Ebamba’s name means “mender” in Lingala, but everything in the Congolese twenty-something’s life seems to be falling apart. In the chaotic megacity of Kinshasa, the educated but unemployed young man must navigate the ever widening distance between tradition and modernity—⁠—from the payment of his fiancée’s exorbitant dowry to the unexpected sexual confession of his best friend—⁠—as he struggles with responsibility and flirts with temptation.

RICHARD ALI A MUTU was born in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1988. He won the Mark Twain Award in 2009, and published his first novel, Tabu’s Nightmares, written in French, in 2011. His novel Ebamba: Kinshasa Makambo, translated into English as Mr. Fix-It, was published in Lingala in 2014. His work portrays the everyday realities of Congolese life with the bold, intense style associated with the country’s music and fashion. He works as a lawyer and writer, and hosts a weekly television program about Congolese literature.