugandan Phiona Mutesi followed her brother to a dusty veranda where she met Robert Katende. Katende, a war refugee turned missionary, had an improbable dream: to empower kids in the Katwe slum through chess—a game so foreign there is no word for it in their native language. Laying a chess­board in the dirt, Robert began to teach. At first children came for a free bowl of porridge, but many grew to love the game that—like their daily lives—requires persevering against great obstacles. Of these kids, one girl stood out as an immense talent: Phiona. By the age of eleven Phiona was her country's junior champion, and at fifteen, the national champion. Now a Woman Candidate Master—the first female titled player in her country's history—Phiona dreams of becoming a Grandmaster, the most elite level in chess. But to reach that goal, she must grapple with everyday life in one of the world's most unstable countries. The Queen of Katwe is a "remarkable" (NPR) and "riveting" (New York Post) book that shows how "Phiona's story transcends the limitations of the chessboard" (Robert Hess, US Grandmaster)

Nature of contents

dictionaries