Femrite

{{Infobox organization | name = FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association | image = | formation = 1995 | type = Non-governmental organization | purpose = Promote women writers, literacy, education, women's rights, and governance | headquarters = Kampala, Uganda | region_served = Uganda, East Africa | website = [https://www.femriteug.org Official website] }}

[[File:Hilda Twongyeirwe at a Public Reading at the Femrite regional residence for African women writers.jpg|thumb|Hilda Twongyeirwe at a public reading at the Femrite regional residence for African women writers]]

'''FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association''', founded in 1995,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.femrite.org/about-us-2/|title=About Us|publisher=Femrite|access-date=7 October 2020|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118075122/https://www.femrite.org/about-us-2/|url-status=dead}}</ref> is an NGO based in Kampala, Uganda, whose programmes focus on developing and publishing women writers in Uganda and—more recently—in the East African region.<ref name="ww-fr">"[http://www.wworld.org/about/affiliates/femrite.htm Affiliates: FEMRITE] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330025621/http://www.wworld.org/about/affiliates/femrite.htm |date=30 March 2022 }}." Women's World.</ref> FEMRITE has likewise expanded its concerns to East African issues regarding the environment, literacy, education, health, women's rights and good governance.<ref name="femrite-programs">[http://www.femriteug.org/?view=3 "Programmes"], FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref>

==History== FEMRITE was founded in 1995 by Mary Karooro Okurut, currently (as of 2011) a member of the 8th Parliament of Uganda, but at that time a lecturer at Makerere University. Okurut was joined by Lillian Tindyebwa, Ayeta Anne Wangusa, Susan Nalugwa Kiguli, Martha Ngabirano, Margaret Ntakalimaze, Rosemary Kyarimpa, Hilda Twongyeirwe, Philomena Rwabukuku and Judith Kakonge.<ref name="femrite-history">[http://www.femriteug.org/?view=21 "History of FEMRITE"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011043449/http://www.femriteug.org/?view=21 |date=11 October 2014 }}. FEMRITE Uganda Women Writers' Association. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref>

FEMRITE was officially launched as a Non-Governmental Organization on 3 May 1996. Goretti Kyomuhendo, who would later found African Writers Trust, served as FEMRITE's first coordinator.<ref name="femrite-history" /> Other notable early members include Beverley Nambozo, Glaydah Namukasa, Beatrice Lamwaka, Doreen Baingana, Violet Barungi, Mildred Barya (also known as Mildred Kiconco), and Jackee Budesta Batanda.<ref name="femrite-ach">"[http://www.femriteug.org/?view=7 FEMRITE Achievements and Milestones] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323191715/https://www.femriteug.org/?view=7 |date=23 March 2023 }}." FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref> In 1998, FEMRITE joined the African Books Collective, a non-profit distribution and marketing collective owned by African publishers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Femrite Publications, Uganda |url=https://africanbookscollective.com/publishers/femrite-publications-uganda/ |access-date=2025-09-14 |website=African books collective |language=en-US}}</ref>

Of FEMRITE's origins and mission, Kyomuhendo, in a 2003 interview with ''Feminist Africa'', stated: "To talk about FEMRITE is to talk about Uganda's literary scene, about Ugandan politics, and especially about the connections between women, politics and writing in Uganda."<ref name="femrite-earlyyears-goretti">Kyomuhendo, Goretti. "[http://www.feministafrica.org/index.php/femrite Profile: FEMRITE and the Politics of Literature in Uganda"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929023728/http://www.feministafrica.org/index.php/femrite |date=29 September 2011 }}, ''Feminist Africa'', 2003, vol. 2. Retrieved 30 August 2011.</ref>

==Major achievements of FEMRITE members and alumni == * Monica Arac de Nyeko won the Caine Prize in 2007;<ref name="CainePrize-Arac">[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6285252.stm "'Taboo' story takes African prize"], BBC, 10 July 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2017.</ref> Doreen Baingana was shortlisted for the same prize in 2005;<ref name="Caine2011-BL-shortlist">[https://femriteuganda.blogspot.com/2011/08/beatrice-lamwaka-2011-caine-prize.html "Beatrice Lamwaka – 2011 Caine Prize Nominee"]. Uganda Women Writers' Association (FEMRITE), 2 August 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011.</ref> Beatrice Lamwaka was shortlisted in 2011<ref name="femrite-ach" /> * Doreen Baingana won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for First Best Book, Africa Region (2006); Baingana was also shortlisted for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in the Debut Fiction category (2006).<ref name="femrite-ach" /> * Violet Barungi won the British Council International New Play Writing Award for Africa and the Middle East (1997).<ref name="barungi-homesite">[http://www.violetbarungi.com VioletBarungi.com]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Retrieved 28 August 2011.</ref> * Mildred Barya won the Pan-African Literary Forum Award for Africana Fiction (2008).<ref name="AWT-board">[http://www.africanwriterstrust.org/advisory-board "Advisory Board"]. African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011.</ref> * Jackee Budesta Batanda won the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, Africa Region (2003).<ref name="femrite-ach" /> * Goretti Kyomuhendo (novel: 1999), Susan Kiguli (poetry: 1999), Mary Karoro Okurut (novel: 2003), and Mildred Barya (poetry: 2003) won the National Book Trust of Uganda Literary Award.<ref name="femrite-ach" /> * Beatrice Lamwaka was shortlisted for the 2009 PEN/Studzinsky Literary Award (2009).<ref name="femrite-ach" /><ref>[https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Hurston%252FWright+Legacy+Award+nominee "Book awards: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee"], ''LibraryThing''.</ref> * Glaydah Namukasa won the Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa, Senior Category (2005).<ref name="femrite-ach" />

==Public response to FEMRITE programmes == FEMRITE, as reported by various journalists, has been active in Uganda and the greater East African region in the areas of promoting literacy, educational reform, women's rights, and good governance. These activities have generally received positive notice.

* Emmanuel Ssejjengo, as reported in [http://allafrica.com/ AllAfrica.com] for 14 July 2011, stated that "the FEMRITE Literary Week" was "one of the most celebrated events in Uganda's literary arts."<ref name="femrite-news1">Ssejjengo, Emmanuel. "[http://allafrica.com/stories/201107180058.html Uganda: New-Found Love for the Written Word]." AllAfrica.com, 14 July 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref> * Dennis Muhumuza, in the [http://www.monitor.co.ug/ ''Daily Monitor''] (Uganda), 23 July 2011, discussed FEMRITE's influence on Uganda's National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), and the resulting inclusion of more Ugandan works of literature in the high school and college curriculum.<ref name= "Muhumuza-1" >Muhumuza, Dennis, [http://www.monitor.co.ug/LifeStyle/Reviews/-/691232/1205976/-/cl2egh/-/index.html "A time to read Uganda"], ''Daily Monitor'', 23 July 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref> * Muhumuza, also for the ''Daily Monitor'' (Uganda) on 9 January 2011, reviewed the FEMRITE anthology [http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/pumpkin-seeds-and-other-gifts ''Pumpkin Seeds and Other Gifts: Stories from the FEMRITE Regional Writers Residency'', 2008] ({{ISBN|978-9970700226}}), calling it a "delicious treasure" that "you will want to take along with you on a journey, or cuddle on the sofa and read in the beauty of solitude, or even read aloud to your children around the fireplace."<ref name= "Muhumuza-2" >Muhumuza, Dennis. "[http://www.monitor.co.ug/LifeStyle/Reviews/-/691232/1085490/-/bmt59t/-/index.html A delicious peek into the varied African cultures"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728074916/http://www.monitor.co.ug/LifeStyle/Reviews/-/691232/1085490/-/bmt59t/-/index.html |date=28 July 2017 }}, ''Daily Monitor'', 9 January 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref> * Halima Abdallah, in [https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/ ''The East African''] (Kenya), 14 August 2011, reviewed the FEMRITE anthology [http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/never-too-late ''Never Too Late''] ({{ISBN|9789970700233}}), concerning the AIDS/HIV epidemic, declaring it "a must read for all age groups as it raises questions and most times provides answers that require collective action" while noting that the collection was "born out of a desire by Femrite to generate literature for positive change aimed at addressing social issues facing not just the youth but society at large."<ref name="abdallah-h">Abdallah, Halima. "[https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Femrite+anthology+takes+on+problems+of+youth/-/434746/1218564/-/69c552z/-/index.html Femrite anthology takes on problems of youth"], ''East Africa'', 14 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref> * Dora Byamukama for ''New Vision'' (Uganda) favourably reviewed the FEMRITE collection of non-fiction stories [http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/beyond-the-dance ''Beyond the Dance: Voices of women on female genital mutilation''] ({{ISBN|9789970700196}}), and stated that the testimonies presented "call for support to end the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM)."<ref name="BeyondTheDance-review">Byamukama, Dora. "[http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/736239/Femrite Female genital mutilation is the worst form of torture"]{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''New Vision'', 27 October 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2011.</ref> * The American news programme [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/ ''Wide Angle''] (PBS) featured FEMRITE's collaboration with IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the United Nations Office, to produce ''Today You Will Understand'', a collection of the personal war stories of 16 women affected by the Lord's Resistance Army rebellion.<ref name="PBS-LRA">"[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/interactives-extras/interviews/lords-children-audio-womens-war-stories-from-the-bush/2056/ Lord's Children: Ugandan Women Tell Their War Stories"], ''Wide Angle'' (PBS), 29 July 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2011.</ref> * Also commenting on ''Today You Will Understand'', Martyn Drakard for the ''Observer'' (Uganda) on 10 December 2008 stated that the collection is "a voice for the voiceless" and "Compulsory reading for anyone wanting to know how the LRA war has affected people’s lives".<ref name="Today-You-Will-Understand-review">Drakard, Martyn, [http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1832:war-taking-everything-from-women&catid=63:book-review-a-art&Itemid=102 "War taking everything from women"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527004254/https://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1832:war-taking-everything-from-women&catid=63:book-review-a-art&Itemid=102 |date=27 May 2023 }},''The Observer'', 10 December 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2011.</ref> * David Kaiza, in a 2007 editorial entitled "Women writers rule" for ''The East African'' also discussed albeit somewhat sardonically the growing regional impact of FEMRITE.<ref name="Kaiza">Kaiza, David. "[https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/-/434746/256502/-/1407uqn/-/index.html Women writers rule"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717083414/https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/-/434746/256502/-/1407uqn/-/index.html |date=17 July 2019 }}, ''The East African'', 29 October 2007. Retrieved 22 August 2011.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * {{Official website|https://femrite.org/}}

* Category:Organizations for women writers Category:Ugandan women poets Category:Women's organisations based in Uganda Category:Women's education in Africa Category:Women's education in Uganda Category:Women's rights in Uganda