2025 Kampala Literature Festival opens

KAMPALA - There are different sides of belonging, with some being dark. But at the end, belonging is where one is most comfortable and feels at home.

According to award-winning UK-based Ugandan author Dr. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, belonging is a place one would rather be than anywhere else.

“Belonging is a profound universal human experience woven deeply into fabrics of identities, relationships, and societies,” she said. “At its heart, belonging represents that feeling of being accepted, valued and connected, whether to a community, a place, or a group.”

Makumbi was delivering the keynote address on Day One of the 2025 Kampala Writes Literature Festival, which is taking place at the Yusuf Lule Auditorium, Makerere University.

She narrated to the capacity audience her journey from a child eager to read to pleasher e father, to a student at Trinity College Nabbingo, to a stubborn undergraduate at Makerere who thought she knew everything, to her travelling to the UK for her Masters degree.

“Belonging transcends culture, age, and time,” she said. “It shapes our identities and allows us to flourish because, in this modern life amid fast-moving technological advances, shifting societal norms, and increasing immigration, the question of belonging has become central to our existence, to search for meaning, connection, and fulfilment.”

Dr Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi delivers the keynote speech during the launch of the 2025 Kampala Writes Literature Festival at the Yusuf Lule Auditorium, Makerere University, on Friday afternoon. (Credit: Kalungi Kabuye)

‘Belonging’ is the theme of this year’s festival, which is curated by Goretti Kyomuhendo. It follows the initial festival held last year at the Onomo Hotel in Nakasero. Last year’s festival featured only locally-based writers and publishers, while this year has teams from the UK, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Somalia.

Last year it was a two-day festival, while this year it will take three days, from Friday to Sunday.

Friday opened up with a script-writing masterclass by Aganza Kisaka, Team Leader and visionary founder of the Yenze Theatre Conservatoire, a drama school and production company based in Kampala. 

It was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Interrogations of Belonging: Perspectives from Makerere’, featuring Prof. Dominic Dipio, Dr. Susan Kiguli, Prof. Patrick Mangeni, Dr. Charles Mulekwa as panellists, with Dr Cindy Evelyn Magara as the moderator. 

The official opening took place in the afternoon and featured remarks by Kyomuhendo, Sheila Akwany, Director of the Goethe Zentrum Kampala/ Uganda German Cultural Society, the festival organisers, and Millicent Mugabi, Director of the British Council, who are festival partners. 

Nii Ayikwei Parkes from Ghana gives a poetic performance during the launch of the 2025 Kampala Writes Literature Festival at the Yusuf Lule Auditorium, Makerere University, on Friday afternoon. (Credit: Kalungi Kabuye)

Welcoming remarks from Makerere were made by Dr Eve Nabulya (Head of Literature Department), Dr Aisha Nakiwala (AG Dean - School of Languages, Literature and Communication), and Prof. Helen Nambalirwa Nkabala (Principal College of Humanities and Social Sciences), who also read out the message from the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe.

There were poetic performances from Carolyn ‘Afroetry’ Acen (Uganda), and Nii Ayikwei Parke (Ghana).

Day Two will feature a poetry masterclass by Nick Makoha, a UK-based Ugandan poet; it will be followed by a panel discussion on ‘Funding for the Arts in Times of Shifting Priorities: Who Gets Left Out?’. Panellists will be Elizabeth Mbabazi, Faisal Kiwewa, Charles Batambuze and Peter Primus. It will be moderated by Dr Anna Adima.

The afternoon will have the launch of two books, ‘Promises’ by Gotti Kyomuhendo, and ‘The New Carthaginians’ by Nick Makoha. This will be followed by a contemporary dance by Nabaggala Lilian Maximillian.