AiW note: Bwesigye Bwa Mesigire’s reflections on Ben Okri’s headline event for the 2015 Africa Writes Festival form part of our #PastAndPresent weekend of re-posts of coverage of the festival over the years (from 2013-2018). The full timetable of our… Read More ›
Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire
Responding to Carli Coetzee’s “Unsettling the Air-conditioned Room”: “Laboratory Building” and Africa-based and focused Literary Activism (2/2)
AiW Guest Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire AiW note: Africa in Words has long been engaged with the work of Carli Coetzee, and we particularly admire the care that she takes in thinking through the nature of our work as academics and… Read More ›
A People-centred Approach to Literary Activism in 21st Century Africa: Nii Ayikwei Parkes on Arts Management and Literary Activism at Writivism 2017
AiW Guest Madhu Krishnan. AiW note: This week in the run up to the 2018 Writivism festival, the Arts Managers and Literary Activists Network (AMLA) hosted their third annual workshop bringing together early career academics and Africa-centered literary producers. It… Read More ›
Looking Back and Looking Forward: Happy New Year from AiW
Season’s greetings from the team at Africa in Words! Thanks for your readership and for another year of conversations on writing and culture from the African continent. As 2017 comes to a close, the blog is moving through some transitions…. Read More ›
Q&A: ‘Law is an extension of Literature’, says Kyomuhendo Ateenyi, the Ugandan poet exiled in the law.
Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire writes: I first came to know Kyomuhendo Ateenyi from his literary, epistolary and blogging practice at Makerere University. His poetry and political commentary published on university notice boards and a variety of blog platforms provided the metaphor… Read More ›
Establishing a New Literary Prize: The Huza Press Award for Fiction
AiW Guest: Louise Umutoni As part of Writivism 2016, University of Bristol, Stellenbosch University and the Centre for African Cultural Excellence collaborated to bring together an Arts Management and Literary Entrepreneurship Workshop. This four-day workshop held in August in Kampala… Read More ›
Why is Translation Important?: Publishing African Literature Across Languages
AiW Guest: Edwige-Renée DRO As part of Writivism 2016, University of Bristol, Stellenbosch University and the Centre for African Cultural Excellence collaborated to bring together an Arts Management and Literary Entrepreneurship Workshop. This four-day workshop held in August in Kampala… Read More ›
Do African Literary Festivals Culture (?): Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire on the Writivism Experience
Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire was formerly Programs Director at Writivism Festival. This piece, reflecting on his experience of Writivism, was adapted from a presentation he made at the 5th Annual African Popular Cultures Workshop at Sussex University on 19 April 2016. The… Read More ›
‘(Re)Viewing the Visual: Art, Photography, Film’ – Reflections on the 5th African Popular Cultures Workshop at the University of Sussex, 19 April 2016
Aiw Guest: Matthew Lecznar Now in its fifth year, the University of Sussex’s African Popular Cultures Workshop creates a lively space where practitioners, researchers and enthusiasts alike come together to consider and celebrate aspects of cultural production in Africa and… Read More ›
Event: Africa Writes, 1-3 July 2016, London
Africa Writes is the Royal African Society’s annual literature festival. Celebrating its 5th year, Africa Writes 2016 will bring together over 50 authors, poets, publishers and experts for a stimulating and exciting three days! Every year the festival showcases established… Read More ›
Q&A: Justice is merely a feeling – Peter Kagayi
AiW Author: Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire Peter Kagayi is a Ugandan poet and lawyer. Recently announced as Anglophone coordinator at Writivism, he has taught Literature in various secondary schools in Uganda and was President of the Lantern Meet of Poets until recently. He curates… Read More ›
Q&A: Law is a form of literature – Busingye Kabumba
AiW Author: Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire Dr. Busingye Kabumba teaches Human Rights and International Law at Makerere and other universities. Educated at the University of Pretoria, Harvard, Oxford and Makerere, Busingye is also a partner at Development Law Associates, a legal consulting… Read More ›
Event: 5th African Popular Cultures Workshop: (Re)Viewing the Visual, Sussex, 19 April 2016
The School of English and the Sussex Africa Centre Postgraduate Committee invite you to the 5th African Popular Cultures Workshop at the University of Sussex (Re)Viewing the Visual Tuesday 19th April 2016, 12.45pm – 5.45pm English Social Space (B274), Arts… Read More ›
Q& A: “It’s just not enough to be a lawyer” – Sophie Alal on law and literature
AiW Author: Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire Sophie Alal founded Deyu African, a non-profit that publishes folk tales, literary work, commentary and journalism about arts and culture. She is an accomplished writer of short stories, poetry, and flash fiction. Her work has… Read More ›
Event: Bare Lit Festival, 26-27 February, London
Bare Lit Festival: a literary festival focused entirely on writers of colour to highlight the amazing work being produced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic writers. This February a new festival is set to change the UK literary landscape: Bare… Read More ›
Losing my Head Because: Ben Okri’s Meditations on Greatness
AiW Guest Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire I thought that Ben Okri’s December 2014 infamous Guardian essay in which he berated African and black writers for suffering under a mental tyranny of subject was too prescriptive and an inaccurate reading of contemporary African… Read More ›
Saah Millimono’s ‘Boy, Interrupted’: The Love Story from Liberia
AiW Guest Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire Today, I want to tell you a story. It is not my story. It is Saah Millimono’s story. Maybe it is actually not his story, it is the novel’s protagonist Tarnue’s story. And not just… Read More ›
The Literature Gap in African Legal Academia
AiW Guest Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire Writing for Africa in Words in May 2014, Dustin Zacks presented a case for the inclusion of African Literature in American legal academia. The case for the inclusion of African literature, or any other literature… Read More ›