By Bamuturaki Musinguzi
Published September 29, 2018
A Kenyan has won a creative writing prize at a literary festival held in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Kenya’s Mbogo Ireri, who did not attend the awards ceremony held at The Square Place in Kampala on August 19, 2018, won the 6th Writivism Short Story Prize with a story titled Hopes and Dreams that revolves around a man who commits suicide after his corrupt practices at the Lands Commission are exposed in the mass media. He leaves behind a widow and a young daughter who narrates what the family goes through following the death of her father.
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In his acceptance speech read by Nyambura Mutanyi of the Kenyan-based ‘2 Girls and a Pod,’ Ireri, said: “Someone said that writing is screaming in the dark, hoping to be heard. I believe this to be true and thank you Writivism for giving this story a bigger space to scream from. By encouraging people to tell stories, you are enshrining an ancient art-form that could be dying and in a small way re-educating a society in danger of being colonized by digital technology.”
Chisanga Mukuka of Zambia, who won the Third Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Nonfiction with Belonging, a story about the pain, fear, frustration and delay that come with the rigorous visa applications, and the clearance of your passport through immigration points around the world, said, “It is very encouraging because I have always wanted to write. And this feels like a validation that I can actually do it.”
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As to what inspired her to write Belonging, Mukuka, told ArtMatters.Info: “I was inspired by my own personal experiences. I wanted to share the story of being an outsider especially in the African context. We hear a lot about diaspora experiences from overseas and we always do not acknowledge that there are similar experiences in Africa.”
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Six shortlisted creative nonfiction and short stories have been published in the Enkare Review and Munyori Literary Journal.
Each winner was awarded US$500 and each authors of a shortlisted entry received US$100. Winners are also eligible for a one month writing residency at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
The Writivism Festival was held August 17 – 19, 2018 at the Uganda National Theatre and The Square Place on the theme ‘Legacy.’
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