The Fire at the Core is a collection of 16 literary pieces in play or structured dialogue genre, satirical narrative genre and philosophical write-ups by a budding writer, playwright and thinker Malama Katulwende.Any literary appraiser of this piece cannot afford to ignore the assertiveness of the author; in such chapters as Crises: The poverty and futility of Zambian Hip-Hop and Is Zambian music definable? the voice embodies an authority on aesthetics.With mild reference to established authorities and major publications on the subject, the works question and summarily rebuke songs and artists who model their works along Afro-American templates such as Hip-Hop.The essays pick on the recent winner of the London based Black Entertainment, Fashion, Film and Television Award (BEFFTA) Chisenga Katongo also known as Crises as an exemplar of this pollution of authentic Zambian art, and deviation to culturally misplaced Afro-American music genres.It is however puzzling to learn that the author based his work on references to works by people who ply Western art themselves such as Elvis Zuma – a guitarist – an instrument which, unlike Malimba or drums, is not African in origin.In fact, but for Heavens Gate, The Trial of Chansa Kabwela, the Circus and The Clouds; the other 11 pieces in The Fire at the Core do not themselves qualify to be called African literature, a literary genre of tales with deep didactic aspect to them such as the Achebian Things Fall Apart.Thematically, whilst the first six chapters are dedicated to what is called popular literature or literature for the masses, other chapters like Why Should We Obey the Law and The Clouds and others are sombre in mood, and deal with heavy topics of law and classical philosophy of Plato, Aristotle and others which may serve graduate scholars of the disciplines well but may find limited resonance with the other 80 percent of Zambians who are either illiterate or mildly literate.The ease with which principles of law and philosophical arguments are applied on the Zambian scene is a matter of pure genius and sign of the authors’ full comprehension of the underlying fabrics of the pieces.‘Laughers beware’, in all the 16 short stories in The Fire at the Core, humour fails to find a bed. For example the two ‘prose odes’ I refuse to die and In Memory of Margo Schouten are sombre and melancholic in tone and mood whilst the others are a serious treatise on academic and social subjects with a rebellious approach to current social conventions.Whilst a simplistic deduction would attribute the absence of humour, and the controversy in The Fire at the Core to mere sensationalism and an attempt at gaining public acclaim through controversy; biographic and psychological approaches to the works show that The Fire at the Core borrows heavily from the authors’ life.A double orphan with a brother and a female best friend on the deceased list, it is not surprising that the works question religious cosmology and its essence. This in itself is a plus and a reason you may wish to read the work; it is reality through the mental lenses of a thinker and critic.One of the The Fire at the Core’s chapters entitled Art and Erotica has managed to incite a reaction from the respected Zambian art critic Andrew Mulenga.He states “The Fire at the Core’s attempt in a chapter on Art and Erotica to reference a work by Charles Chambata, who is known for the celebration of the female figure, does not help. Of Chambata’s work, the text asserts “it is our apprehension of the moment of creation and our relation to it that constitutes art”.But what helps this remark remain lacking in clarity could be the fact that out of the hundreds of Zambian artists, Katulwende only singles out one.Which brings to question his all the more confusing reason for mentioning 18 Western philosophers from Plato to Beardsley “to name but a few thinkers” and attempt to link so many names to the birth of what constitutes contemporary art.“The mentioning of an entire pantheon of philosophers and an ill attempt to link these to the subject at hand in this chapter, as well as an ill attempt to link the same to the Zambian artists whom he alleges to be “aping” Western erotic art makes one wonder whether he should have just left out the whole chapter altogether.”This scathing attack of The Fire at the Core by Mulenga who, if the reader knew not, is a passionate activist of Zambian art is part of Malama Katulwende’s hallmark: the ability to steer and arouse controversy from all echelons of society.For everything that it has and lacks, The Fire at the Core is sure not to pass unnoticed on the Zambian political and literary scene.It is the kind of material that both seasons university faculty discussions and manages to arouse interest in the meekly educated due to its populist and yet contemporary topics – a must have for those alive today in Zambia.