{{Short description|Ugandan playwright and professor (1941-2007)}} '''John Ruganda''' (30 May 1941 to 8 December 2007{{cn|date=May 2024}}) was Uganda's best known playwright. Beyond his work as a playwright, Ruganda was also a professor at University of North, South Africa, University of Nairobi, and Makerere University.<ref>{{cite web|last=African Books Collective|title=John Ruganda|url=http://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/john-ruganda|accessdate=3 May 2011}}</ref>
He was born in Fort Portal and died in Uganda's capital Kampala.
Ruganda's plays "reflect the reality of the East African sociopolitical situation after independence."<ref>{{cite web|last=Imbuga|first=Francis|title=John Ruganda|url=http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&c=5&locID=mtlib_4_1051&secondary=false&u=CA&u=CLC&u=DLB&t=KW&s=1&NT=%22African%22|work=Gale Database: Dictionary of Literary Biography|accessdate=3 May 2011}}</ref> He was considered a shaping force of East African theater.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ssenkaaba|first=Stephen|title=Ruganda: The passing of a literary giant|url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/25/602615|work=New Vision Online|accessdate=3 May 2011|date=18 December 2007|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922010943/http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/25/602615|archivedate=22 September 2012}}</ref> ''The Burdens'' (1972) and ''The Floods'' (1980) have become a regular part of curriculum in literature classes.<ref>{{cite web|last=East African Educational Publishers Ltd.|title=John Ruganda Passes On|url=http://www.eastafricanpublishers.com/News/John%20Ruganda.htm|accessdate=3 May 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129095319/http://www.eastafricanpublishers.com/News/John%20Ruganda.htm|archivedate=29 November 2010}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Plays=== * ''The Burdens'', Kampala, Uganda, National Theatre, January 1970 * ''Black Mamba'', Kampala, 1972 * ''The Good Woman of Setzuan'', by Bertolt Brecht, translated into Swahili by Ruganda, Nairobi, Nairobi University Players, November 1978 * ''The Floods'', Nairobi, French Cultural Centre, 1 March 1979 * ''Music without Tears'', Nairobi, Nairobi University Players, February 1982 * ''Echoes of Silence'', Nairobi, 1985 *Shreds of Tenderness
===Television=== * ''The Secret of the Season'', screenplay by Ruganda, Voice of Kenya, March 1973 * ''The Floods'', screenplay by Ruganda, Voice of Kenya, April 1973 * ''The Illegitimate'', screenplay by Ruganda, Voice of Kenya, August 1982
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Horn, "Uhuru to Amin: The Golden Decade of Theatre in Uganda," ''Literary Half-Yearly'', 19, no. 1 (1978): 22-49 * Peter Nazareth, "Africa under Neocolonialism: New East African Writing," ''Busara'', 6, no. 1 (1974): 19-32 * Mineke Schipper, ''Theatre and Society in Africa'' (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1982).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruganda, John}} Category:1941 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Ugandan dramatists and playwrights Category:Academic staff of Makerere University Category:20th-century dramatists and playwrights