Q&A with "Queen of Katwe" author Tim Crothers

Journalism Professor and Class of 1986 graduate Tim Crothers' book, "The Queen of Katwe" is being made by ESPN and Disney into a movie that will premier this September. Staff writer Leah Moore talked with him about the book's themes, the process of it being turned into a movie and Roy Williams.

Daily Tar Heel: What are the main themes of your book, “The Queen of Katwe?"

Tim Crothers: It’s a classic underdog story. There’s a quote on the book that is particularly poignant to me. When I first got to Katwe in 2010, this struck me and I ended up writing it down in my notebook. It reads: “To be African is to be an underdog in the world, to be Ugandan is to be an underdog in Africa, to be from Katwe is to be an underdog in Uganda, and to be a girl is to be an underdog in Katwe.” To me that really defines what it’s all about. For Phiona to have done what she’s done is against the grain in so many ways. I think that’s what makes her story so extraordinary. She has no business being an elite chess player, and there’s no word for chess in her native language. At nine, when she discovered the chess program, she could not read or write and was basically homeless. She turned her life around from that to becoming a really good chess player and an incredible person, a leader of the women’s movement in her own country.

DTH: What piqued your interest in writing a book about Phiona Mutesi, a girl from Uganda who became an international chess champion? How did you find her story?

TC: I was doing an appearance for the book I’d written with Roy Williams, and a gentleman came up to me at the end of the talk and said, “I have a good story for you.” As a journalist, you learn from the very beginning that you should listen just in case. He told me that he’d read in a Christian newsletter about a young girl who had grown up in the slums of Uganda but had become an international chess champion. I decided I wanted to check into that, and the story sort of grew from there. 

DTH: How will the Disney and ESPN movie due out in September differ from your book?

TC: I have not seen it, so I don’t know for sure. I hope that it captures the inspirational story that is Phiona Mutesi. I’ve seen the trailer and some other clips from the movie, and I feel like what I’ve seen so far is very true to the story.

DTH: How does it feel to have big names such as Lupita Nyong’o in the film version?

TC: It’s an honor. I had never imagined that we would attract such wonderful actors and actresses to this project. It’s beyond my wildest dreams to have David Owelowo and Lupita Nyong’o in the cast. I’m hoping that will take what might otherwise be a niche movie and take it to another level.

DTH: While you writing “The Queen of Katwe,” did you find difficulty in understanding or depicting Ugandan culture?

TC: Of course. It’s impossible as a writer to completely translate what I’ve seen with my eyes to the page and then to the reader. What you see in Katwe is a world that’s so foreign to an American reader that they would really have trouble envisioning it. It’s difficult as a writer to capture just how destitute the world that Phiona grew up in really is. I appreciate the fact that there is a movie now, because the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words really is the case when it comes to Katwe. You need to see it with your own eye to really believe what it’s like. 

DTH: What would you want a reader to have as a takeaway from your book? What would you want them to learn from it?

TC: That you should never limit your dreams. There were so many times in the course of Phiona’s story when she could have said “I have this dream, but I don’t think it can really come true.” There was hurdle after hurdle for her to accomplish this dream. Each time she came to one of those hurdles and thought about whether she should try to conquer it, each time she chose to conquer it and succeeded. Each time it was against incredible odds. If you have the drive and the guts and the determination to make it happen, like Phiona Mutesi, you can make it happen. 

DTH: You teach a class in sports writing in the Journalism School, and that you have previously written for Sports Illustrated. Do you consider chess a sport?

TC: I think it’s as pure a sport as you can find. There are no referees, no judges, nobody that might make a human error to determine the outcome of the game. It is truly one competitor against another competitor, and the player who plays the best is going to win the game. To me, that is the purity of sport, you cannot get anymore pure than that. 

DTH: Your other books, “Hard Work” and “The Man Watching” are both about sports teams at UNC and their respective coaches. Why do you write so much about UNC athletics?

TC: I went to UNC, class of '86, and during that time I had the opportunity to meet Anson Dorrance, and I think in the back of my mind in the 15 years between when I met him and when I actually asked him about writing the book, I always thought that he would be a fascinating subject to speak to...I thought the same thing about Roy Williams. I thought he had a fascinating story to tell that had been untold. As a writer, that’s really what we’re all looking for. We’re looking for stories to tell that are going to be fun to read and that deserve to be told that have not been told. In both cases, those stories fit that mold. They both have incredible backstories of how they became the coaches that they have become. I was privileged to tell both of their stories.

DTH: How long does it typically take you to write one of these nonfiction books?

TC: I can honestly tell you that it depends. “The Man Watching” was a five-year project. I planned on it being a one-year project, but I had so much fun writing, and reporting and interviewing for the book that I ended up spending five years in and around the program talking to lots of players and coaches. We decided to do the Roy Williams’ book in 2009 after they won the National Championship, and we wanted it to be out before the following season, so we spent two months on that book, from beginning to end. Coach Williams was unbelievably gracious with his time, and somehow — after 64 hours of interviews — we were able to take that book from a blank page to a finished book in two months. It just depends on how much time you have. 

DTH: How long did “The Queen of Katwe” take?

TC: It’s a little less defined, simply because it started as a magazine story in ESPN the Magazine. I first met her in August of 2010, and the magazine story came out in 2011, and the book came out, I believe, in 2012. So I guess you could say it was a two-year process from the first time I actually met her. Most of the book’s writing occurred in the last six months to a year of that time.

arts@dailytarheel.com