Mise à jour du 1er octobre 2015 : droits cédés aux éditions Michel Lafon
Publié par Scribner en Octobre 2013, THE QUEEN OF KATWE relate l’incroyable histoire de Phiona Mutesi, jeune ougandaise, championne d’échecs. Élevée dans un bidonville, elle découvre les échecs à l’âge de 9 ans, errant affamée, dans les couloirs d’un tournoi organisé dans un refuge.
Les droits de THE QUEEN OF KATWE ont été cédés à Little, Brown UK (Royaume-Uni), Scribe (Océanie), Bruna (Pays Bas), BTB (Allemagne), Piemme (Italie), Juritzen (Norvège), Kinneret (Israël), Woongjin (Corée).
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
THE QUEEN OF KATWE
One Girl’s Triumphant Path to Becoming a Chess Champion
By Tim Crothers
Scribner, October 2013
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).
