The African Writers Trust (AWT) was established in 2009 as "a non-profit entity which seeks to coordinate and bring together African writers in the

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

and writers on the continent to promote sharing of skills and other resources, and to foster knowledge and learning between the two groups.""What is African Writers Trust?"
Retrieved 24 August 2011. The founder and current director of AWT is

Goretti Kyomuhendo Goretti Kyomuhendo (born 1 August 1965) is a Ugandan novelist and literary activist.

, an internationally recognized novelist with a distinguished career as the first Programmes Coordinator for FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association.Lamwaka, Beatrice
"Goretti Kyomuhendo of African Writers Trust"
, 22 May 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011. African Writers Trust is governed by its advisory board, currently (as of 2017) composed of

Zakes Mda Zakes Mda ( ), legally Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda (born 1948) is a South African novelist, poet and playwright and he is the son of politician A. P. Mda. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays. He i ...

Susan Nalugwa Kiguli Susan Nalugwa Kiguli (born 24 June 1969 in Luweero District, Uganda) is a Ugandan poet and literary scholar.Ayeta Anne Wangusa Ayeta Anne Wangusa (born Kampala, Uganda, 9 September 1971) is a Ugandan writer and activist. A founding member (1995) of FEMRITE, the Uganda Women Writers Association,

Helon Habila Helon Habila Ngalabak (born November 1967) is a Nigerian novelist and poet, whose writing has won many prizes, including the Caine Prize in 2001. He worked as a lecturer and journalist in Nigeria before moving in 2002 to England, where he was a ...

Leila Aboulela Leila Fuad Aboulela (Arabic:ليلى فؤاد ابوالعلا; born 1964) is a fiction writer, essayist, and playwright of Sudanese origin based in Aberdeen, Scotland. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and moved to Scotland in 1990 where she began ...

Mildred Barya Mildred Kiconco Barya is a writer and poet from Uganda. She was awarded the 2008 Pan African Literary Forum Prize for Africana Fiction, and earlier gained recognition for her poetry, particularly her first two collections, ''Men Love Chocolates ...

, and Aminatta Forna."Advisory Board"
African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011.

Activities

Although presently headquartered in London, England, African Writers Trust has so far (as of 2011) conducted its activities primarily in East Africa based in part upon that region's perceived needs and opportunities.
AllAfrica.com, 16 April 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2011.Haslam, T. J.
"East Africa: a Literary Dwarf? Not quite"
News and Blog. AfricanWritersTrust. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Diana Nabiruma, of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' (Uganda), reported on the fiction workshop and competition organized by the AWT and held at the

Uganda Museum The Uganda Museum is located in Kampala, Uganda. It displays and exhibits ethnological, natural-historical and traditional life collections of Uganda's cultural heritage. It was founded in 1908, after Governor George Wilson called for "all articl ...

in February 2010.Nabiruma, Diana
"Writers in drive to groom literature"
''The Observer'' (Uganda). Retrieved 28 August 2011. On the same, ''The Standard'' (Uganda Christian University's community newspaper) reported on the success of the

Uganda Christian University Uganda Christian University (UCU) is a private church-founded university administered by the Church of Uganda. It was the first private University in Uganda to be awarded a charter by the Government of Uganda. Location UCU's main campus, with a ...

student writers who attended.Oyako, Arthur
"UCU's own excel at National poetry"
''The Standard'' (Uganda Christian University’s community newspaper). Retrieved 28 August 2011. Martin Kanyegirire, also of ''The Observer'' (Uganda), reported on a follow-up one-day workshop held by AWT in January 2011 that involved 20 student-writers from three East African universities. Kanyegirire, Marti
"Grooming young writers"
''The Observer (Uganda)''. Retrieved 28 August 2011. Since 2013, the AWT has held the biennial Uganda International Writers Conference, with participating international writers. The 2017 conference, on the theme "Contemporary Publishing Trends in Africa", featured a keynote address by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf of

Cassava Republic Press Cassava Republic Press is a steering African book publishing company established in Nigeria in 2006 and headed by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf,

, and a poetry performance by British-Ethiopian poet

Lemn Sissay Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...

.Bamuturaki Musinguzi
"Writers Taking On Publishing"
''

The East African ''The EastAfrican'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kenya by the Nation Media Group, which also publishes Kenya's national ''Daily Nation''. The ''EastAfrican'' is circulated in Kenya and the other countries of the African Great Lakes Th ...

'', via AllAfrica, 25 May 2017.

Projections and progress assessment

According to the African Writers Trust website, the organization's projected activities and programmes include establishing a Creative Writing School in Uganda, holding the African Writers Trust workshop and competition on an annual basis and in a different nation each year, establishing a Writer's Fund to allow an established African Diaspora writer to spend a semester at an African university teaching students creative writing, and the like."Activities and Programs"
African Writers Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2011. In regard largely to the same, Advisory Board member Mildred Barya has written a personal reflection published in ''

Pambazuka News ''Pambazuka News'' is an open access, Pan-African e-mail and online electronic newsletter. It is published weekly in English, Portuguese and French by the not-for-profit organisation Fahamu. The word ''Pambazuka'' means "dawn" or "arise" in Kiswah ...

'' on the growing pains of AWT, the challenges of finding funding and support, and her assessment of what the organization can contribute.Barya, Mildred
"The future of African writing: personal reflections"
''Pambazuka News'', Issue 544, 10 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011. In a 22 May 2011 interview with

Caine Prize The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...

nominee Beatrice Lamwaka for AfroLit, current Director Goretti Kyomuhendo offered her own assessment of progress-to-date and future expectations for AWT: "Its mission is to build and sustain a strong supportive network for African writers in Africa and in the Diaspora. As you know, there are many hurdles that African writers have to grapple with in order to achieve their writing and publishing dream. These include lack of or limited publishing opportunities, professional writing skills development, supportive structures to develop and grow as writers and to sustain their creative processes and productions, lack of information on publishing and other resources for writers, lack of cross-border movement of books, and many others. We plan to address some of these problems, so I hope in ten years, we shall have made a difference for African writers."

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official website
African writers African literature Non-profit organisations based in London Writers' organizations