A Collaboration With Ugandan PEN

From October 2017, Deyu African and PEN Uganda shall collaborate to publish a series of critical articles and creative work from Ugandans whose lives have been touched by the criminal justice sector.

International PEN-Uganda Centre, also known as Ugandan PEN is a branch of PEN International, a not-for-profit international organisation that champions freedom of speech and literature across borders

Happy New Year

2015 was exceptional as we saw new growth in our team structure. We also had several unique publications from new contributors. Still, we’re on the look out for exciting new ventures into art writing, pop culture, comics, animation and photography. As a reflection on our civilization, scholarly articles and critical essays shall be given special focus in the new year.

Dreams of Writing

Ms Oketta says she invited Ms Lamwaka, Mr Kisiki and I because, “It is very memorable and inspiring when students meet living writers.” According to her, “Writing is a very delicate hobby. As a profession, if it’s not well grounded, it can easily get lost in the middle of all the many things we want to do or become.”

The Story Club Malawi calls out to new African writers

Shadreck has sent out a social media call for submission to writers across the continent. The call invited, “Writers from all over the African continent and the diaspora to give us their dreams, their dreads, their hopes, and their fictions about a future in Africa in 500 years from now.” Story submissions for consideration in the anthology should be between 3000–3500 words sent in by the deadline date of March 15, 2015.

A New Micro Library

The books on the shelves mainly cater to the needs of children and young adults. The titles support cognitive abilities such as creativity, problem solving and critical thinking skills. Other titles address practical problems that local people can easily relate with such as HIV/AIDS, sanitation and hygiene.

Wangari Maathai’s Trees

The 2014 Storymoja Festival took place from September 17th – 21st at the Nairobi National Museum. One of the special highlights of the festivities was the presence of Professor Wole Soyinka. The Nobel Laureate delivered the Wangari Maathai memorial lecture to a full house. He also honoured the late Professor Kofi Awoonor who perished in the 2013 Westgate Mall attack.

The lecture was mainly about trees and their place in our lives. Beyond the collective recognition of the importance of trees, the audience was asked to consider the concept of a family tree in a globalised village.

We Return in September

Because of the evolving character of our young social enterprise, we are content to judiciously use our limited financial resources and time. Thus every now and then, we take time off to refresh, strategise and deliver high quality work to our friends and readers.

Banda Micro Library

According to UNICEF, 30 million children in Sub Saharan Africa don’t attend school. Independent studies indicate that 68% of children are unable to complete primary school, and over 10% will repeat at least one year of studies. Surely if these inequalities are to continue, then human progress could be even worse.