All roads lead to Uganda as African writers find voice

One of the most innovative recent initiatives aimed at reimagining and revitalising African writing is the establishment, in 2009, of the African Writers Trust (AWT).

Recognising that an increasing number of African writers live and work in the diaspora but remain in isolation from their counterparts on the continent, a situation resulting in the fragmentation of African literature, leading Ugandan writer Goretti Kyomuhendo conceived the idea of the trust and put in the hard work of bringing it to fruition.

Based in London and in Kampala, the organisation strives to facilitate interactions between African writers in the diaspora and writers on the continent “in order to foster knowledge and learning between the two groups; and to encourage synergism, writing development and publishing prospects”.

With the setting up of AWT, many literary roads have been leading to Uganda, justifying Kampala’s candidature for a UNESCO City of Literature.

Thus, within its brief life, AWT facilitated UK-based writers Sade Adeniran (Nigeria), Ellen Banda-Aaku (Zambia) and Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Ghana) to spend time in Uganda on different occasions as writers-in-residence. They taught creative writing workshops, gave lectures and public readings, and shared their writing and publishing experiences with Ugandan writers.

DIASPORA DIALOGUES

In 2012, Ellah Allfrey, the deputy editor of the international literary magazine Granta in the UK, came to Uganda on AWT’s invitation, to train book editors. While at this task, Allfrey also chaired the International Public Dialogue around the question “Where is Africa’s Great Novel?”

But what has emerged as the most significant AWT event over the years is the Uganda International Writers Conference, which brings together African writers from the continent and the diaspora, as well as other international writers who have an interest in Africa. The first of these took place in Entebbe in March, 2013, and had as its theme “Dialogue across the Diaspora across the Continent”.

The second edition of the conference was held in Kampala between 1 and 6 March this year. Thirty participants from Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, the UK, the USA and Canada rallied around the topic “Memoir and Truth”.

The keynote address, “Memoir as Remembered Narrative”, was delivered by renowned South African (USA-based) writer and scholar Zakes Mda. Prof Mda was concerned with the distinction between a memoir and an autobiography: “An autobiography is about the writer… He is the subject in a historical chronicle of his life and the events that shaped it – from the time he was born to a determined period.… A memoir, on the other hand, is not about the writer but about something else as experienced by the writer or those close to her. A memoir therefore must have a subject (or topic, if you prefer) because the writer is not the subject”.

SUSTAINING MEMORY

In writing his autobiography, Sometimes There Is a Void: Memoirs of an Outsider, Mda sought to reveal how he lived, what experiences shaped him as a person, and how events and encounters of the present provided lessons for subsequent moments in life.

A major difficulty he faced was how to adjust his mindset, which had so far been suited to writing fiction, to the demands of this non-fiction undertaking. The triumph of an autobiography, as suggested by Mda, consists in its ability to sustain memory and prevent one’s loss of oneself in forgetfulness.

“Recollecting the Self and Narrating Multiple Voices” took the discussion of Life Writing further. Noo Saro-Wiwa pondered the frequent accusation by her countrymen that she maligned Nigeria in her book Looking for Transwonderland.

Hilda Twongyeirwe, the director of Uganda’s FEMRITE, reflected on possible (legal) ways out of the seeming impasse of writing the powerful stories of women, especially in the countryside, who could not or would not write these stories themselves, and the issue of ownership of the written story.

Jennifer Makumbi (Uganda/UK), Noo Saro-Wiwa (Nigeria/UK), Chinelo Okparanta (Nigeria/UK) and Juliane Okot Bitek (Uganda/Canada) were the panellists in the session on “Space and Identity in African Writing: Writing Beyond the West”.

'LITERARY RENAISSANCE'

The discussion focused on the typical (stereotypical?) view that African writers who live in the diaspora are not qualified to write about Africa. This denial of the right to write one’s story was seen as unfounded and self-destructive.

“For me, to question and judge the author’s work based on their cultural identity rather than merit is a criticism against imagination itself. It is to tell the author that they have no right to imagine the world they’re bringing into being”, Mildred Barya (Uganda/USA), reflected.

There is no doubt that a concentrated presence of African writers on the continent, coupled with a vigorous local publishing industry, would boost the creative energy of the continent. But this prospect cannot be wished into existence.

Another session, "provoked" by Dr Susan Kiguli, discussed the “African Literary Renaissance”. Louise Umutoni prefers to use the term “new writing”, referring to writing that “bears little similarity to previous conceptions of African literature”.

In her view, “the perception that African writers are defined by their proclivity to write about the continent has been challenged”, and present-day writers “are embracing literature as an art, exploring non-traditional subjects and occupying new worlds”.

LITERARY INITIATIVES

However, unless its objective meaning and goals become clear, the “African Literary Renaissance” may remain a mirage and the term itself may lose legitimacy.

Perhaps something close to a cultural programme that might usher in a new flowering of talent emerged in one of the sessions, in which writers outlined successful literary initiatives they have undertaken to stimulate writing in their countries.

Timwa Lipenga described her experience with Makewana’s Daughters — an enterprise that strives to build the writing potential of young women in Malawi. Louise Umutoni started Andika Ma to release Rwandese women from the restrictive pressure to write within the genocide narrative.

A link that was implicitly established between literary criticism and the growth of African writing was particularly refreshing. It is often forgotten that the prevailing aesthetic taste of an epoch, a taste sustained by readers and cultivated by enlightened criticism, has a significant bearing on the writers of that epoch.

ONLINE PUBLISHING

“The Rise of Digital Literature and Publishing: Re-examining the Book Business in the 21st Century” was made particularly relevant by Melissa Kyeyune, founder of KHAMEL Publishing, and Dilman Dila, founder of Lawino Literary Magazine, both of Uganda, who analysed their personal experience and successes in online publishing.

Discussing their respective books, It’s Our Turn To Eat and Kizza Besigye – and Uganda’s Unfinished Revolution, Michela Wrong and Daniel Kalinaki spoke in favour of a “shift from journalism to non-fiction”.

The "Literary Night of Readings and Poetry Recitals" featured, among others, Oduor Jagero (Kenya), who gave his colleagues a generous “sneak peek” of his upcoming novel.

The second Uganda International Writers Conference became another step in the realisation of AWT’s vision to bridge the gap between African writers of different locations and to consolidate African writing.

But perhaps AWT’s most important achievement is that, through forums such as this, it builds writers’ personalities of a higher order. For, as Goethe once said, “You must be something to create something”. 

The writer teaches Literature at Egerton University.