Hilda Twongyeirwe at a Public Reading at the Femrite regional residence for African women writers

FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association, founded in 1995, is an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

based in

Kampala, Uganda Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala, Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa, and Rubaga. Kampala's metropolitan area consi ...

, whose programmes focus on developing and publishing women writers in Uganda and—more recently—in the East African region.Affiliates: FEMRITE
." Women's World. FEMRITE has likewise expanded its concerns to East African issues regarding the environment, literacy, education, health, women's rights and

good governance Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for t ...

."Programmes"
FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association. Retrieved 22 August 2011.

History

FEMRITE was founded in 1995 by

Mary Karooro Okurut Mary Busingye Karoro Okurut (born 8 December 1954), more commonly known as Mary Karoro Okurut, is a Ugandan educator, author and politician. She is the former Cabinet Minister in Charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, in ...

, currently (as of 2011) a member of the 8th Parliament of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, but at that time a lecturer at

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

. Okurut was joined by Lillian Tindyebwa,

Ayeta Anne Wangusa Ayeta Anne Wangusa (born 9 September 1971) is a Ugandan writer and activist. A founding member (1995) of FEMRITE, the Uganda Women Writers Association,

Susan Nalugwa Kiguli Susan Nalugwa Kiguli (born 24 June 1969 in Luweero District, Uganda) is a Ugandan poet and literary scholar.Martha Ngabirano, Margaret Ntakalimaze, Rosemary Kyarimpa, Hilda Twongyeirwe, Philomena Rwabukuku and

Judith Kakonge The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells o ...

."History of FEMRITE"
. FEMRITE Uganda Women Writers' Association. Retrieved 22 August 2011. FEMRITE was officially launched as a Non-Governmental Organization on 3 May 1996.

Goretti Kyomuhendo Goretti Kyomuhendo (born 1 August 1965) is a Ugandan novelist and literary activist.

, who would later found

African Writers Trust The African Writers Trust (AWT) was established in 2009 as "a non-profit entity which seeks to coordinate and bring together African writers in the Diaspora and writers on the continent to promote sharing of skills and other resources, and to fost ...

, served as FEMRITE's first coordinator. Other notable early members include

Beverley Nambozo Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva is a Ugandan writer,Glaydah Namukasa Glaydah Namukasa is a Ugandan writer"Women writin ...

, Beatrice Lamwaka,

Doreen Baingana Doreen Baingana (born 1966) is a Ugandan writer. Her short story collection, ''Tropical Fish,'' won the Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction in 2003 and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa Region in 2006. Stories in it we ...

, Violet Barungi,

Mildred Barya Mildred Kiconco Barya is a writer and poet from Uganda. She was awarded the 2008 Pan African Literary Forum Prize for Africana Fiction, and earlier gained recognition for her poetry, particularly her first two collections, ''Men Love Chocolates ...

(also known as Mildred Kiconco), and

Jackee Budesta Batanda Jackee Budesta Batanda is a Ugandan journalist,Jackee Budesta Batanda p ...

.FEMRITE Achievements and Milestones
." FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association. Retrieved 22 August 2011. Of FEMRITE's origins and mission, Kyomuhendo, in a 2003 interview with ''

Feminist Africa ''Feminist Africa'' is a Peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal that addresses feminism, feminist topics from an "African continental perspective". It is published by the African Gender Institute (University of Cape Town). Its founding editor ...

'', stated: "To talk about FEMRITE is to talk about Uganda's literary scene, about Ugandan politics, and especially about the connections between women, politics and writing in Uganda."Kyomuhendo, Goretti.
Profile: FEMRITE and the Politics of Literature in Uganda"
, ''Feminist Africa'', 2003, vol. 2. Retrieved 30 August 2011.

Major achievements of FEMRITE members and alumni

* Monica Arac de Nyeko won the

Caine Prize The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2000, the £10,000 prize was named ...

in 2007;"'Taboo' story takes African prize"
BBC, 10 July 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2017.

was shortlisted for the same prize in 2005;"Beatrice Lamwaka – 2011 Caine Prize Nominee"
Uganda Women Writers' Association (FEMRITE), 2 August 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Beatrice Lamwaka was shortlisted in 2011 *

won the

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...

for First Best Book, Africa Region (2006); Baingana was also shortlisted for the

Hurston/Wright Legacy Award The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program in the United States honors published Black writers worldwide for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization ...

in the Debut Fiction category (2006). * Violet Barungi won the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

International New Play Writing Award for Africa and the Middle East (1997).VioletBarungi.com
Retrieved 28 August 2011. *

won the Pan-African Literary Forum Award for Africana Fiction (2008)."Advisory Board"
African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011. *

Jackee Budesta Batanda Jackee Budesta Batanda is a Ugandan journalist,Jackee Budesta Batanda p ...

won the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, Africa Region (2003). *

Goretti Kyomuhendo Goretti Kyomuhendo (born 1 August 1965) is a Ugandan novelist and literary activist.

(novel: 1999), Susan Kiguli (poetry: 1999), Mary Karoro Okurut (novel: 2003), and

(poetry: 2003) won the National Book Trust of Uganda Literary Award. * Beatrice Lamwaka was shortlisted for the 2009 PEN/Studzinsky Literary Award (2009)."Book awards: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee"
''

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed b ...

''. *

Glaydah Namukasa Glaydah Namukasa is a Ugandan writer"Women writin ...

won the Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa, Senior Category (2005).

Public response to FEMRITE programmes

FEMRITE, as reported by various journalists, has been active in Uganda and the greater East African region in the areas of promoting literacy, educational reform, women's rights, and good governance. These activities have generally received positive notice. * Emmanuel Ssejjengo, as reported i
AllAfrica.com
for 14 July 2011, stated that "the FEMRITE Literary Week" was "one of the most celebrated events in Uganda's literary arts."Ssejjengo, Emmanuel.

" AllAfrica.com, 14 July 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011. * Dennis Muhumuza, in th
''Daily Monitor''
(Uganda), 23 July 2011, discussed FEMRITE's influence on Uganda's National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), and the resulting inclusion of more Ugandan works of literature in the high school and college curriculum.Muhumuza, Dennis

''Daily Monitor'', 23 July 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011. * Muhumuza, also for the ''Daily Monitor'' (Uganda) on 9 January 2011, reviewed the FEMRITE antholog
''Pumpkin Seeds and Other Gifts: Stories from the FEMRITE Regional Writers Residency'', 2008
(), calling it a "delicious treasure" that "you will want to take along with you on a journey, or cuddle on the sofa and read in the beauty of solitude, or even read aloud to your children around the fireplace."Muhumuza, Dennis.

, ''Daily Monitor'', 9 January 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011. * Halima Abdallah, i
''The East African''
(Kenya), 14 August 2011, reviewed the FEMRITE antholog
''Never Too Late''
(), concerning the AIDS/HIV epidemic, declaring it "a must read for all age groups as it raises questions and most times provides answers that require collective action" while noting that the collection was "born out of a desire by Femrite to generate literature for positive change aimed at addressing social issues facing not just the youth but society at large."Abdallah, Halima.

''East Africa'', 14 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011. *

Dora Byamukama Dora Kanabahita Byamukama is a Ugandan politician, lawyer, advocate and legislator. She is an elected member of the East African Legislative Assembly for the period June 2012 through June 2017. She previously served the Mwenge South constituency ...

for ''

New Vision The ''New Vision'' is a Ugandan English-language daily newspaper. It was established in its current form in 1986 by the Government of Uganda. It is the flagship newspaper of the state-owned Vision Group, a multimedia conglomerate. Along with ...

'' (Uganda) favourably reviewed the FEMRITE collection of non-fiction storie
''Beyond the Dance: Voices of women on female genital mutilation''
(), and stated that the testimonies presented "call for support to end the practice of

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...

(FGM)."Byamukama, Dora.
Female genital mutilation is the worst form of torture"
''New Vision'', 27 October 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2011. * The American news programm
''Wide Angle''
(

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

) featured FEMRITE's collaboration with IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the United Nations Office, to produce ''Today You Will Understand'', a collection of the personal war stories of 16 women affected by the

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization operating in Central Africa and East Africa. Its origins were in the War in Uganda (1986–1994), Ugandan insurgency (1986–1994) against Yoweri Museveni, during which Jo ...

rebellion.Lord's Children: Ugandan Women Tell Their War Stories"
''Wide Angle'' (PBS), 29 July 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2011. * Also commenting on ''Today You Will Understand'', Martyn Drakard for the ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Fiction * ''Observer'' (novel), a 2023 science fiction novel by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress * ''Observer'' (video game), a cyberpunk horr ...

'' (Uganda) on 10 December 2008 stated that the collection is "a voice for the voiceless" and "Compulsory reading for anyone wanting to know how the LRA war has affected people’s lives".Drakard, Martyn
"War taking everything from women"
,''The Observer'', 10 December 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2011. * David Kaiza, in a 2007 editorial entitled "Women writers rule" for ''

The East African ''The EastAfrican'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kenya since 7 November 1994, by the Nation Media Group, which also publishes Kenya's national ''Daily Nation''. The ''EastAfrican'' also circulates in the other countries of the African Grea ...

'' also discussed albeit somewhat sardonically the growing regional impact of FEMRITE.Kaiza, David.
Women writers rule"
, ''The East African'', 29 October 2007. Retrieved 22 August 2011.

References

External links

* {{Authority control * Organizations for women writers Ugandan women poets Women's organisations based in Uganda Women's education in Africa Women's education in Uganda Women's rights in Uganda

History

Major achievements of FEMRITE members and alumni

Public response to FEMRITE programmes

See also

References

External links