Has Ugandan writing come of age?

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WHAT’S UP!

Two things happened in the last month or so that give hope to those who take Ugandan writing seriously. For the first time since 2018, a Ugandan writer was shortlisted in the annual Commonwealth Short Story Prize, one of the few outlets to international acclaim for writers in the Commonwealth.

Joshua Lubwama went on to be declared winner of the Regional Prize in that contest, again the first to do so since Jennifer Makumbi Nansubuga in 2014, 11 years ago. (Makumbi would go on to win the Overall Prize, the first and only Ugandan to do so).

Then one of Uganda’s most prolific writers, Goretti Kyomuhendo, recently published her fifth novel, Promises. She was celebrated in Kenya over the month of July, first delivering the keynote speech at the 20th ACLALS Triennial Conference held at the University of Nairobi in early July. She was then hosted in several places, including an exclusive appearance at the Nairobi LitFest.

There were also several other Ugandan writers being hosted at different events, including the late literature great Okot p’Bitek’s daughter, Julianne (also known as Otoniya), who launched her book, We, The Kindling.

If Kenyans are celebrating Ugandan writers, we must be doing something right. In an interview soon to be published by New Vision, Lubwama insisted that the writing scene in Uganda is very vibrant and that there are many young upcoming writers like him. He said the lack of many literary awards won by Ugandans should not be the measure of the writing industry.

“Should the worth of a writer be determined by the propensity to win awards?” he asked.

“Am I a good writer if I win awards, and if I do not, then I am not a good writer? Obviously, winning a literary award says something about your writing ability, your writing prowess and the story itself. But we have very many good writers in the country currently. And by writers, I mean all writers, not just fiction. We have many poets in town and a bunch of junior writers like me. So, the future is bright.”

He also advised that we should not compare ourselves to Nigerians, who have dominated the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the last few years. There are almost four times our population, he said.

Last year, the first-ever Kampala Literature Festival (the Kampala LitFest) was held at the Onomo Hotel. It was the first of its kind, so the organisers were not sure what to expect and just hoped that some people would turn up. But they were overwhelmed by the numbers that showed up on the two days of the festival.

This year’s Kampala LitFest will be held from August 15-17, at the Yusuf Lule Auditorium, Makerere University.

The first Ugandan kiss

Last year, I remember watching an episode of the South African TV series Shaka: Ilembe with a friend who had come to visit me. The series is set in 19th century South Africa, when not many clothes were worn. It was mostly skin and grass, and women went bare-chested. This is faithfully depicted in the series, which seemed to impress my friend.

He mused that if such a series were filmed in Uganda, our self-appointed moral guardians, especially the politicians, would probably call for the ban of the series and the arrest of those responsible (all the time while stealing from the national coffers. To them, showing bare skin on TV is a terrible sin, but cheating and stealing from the public is not).

Anyway, my friend went on to challenge me to name any Ugandan TV show or film that featured a couple kissing. I thought and thought. I even did some Googling and even asked AI to help me, but I could not name one, for the life of me.

There are dozens of TV shows that include people kissing, and almost every film we watch in this matooke republic features at least one romantic kiss. We watch foreign shows on TV that involve kissing, but none by Ugandans.

What is going on? Are Ugandans such bad kissers? Or are we prudes? Is it a guideline from the Uganda Communications Commission that while it is okay to watch foreigners kiss, it is taboo for Ugandans? Maybe our thick lips and weirdly shaped noses make it not a sight worth showing?

I do not know, I am just really curious. Ugandan scriptwriters and filmmakers say something. Nana Kagga, Eleanor Nabwiso, Lookman Ali, Cathy Bagaya. My friend wants an answer: Who will have the honour (or the dishonour) of the first Ugandan kiss to be shown on TV?

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