With the festival over its only fair that I share images that I captured with my trusty phone. Here you go.
Tag Archives: Writivism Festival 2015
Writivism Festival 2015: Thanks to the organisers
Writivism Festival 2015 came and left and impacted so many people. It had its good parts and its not so good.
The good was amazing with some of the best panels, master classes and keynote addresses you can find anywhere on the African continent where literature is concerned. The not so good included confusion that sometimes reigned, the issues with venues strewn across a traffic filled city and the food. For a three year old festival I’d say that they did pretty well.
Through it all the staff and volunteers of the festival stuck with us sometimes to unholy hours. These were the unheard of heros and sheroes having to get venues sorted, find transport, solve many problems and they always did it without complaining. With a smile on their faces.
To all of you I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your service was appreciated of you starting with;
- Director (Legal and Finance): Kyomuhendo A Ateenyi
- Director (Fundraising and Pre Texts): Naseemah Mohamed
- Director (Programs and Writivism): Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire
- Festival Consultant: Wanjeri Gakuru
- Legal Advisor: Kiconco Winfred
- Finance Advisor: Dorothy Bagaya
- Manager (Communications and Media): Rebecca Rwakabukoza
- Manager (Website and Social Media): Roland Niwagaba
- Research Assistant (Pre-Texts): Anne Marie Nabuguzi
- Manager (Human Resources): Ezaruku Draku Franklin
- Manager (Hospitality): Emmanuel Anyole
- Manager (Production): Julius Lugaaya
- Manager (Advertising): Lynette Eileen Ninsiima
- Manager (Transport): Elizabeth Kitego
- Manager (Logistics): Kagayi Peter
- Blog Editor: Mary Ajayi
- Photographer: Onyait Odeke
- Videographer: Daniel Ecwalu
- Production Assistant: Kwezi Tabaro
- Production Assistant: Shiraz Murray
- Production Assistant (Time Keeping): Stella Maris Kembabazi
- Sales and Office Assistant: Lewis Ainebyona
- Media Coordinator: Jacky Kemigisa
- Sales and Marketing Assistant 1: Ernest Dennis Sessanga
- Sales and Marketing Assistant 2: Mercy Mutesi
- Sales and Marketing Assistant 3: Sumayah Namuwenge
- Staff Writer 1: Caleb Adebayo
- Staff Writer 2: Anne Moraa
- Staff Writer 3: Ibrahim Batambuze
- Staff Writer 4: Charlotte Bbosa
- Staff Writer 5: Twasiima Patricia Bigirwa
- Social Media Assistant 1: Agaba Josh
- Social Media Assistant 2: Patricia Kahill
- Social Media Assistant 3: Ruth Aine
- Social Media Assistant 4: Joel Ntwatwa
- Social Media Assistant 5: Bernard Beewol
- Transport Officer: Ssekandi Ronald
- Hospitality Officer 1: Jack Agaba
- Hospitality Officer 2: Caroline Nakayemba
- Hospitality Officer 3: Joan Aboku
- Hospitality Officer 4: Sayuuni Talemwa
- Hospitality Officer 5: Emmanuel Ddamulira
Again thanks a lot.
And see you next year.
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Writivism Festival 2015 Day 4: Politics, selling books and breaking down language barriers
Saturday in Kampala, Uganda saw the African writing community in the form of Writivism Festival 2015 converging at the city’s National Theatre for a series of activites.
The keynote address in the evening was given by Ugandan poet, fiction writer, scholar and columnist John Nagenda. Nagenda is also a senior media advisor to President Yoweri Museveni. He was to be in conversation with Daniel Kalinaki a former managing editor with The Monitor and writer of Kizza Besigye and Uganda’s Unfinished Revolution. This book is biography of a political rival to the President Museveni who ran against him in the last election. The two would be introduced byBusingye Kabumba. The address was to be on What is the place of the writer in politics?
It was a bit of a rambling speech moving back and forth from his days attending the famousAfrican Writing Conference hosted at Makerere Universityin 1962 that we keep talking about in this business of ours. (Sidebar: Some one seriously needs to write a book followed by a movie about that period in our time seriously.)
There is hell of a lot that happened in that conference. Here we see the death of Negritude being espoused by French African writers led by Léopold Senghor and Aimé Césaire at the hands of Wole Soyinka. That can’t have been a very serious movement if one phrase, “Does a tiger feel its tigritude?” would see its death. At the end of it all he explains that while some were very keen to allow their work to be used as part of the struggle, he reckons that whatever folks might say about him he is still here. I have a feeling, not following Ugandan politics as keenly as I should, that this gentleman isn’t a hugely popular fellow. He also explained that he too has taken part in the struggle by placing full page adverts with skulls warning about the return of war in his country while Obote II was looming.
The discussion with Kalinaki was quite heated with the former newspaper man telling us of his shock on learning that the older man had a heart when he had surgery recently. Then it was a back and forth between the two that if it was here, would have caused newspaper headlines and a Twitter meltdown. Fortunately for all involved it was at the safe space that was Writivism. It was lucky for us that Nagenda, who has a blog http://www.onemansweek.com/, opted to join us instead of his preferred offering on a Saturday; cricket between New Zealand and England.
The other days events were just as illuminating. Students performed dance, music, drama inspired by the prose of Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. I loved it. My favourite were the kids from St Kizito SS (Secondary School?)Bugolobi did those interpretative work that brought to mind the videos that would have made Daft Punk proud.
The master classes included poetry facilitated byDami Ajayi and Chijoke Amu-nnadiand editing facilitated by Sara Bruya who is also the managing editor of Transition Magazine. The new Transition please note.
Panels were my favourite parts of this festival which were the richest thing on offer. One of the best wasBreaking down the Francophone and Anglophone walls discussed by Edwige Dro and Ndinda Kioko. They were moderated by the Aaron Badywho is to African literature what Jeff Chang is to American Hip Hop. (If I must explain, Chang is an Asian American who is an authority on Hip Hop a very African American genre, Bady is an White American who bills himself as an authority on Black African literature. The difference is that the former has a book to prove his claim). There discussion was illuminating with Edwige Dro carrying it with her explanations of West Africa and just how disjointed that part of the country is compared to what I had initially thought. Even French West Africa is disjointed. The Cote D’Ivoire translator and Africa 39er was at her finest as she told us how we want to break down the walls. Kioko who is an Africa 39er and Miles Morland scholar spoke about about the need to work together with Jalada Africa which a collective she is a part of in mind.
Eventually we went to the bare bones of the issue. We aren’t distributing in whatever language we speak in. That needs to change one country at a time. Also Edwige suggested that she is working on possibly having a literary festival in Cote D’Ivoire in 2016; we’ll keep you posted.
Another great panel was the Nigerian Literature Conversation featuring Saddiq Dzukogi, Michael Afenfia and Onyeka Nwelue. The three Nigerians have written in threegenres; Dzukogi is a poet, Afenfia has a new sports fiction title Don’t Die On Wednesday and Nwelue has a non fiction book Hip Hop is only for Children. The three were moderated by publisher and writer Richard Ali.
They discussed the trends in literature from African’s biggest nation and it became evident that they have a very developed industry. What I loved is the two schools of thought where book marketing is concerned in Naija. One is represented by the artistic Dzukogi whose main joy as a writer is the actual writing and being published process. The other is represented by Nwelue who believes that the work needs to pay for itself and thus urges aggression where it is concerned. I’m starting to love the latter way of think in recent times. (goes to my social media channels to harass folks to visit JamesMurua.com)
Also of interest was the panel “How do you sell a Fiction book?” featuring self published writers Ciku Kimeria and Jagero Oduor moderated by Ugandan newspaper woman Flora Aduk. In this panel we learnt to be shameless, aggressive, join a community of writers who would promote your work. Also ensure that the product is world class before going to market.
This was also a day of launches.The Crossroads Women Writers Anthology featuring Christopher Conte, Lydia Namubiru, Nakisanze Segawa, Peace Kyamureku, Hilda Twongyeirwe and Sophie Bamwoyeraki was unleashed to the people of the world. Also unleashed was Harriet Anena poetry collection A Nation In Labour.
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Writivism Festival 2015 Day 3: Oil and bunked panels
So what did you do on Friday? Well many people work sluggishly all day then at closing they will flee to the nearest bar. At the Writivism Festival 2015, Friday seemed to know that folks might not be as responsive so there was less of an intensive program. Either that or they opted to have more events on Saturday as more folks are free.
The keynote address, I love the daily keynote by the way, was delivered by… OK it was supposed to be given by Chika Unigwe. It was What do oil resources mean to African Writers? Her address would make perfect sense as she is a former winner of the Nigerian Literature Prize which has oil as its funders. The keynote was to be introduced by Prof Joe Oloka Onyango in conversation with Catherine Byaruhanga. Unfortunately she was unavailable on the day, so her place was taken by publisher and writer Richard Ali who read the address on her behalf. You can read the whole address here.
If you don’t have the energy, lazy you, the short of it is that it is sad that folks would ask for oil companies to avoid funding the arts when it is our money they use when we buy fuel. We need everyone who can support the arts involved even them. Especially with governments spending so little on this vital sector.
If you don’t have the energy, lazy you, the short of it is that it is sad that folks would ask for oil companies to avoid funding the arts when it is our money they use when we buy fuel. We need everyone who can support the arts involved even them. Especially with governments spending so little on this vital sector.
The master classes included Speculative Fiction facilitated by Rachel Zadok and Writing for Social Justice facilitated by Paula Akugizibwe and Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah.
There were panels but this humble blogger was nowhere near them having bunked from the festival. This was because of excessive drinking on the Thursday night; those writing people can drink you under the table and then wake up at 9am the next morning fresh as a daisy. For those who could make it, one was, Is it time to change the content of the African Literature syllabus? This one had Beatrice Lamwaka, Aaron Bady, Hilda Twongyeirwe and Wale Okediran.
Another one included Donald Molosi who after he’s Today Its Me play had one with Tezra Lutaaya and Aida Mbowa.
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Donald Molosi’s moving Philly Lutaaya play #WritivismFestival2015
Ugandan superstar singer Philly Lutaaya was introduced to many of us in a documentary Alone in which he shares his experience as a man suffering from Aids in 1990.
I watched the documentary of the man who had died in 1989 as a teenager in Nairobi and I have to say that it affected me quite a bit. We were all mortally scared of the disease at the time; if you were told you had it you were known as a dead man walking. Then this famous Ugandan singer humanises the diseases and tells us all that not only strange prostitute shaggers were likely to get it.
Fast forward to 2015. I had long forgotten about the documentary until I was told that there was someone who would be performing a play about the life of Philly Lutaaya at the Writivism Festival. I was first introduced to this gentleman Donald Molosi when he did a playwriting masterclass on Thursday with Angela Emurwo. At that master class he introduced his project and the most interesting thing was that this was a man from Botswana writing and performing the work of a Ugandan Aids activist. He told us about how long he took learning about the culture of the people he was going to be portraying before he even started writing his play. It was a very touching thing the US trained actor was trying to do. With this pitch you know no one was going to miss it.
I watched the second night of the play called Today It’s Me and I was amazed by his portrayal of the late superstar. His play included some of Lutaaya’s songs like Tumusiime the Christmas carol and a few more. He starts the play it in Sweden when he finds out that he has the disease and it tracks him going back home to address a press conference. He then starts going to schools to warn kids about the disease before he passes on. I was sitting next to a Ugandan lass, shout out to Lydia Namubiru, and he was giving the language justice.
At the very end he sang the signature song of that 1990 documentary Alone and Frightened and I found that I was singing it alongside with crowd. Amazing that I could still do this twenty five years on. And tears came to my eyes (manly tears of course). There I was singing along to the words;
Out there somewhere, alone and frightened
Oh the darkness, the days are long
Life in hiding, no more making new contacts
No more loving arms thrown around my neck
Plays are a part of literature and this wonderful play brought out the story of this remarkable man.
Kudos to you Donald Molosi.
P.s. In a weird turn of fate, Speke Road which was where Ugandans were hosting their vigils for their Philly as he fought death at the top of the Sheraton Hotel in 1989 is where you the partaker of prostitution services need to go today. You just can’t make this up.
P.P.S. Philly Lutaaya: The legend lives on: The New Vision has a brilliant story about the man.
P.P.P.S. You can see more of Philly Lutaaya’s song’s here.
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Harriet Anena’s A Nation in Labour launches at Writivism Festival 2015
Communications professional Harriet Anena launched her poetry collectionA Nation in Labour at the National Theatre in Kampala at the Writivism Festival 2015 on Saturday afternoon. The event was moderated by Jagero Oduor and introduced by Richard Ali with Prof Laban Erapu and Rachel Zadok joining in the conversation. Zadok was the 2014 Writivism mentor for Anena.
Anena was the writer in focus on February when she was featured by Femrite for her book. This event at the Writivism Festival promised more as there would be a larger audience from around the continent and the world at the event.
There was a huge discussion going with the audience comprising of some of the leading names in African literature like Tsitsi Dangarembga and poet Chijioke Amu-nnadi lending support to the newest poetry phenomenon that was being unveiled to the rest of the continent.
Check out images of the launch courtesy of Abubaker Lubowa .
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Pemi Aguda Wins 2015 Writivism Short Story Prize 2015
Nigeria writer Pemi Aguda is the winner of the Writivism Short Story 2015 for her story, Caterer, Caterer. The writer was announced at a ceremony at the National Theatre in Kampala on Sunday evening.
The evening, which was emceed by Writivism board member and recently announced Etisalat judge Zukiswa Wanner, had a series of activities before the big announcement. They included a song by singer Afri, a young woman with an angelic voice on the keyboard whose track was called Askari. She was followed by a series of others. Film maker and author Tsitsi Dangarembga read a story from an upcoming anthology from Zimbabwean women writers. Also on stage was poet Chijioke Amu-nnadi who read a moving poem. There were also two amazing poems by Peter Kagayi.
Rachel Zadok represented the panel of judges chaired by Chika Unigwe and comprising Mukoma wa Ngugi, Tendai Huchu, Ainehi Edoro that selected the short list on stage. She explained the very thorough process that was done to ensure that there was the best writing at the later stages.
Then came the final part of it all, the prize giving and the shortlistees were asked to come on stage. Mathilda Roberts who works with the Miles Morland Foundation was given the task announcing the winner. The runner up was Adeola Opeyemi but the winner of the day was Pemi Aguda for her story Caterer, Caterer.
Cue the mad celebrations and a speech by Pemi Aguda who thanked everyone. After this there was made celebrations with winners of other prizes like Miles Morland Scholar Ndinda Kioko and Caine Prize winner 2014 Okwiri Oduor joining the newest must know African writer.
See y’all next year folks.
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Writivism Festival Day 2: historical novels, non-fiction and cocktails
Then the third day of the Writivism Festival 2015 rolled through; one filled with activities of interest to those who want to know more about the African writing world.
The highlight of the day had to have been the keynote address given by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and moderated by James Murua. Nansubuga for those who might not know is the author of one of the best books to coming out of the continent in the last few years. The book Kintu (pronounced Chintu) traces a family for generations down several hundred years and is starting to become the poster child for the African historical novel.
Her address was on the historical novel and its role in society. She explained to us what the historical novel was; a novel written two or three generations before its writer was born. She also traced it from the European and Chinese roots and then to the African with a special mention of the Thomas Mofolo who wrote Chaka. This book was a story about the great Zulu king Shaka Zulu.
As she was giving us the story of the history she reminded us that it was not genre specific as we have historical horror, romance and all others. She elicited laughs as she spoke of reading romance novels from the Mills and Boon, Harlequin and Silhouette series’. She then hilariously took us to her “youth” where she was a blond and blue eyed English beauty in the 1880s who is betrothed to some French viscount but who falls in love with a stable hand who eventually turns out to be a Middle Eastern prince. It was a very apt description of the historical novel.
Eventually she explained that the historical novel is used to intervene in history and give an alternative view of that period in the past which is shackled by historians and their singular view. I enjoyed that presentation immensely.
There were a few other events on the day. Michela Wrong and Mathilda Edwards gave a master class on non-fiction as they told us about the Miles Moreland Fellowship Scholarships. This year is third for the new series and the new innovation a new non-fiction category which is even more generous than the one for fiction as it runs for one and a half years. Read more here about it.
The non-fiction part of the master class was illuminating. Michela has written three non-fiction books, In The Shadow of Mr Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo, I Didn’t Do It For You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation and It’s Our Turn To Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. The process she uses to do write her books. She took a year off to write her first book and she never looked back. How do you map out your non-fiction book then? You try and find out if there is a bigger story in the subject that you are considering. Would your publication be a value add? Who is your book for, its audience? You also want to select a topic that you can research safely and where the information is readily available. Whatever time you think you will complete your book triple the time as it is a very time consuming concept. You might be presenting facts but there must be a narrative factor because ultimately, you are telling a story. Have at it if you can.
There was a morning master class on playwriting conducted by Donald Molosi and Angela Emurwo which is very important literature isn’t just prose and poetry. The participants were taken through the way to design their plays. There was a bit of focus on how the language and form of the play as we are in a time where we want to use our own tales to incorporate into our plays.
The panel for the day was Edwige Dro, Rachel Zadok and Moses Kilolo being moderated by Pa Ikhide Ikheloa and theirs was, What is the science in Afro sci-fi? It was a full house but I ultimately left unsatisfied as the time was limited and we started focusing on names and classifications of the topic and less about the content that this genre offered.
The day ended with a cocktail at the Te 88 terrace followed by copious drinking of large volumes of alcohol. Seriously. I am suffering from the wrath of hops in a big way. :’(
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Writivism Day 1: Master Classes, Panel, Tsitsi and Rolex
*Jeff Koinange voice* What a day! What a series of master classes! What a panel! What a speech by the one and only TSISTI DANGAREMBGA! The Tsitsi of Nervous Conditions! The Tsitsi of Neria! Oh my! What a smokin’ day of Writivism Festival 2015! Someone call G4S!*ends voice narration*
Day one of the Writivism Festival has quickly flown by at our Kampala headquarters with the events in the Maisha Gardens and the Makerere University that this blogger attended.
The first part of the day was started with two master classes at the Maisha Gardens. While I am not sure about the history of the grounds and there is no Google where I am currently writing this, I suggest that this place was associated with Mira Nair the famous director of the movie Mississippi Masala (Denzel Washington baby!). She has been famously doing the Maisha Film Lab for those who want to be the next generation of film icons from the continent including the currently superphenom that is Lupita Nyong’o.
The first master class was conducted by Nyana Kakoma (So Many Stories) and James Murua (JamesMurua.com) who were giving tips on the way you can make your blog survive in the world we live today. It was, really it was, an engaging debate where the people who might have been interested in knowing more practical tips. Where they could, those running the session got the input of the participants and everyone left satisfied. (The person writing this blog was one of the folks conducting this master class, you can’t expect him to say it was completely poo would you?).
The next master class of the day was run by Carol Beyanga the managing editor of The Daily Monitor newspaper and hers was on editing. This blogger didn’t attend it as I was lined up waiting for a Rolex treat most of the time but I got some feedback from some of the people who joined me in the line after the session. At time I was probably on my third or four Rolex, a man’s gotta eat hey, and here was their verdict. They appreciated the session. The only flaw was that they thought that the session would be talking about editing your prose but this brilliant woman concentrated on telling the how to edit stories in journalism for newspapers. I might have missed their full feedback as while they spoke, I was busy stuffing myself with the Rolex.
So you don’t know the Rolex, pronounced Rorex, is? So it’s this snack that involves the following ingredients; an egg, a chapati and some veggies. So what they do is that they fry the egg with the veggies into some sort of Ugandan omelette. They then take this with the pre-cooked chapati and then roll it together and you have it to eat.
With my gut filled with Rolex, I was able to listen to the panel of Ikhide Ikheloa, Michela Wrong and Mukoma Wa Ngugi. The three of them were to do a panel on, How to transition from journalism to writing Non-fiction. The famous journalist on that panel was Michela who worked with Reuters before she wrote her three famous non-fiction books. Mukoma was an assistant editor for the famous Pambazuka magazine before writing his prose, poetry and non-fiction. Then there was Ikhide who is from the Internet. As in really.
So how do you think the panel run ran by Carol Beyanga who looked fabulous in black shoes that looked like they might be biting her feet, squeeze and shine style? It started initially on the whole transitioning from journalism to non-fiction and people tried but the panel turned steadily into the form of African literature. We discussed Taiye Selasie and her famous “there is no African literature” essay. We discussed on why we insist on the African literature from the 1950s when South African writers were writing books from the 1880s to the 1940s. We discussed about the need to stop about the labels and just do the work. We spoke about how the different genres of writing bleed into each other. We spoke about Facebook and Twitter and how they are spawning the new unadulterated opinions and how they cannot be ignored as we get into the new space in the literature world.
Then there was Tsitsi Dangarembga who was giving a keynote address about “Are women dominating African literature?” at the Makerere University later in the evening. This was an address which was introduced by Prof Sylvia Tamale and in conversation with Angelo Izama. The question was whether African literature was being dominated by women now. Tsitsi gave a measure lecture inferring from the past and the today. Her verdict? The women are kicking major literature butt in this day; my words of course. I don’t really see Tsitsi saying “kicking butt” willy nilly.
The day of women’s domination ended with Nana Darkoa telling us about her experience with managing the blog Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women in conversation with Paula Akugizibwe a Kigali, Rwanda based scientist. I have to confess that I enjoyed this session immensely. Nana started this blog so that that African women’s bedrooms have a space and she and we have benefited from it. She is not an expert but someone curious about what happens behind closed door.
With this session ending, the day’s program ended and a couple of us ended up at the Sky Lounge where mojitos and club beers were drunk. A good day.
P.S. The Writivism Team needs to up their food and time game but apart from that this has been an amazing festival so far.
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The Writivism Festival 2015 is here! (Day one is coming)
The hype towards the Writivism Festival 2015 happening in Kampala, Uganda has been intense with good reason. We love the idea of activism to get the writing gospel out there and this is one of the most innovative vehicles for African writers out there.
This blogger arrived early Tuesday morning after a bus journey from Nairobi which had some of the coolest folks you can find yourself with; the Kenyan delegation. After a hilarious pause at the border which happened when an officer decided that our two small boxes with books would be disruptive to the Uganda book market. This was extremely disturbing as if a few little boxes would disturb the whole book market in the Pearl of Africa then it can’t be a very serious business.
For those who are in Kampala people are flying in from all points to join you. They will be eating your food, drinking your beer (and waragi), touring your sights, trying to get jiggy with your sons and daughters and generally being writers having a blast. I suggest that you take advantage of their presence here, in a good way of course, by attending some of the events lined out for the few days from Wednesday to Sunday.
On Wednesday which is day one, there are several events happening. They kick off with an exhibition at the National theatre as well as Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi touring the St Kizito SS, Bugolobi. If you want to see if the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and Kwani Manuscript Winner knows her way around a blackboard and chalk after her many years in fancy Manchester then you want to head out to St Kizito.
Maisha Gardens will be the home of the first master class of the festival with Nyana Kakoma the blogger behind So Many Stories one of our favourite literary blogs and Kenyan blogger James Murua presenting a class on how to build your blog. I am informed that the presentation will be really cool so try and make it if you are in the general area.
The other masterclass of the day will be on editing and that one will be conducted by Carol Beyanga from the same venue. For those who want to know how the basics besides, “I” before “e” except after “c” this is the master class for you. It promises to be intense as Beyanga is the managing editor of The Daily Monitor a job she only got at the age of 36 so you know she knows what she is talking about. This event will be happening at 2pm at the same venue.
When 4pm rolls round, anyone with their right mind won’t stupidly be sitting at the National Theatre bar drinking waragi gin and tonic water. The smart folks will be at the panel discussion at the Maisha Garden where they will listen to Ikhide Ikheloa, Michela Wrong and Mukoma Wa Ngugi talking about how a journalist transitions to a non-fiction writer. Pa Ikhide is the gentleman who manages http://xokigbo.com/ one of the most formidable literary spaces run by an African. If you want long reads with serious critical thinking with a focus on the literary then he is your man. Michela Wrong is very popular in Kenya, Eritrea and DR Congo as she wrote these wonderful non-fiction books that pissed off the leaderships in those countries. In my Kenya, her book It’s Our Turn To Eat was so popular that some not so smart loud mouths threatened her if she dared come on Kenyan soil. If you want to scare someone coming to Kenya don’t threaten then with death and destruction; threaten them with having to wade through a flooded Nairobi without galoshes aka gumboots. No one will want anyone of that.
Finally Mukoma Wa Ngugi is a university professor, writer and lover of African languages specifically Kiswahili. He loves it so much that he and a friend started a prize for those who write in it. With that panel, you need to be arrested if you are in Kampala and you dared miss it. Seriously what is wrong with you?
At 6pm, there will a keynote address given by Tsitsi Dangarembga called Are Women Dominating the African Literary Scene as the action moves to Makerere University. She will be introduced by Prof Sylvia Tamale and in conversation with Angelo Izama. If I have to tell you who Tsitsi Dangarembga is then I suggest that you leave this blog immediately and never come back. I’m not kidding. The two of her colleagues are from Makerere University.
In the evening at 8pm also at the Makerere University, you get some really cool action as Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah and Paula Akugizibwe will be giving you a peak into the bedrooms of African women. Nana is one of the people behind the blog Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women while Paula is with the Makerere University. Yes ladies and gentlemen. It’s not just wearing mothers union and waiting for husband late with weapons happening there. There is something more sinister happening; women with sexual feelings and stuff. You know you don’t want to miss this. I know I don’t.
After this intensive program there may be drinking. A lot of it.
So ladies and gentlemen, ssebos and nyabos lets meet at the different venues tomorrow.
P.s. This blog has been written by the blogger as they sat at the Terrace 882 in Kampala as he drunk a cold Bell lager (or four) and prepared himself mentally for the epic next few days. Thus there will be errors. As usual.
