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 But They Don't Say (2002) and The Price of Memory: After the Tsunami (2006).
Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva is a Ugandan writer, poet, actress, literary activist, and biographer. She is the founder of the Babishai Niwe (BN) Poetry Foundation formerly The Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award for Ugandan women, which began in 2008 as a platform for promoting poetry. It has since grown to include all African poets and runs as an annual poetry award. In 2014, the award will extend to the entire continent, targeting both men and women. The same year, the foundation will also publish an anthology of poetry from poets of Africa. She is also the founder of the Babishai Niwe Women's Leadership Academy. Nambozo joined the Crossing Borders Scheme British Council Uganda in 2003 under the short stories genre. She was nominated for the August 2009 Arts Press Association (APA) Awards for revitalising poetry in Uganda after initiating the Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award, the first poetry award for Ugandan women.
Hilda Twongyeirwe is a Ugandan writer and editor. For ten years, she taught English language and literature in secondary school, before she retired to do development work in 2003. She is an editor, a published author of short stories and poetry, and a recipient of a National Medal of the government of Uganda in recognition of her contribution to women's Empowerment through Literary arts (2018). She is also a recipient of a Certificate of Recognition (2008) from the National Book Trust of Uganda for her children's book, Fina the Dancer. She is currently the coordinator of FEMRITE, an organization she participated in founding in 1995. She has edited fiction and creative nonfiction works, the most recent one being, No Time to Mourn (2020) by South Sudanese women. She has also edited others including; I Dare to Say: African Women Share Their Stories of Hope and Survival (2012) and Taboo? Voices of Women on Female Genital Mutilation (2013).
Beatrice Lamwaka is a Ugandan writer. She was shortlisted for the 2011 Caine Prize for her story "Butterfly Dreams".
Lillian Tindyebwa is a Ugandan writer living in Kampala. She is the author of numerous books, notably the novel Recipe for Disaster, published in 1994 as part of the Fountain youth series. She is a founding member of FEMRITE, and the founder of Uganda Faith Writers Association.
Austin Bukenya is a Ugandan poet, playwright, novelist and academic administrator. He is the author of the novel The People's Bachelor, and a play, The Bride. He has taught languages, literature and drama at Makerere University in Uganda and universities in the UK, Tanzania and Kenya since the late 1960s. He has also held residences at universities in Rwanda and Germany. Bukenya is also a literary critic, novelist, poet and dramatist. An accomplished stage and screen actor, he was for several years Director of the Creative and Performing Arts Centre at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.
Ife Piankhi is a Uganda-born poet, singer, creative facilitator and educator. She has collaborated with artists such as Keko, Nneka, Mamoud Guinea, Geoff Wilkinson, Michael Franti, Jonzi D, Wynton Marsalis, Floetry, among others. She has toured internationally for the past 30 years visiting Canada, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zanzibar, Zambia, Romania, Italy, Holland, and USA. While living in London she was a regular on Colourful Radio, founded by Henry Bonsu. She has been featured in the documentaries 500 years later by Owen Shahadah and Nubian Spirit by Louis Buckley which highlight her knowledge of Nile Valley Civilisations. Ife started her career at 18 teaching African pre-history in a supplementary school called Aimhotep School of Knowledge. Since then she has continued to work as a teacher and facilitator. She co-ordinated innovative projects such as Identity and Difference in Sutton and Linking Communities in Merton. Another creative project was Ancestral Gathering, managed with Aamasade Shepnekhi, which saw her working with communities to create sacred space in the natural environment. She is regularly seen at poetry and music events in Kampala, Uganda. For five years she sat on the board of Laba Street Art Festival, and has assisted in the development of initiatives such as Teen Slam Poetry Challenge, Poetry in Session and the Babashai Poetry Award.
Iga Zinunula is a Ugandan poet and Veterinary Assistant. He has engaged in rural development work all over Uganda since 1990. He is a member of the editorial board of FEMRITE. He has been a judge at the Babishai Niwe (BN) Poetry Foundation.
Nakisanze Segawa is a Ugandan poet and storyteller. She is the author of the 2016 novel The Triangle. She took third place in the 2010 Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award for her poem "The hustler". She was a participant in the Ebedi International Residency in Iseyin, Nigeria, in January 2015.
Babishai Niwe (BN) Poetry Foundation, formerly "The Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award", is a poetry foundation that coordinates annual poetry competitions for African poets. It was started by Beverley Nambozo in 2008 as a prize for Ugandan women. But in 2014, it opened its doors to men and the entire Africa continent. The first Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award was held in 2009.
Andrew Rugasira is a Ugandan businessman and author. He is the author of the book A good African story: how a small company built a global coffee brand. In 2003, he founded Good African Coffee, the first African-owned coffee brand to be stocked in UK supermarkets and US retailers. In 2007, he was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He has won several awards, including the Legatum Pioneers for Prosperity award, and in 2010 was nominated for a Financial Times/ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business award. He was Uganda Coffee Development Authority's Ugandan Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. Rugasira was Uganda's chairman of the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA), a member of Uganda's Presidential Investor Roundtable (PIRT) and sits on the board of Maisha Film Lab. Rugasira lives in Kampala and is a father of five children.
Jason Ntaro is a Ugandan poet, a member of The Lantern Meet of Poets. He is a regular on poetry platforms in and around Kampala. He has performed at National Book Trust (NABOTU), BAYIMBA, Poetry in Session, Kwivuga, open mic, Azania (UCU), Mirrors, Phat fest, Guest performed with Tshila, Spoken word Rwanda, and Maurice Kiirya experience, in Uganda and beyond. He developed a following in 2011 after continually reciting his poem titled "3 years, 2 months, 5 days", a poem about an abusive relationship that results in death. The poet's performance involved removing his shoes and walking barefoot onto stage, after which he would take a deep breath.
Ernest Bazanye is a Ugandan journalist, blogger, author, and scriptwriter. He is best known for his humour column Ernest Bazanye's Bad Idea, which ran in the Sunday Vision newspaper from 2004 to 2018. He is the author of three children's novels, and his short stories have appeared in literary magazines Eclectica, Kalahari Review, Soomanystories, and published in the Africa Book Club anthology.
Nyana Kakoma is a Ugandan writer, editor, blogger, and publisher from Kampala. She created the online platform Sooo Many Stories that promotes Ugandan literature. She formerly wrote under her maiden name Hellen Nyana. She is one of the facilitators of Writivism in Kampala 2015. She took part in "Bremen & Kampala – Spaces of Transcultural Writing", a collaboration between writers from Uganda and Bremen. She is a member of Femrite. In February 2015, she was awarded an editorial fellowship at Modjaji Books by the African Writers Trust and Commonwealth Writers. A number of her articles have appeared in newspapers. She attended the Caine Prize workshop 2013, and her story "Chief Mourner" was published in the Caine Prize anthology A Memory This Size and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013.
Lillian Aujo is a Ugandan author. In 2009, she was the winner of the Babishai Niwe (BN) Poetry Foundation's inaugural BN poetry prize. In 2015, she was longlisted for, and won the Inaugural Jalada Prize for Literature for her story "Where pumpkin leaves dwell".
Ber Anena born and previously published as Harriet Anena is a Ugandan writer and performer, whose writing includes poetry, nonfiction and fiction. She is the author of a collection of poems, A Nation In Labour, published in 2015, won the 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. The Economist described her poetry performance as "an arresting evocation of love and war".
Sophie Alal is a Ugandan writer, lawyer, poet, journalist and cultural critic. She publishes at Deyu African, a cultural heritage initiative. She won the 2010 Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award with Making Modern Love. Her short stories have been published in the Kalahari Review, Lawino Magazine, AfricanColours and START journal. She has worked as a freelance correspondent for The EastAfrican, African Colours magazine and the Global Press Institute. She holds a law degree from Makerere University.
Peter Kagayi is a Ugandan poet, lawyer and teacher. He is the author of a collection of poems, The headline that morning and other poems. He has served as the Anglophone Coordinator at Writivism, and President of The Lantern Meet of Poets.
James Rwehabura Tumusiime is a Ugandan author, journalist, and entrepreneur. He was born in 1950 in Rugando in Mbarara District. He is mostly known for spearheading the founding of The New Vision in 1986, Fountain Publishers in 1988, the National Book Trust of Uganda (NABOTU) in 1997, 100.2 Fm Radio West in 1998, and Igongo Cultural Centre in 2008. He was the author of what makes Africans Laugh. He has served on several international boards, including African Publishers Network (APNET), the o (AABC) and the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY). He served as Chairman of Council of Mbarara University of Science and Technology and chairman of the Uganda Tourism Board.
