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Doreen Baingana (born 1966) is a Ugandan writer and literary arts manager. Her short story collection, ''
Tropical Fish
Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a ge ...
,'' won the
Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction in 2003 and the
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
for best first book, Africa Region in 2006. Stories in it were finalists for the
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 ...
in 2004 and 2005. She has received many other awards. She is the co-founder and director of th
Mawazo Africa Writing Institutebased in
Entebbe
Entebbe is a city in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda prior to independence, in 1962. T ...
, Uganda.
Early life and education
Raised in Entebbe, Doreen Baingana attended
Gayaza High School
Gayaza High School is the oldest all-girls boarding secondary school covering grades 8 to 13 (Secondary 1 to 6) in Uganda. The school is Church-founded, government-aided and accredited by the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports ...
and obtained a law degree from
Makerere University
Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...
and an MFA in creative writing from the
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
. Immediately thereafter, she was appointed writer-in-residence at th
Jiménez-Porter Writers House
Career
Baingana won the
Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction in 2003 for her collection ''
Tropical Fish
Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a ge ...
''. It was published by the
University of Massachusetts Press and Broadway Books
Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Random House, Inc., released its first list in Fall, 1996. Broadway was founded in 1995 as a unit of Bantam Doubleday Dell a unit of Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann acquired Rand ...
in the US, Oshun Books in South Africa, and
Cassava Republic Press
Cassava Republic Press is a steering African book publishing company established in Nigeria in 2006 and headed by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, in Nigeria. It has been translated into Swedish and is forthcoming in French and Spanish in 2021. The linked stories, which explore the lives of three sisters growing up in Entebbe after the fall of
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...
, have been described by ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' as "richly detailed stories" that are "lush with cultural commentary."
Baingana has published two children's books and short stories, essays, and articles in numerous journals and magazines including The ''
African American Review
''African American Review'' (''AAR'') is a scholarly aggregation of essays on African-American literature, theatre, film, the visual arts, and culture; interviews; poetry; fiction; and book reviews.
The journal has featured writers and cultural c ...
'', ''
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
'', ''Glimmer Train'', ''
Callaloo
Callaloo (many spelling variants, such as kallaloo, calaloo, calalloo, calaloux or callalloo; ) is a popular Caribbean vegetable dish. There are many variants across the Caribbean, depending on the availability of local vegetables. The main in ...
'', ''
Agni
Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...
'', ''
The Caravan: A Journal of Politics and Culture'', ''
Transition'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''
Chimurenga
''Chimurenga'' is a word in the Shona language. The Ndebele equivalent, though not as widely used since the majority of Zimbabweans are Shona speaking, is ''Umvukela'', meaning "revolutionary struggle" or uprising. In specific historical terms ...
'', ''
Kwani?
''Kwani?'' ( Sheng for ''so what?'') is a leading African literary magazine based in Kenya that has been called "undoubtedly the most influential journal to have emerged from sub-Saharan Africa".
The magazine grew out of a series of conversatio ...
'' and ''
Farafina
Farafina is a music and dance group from Burkina Faso, established in 1978. The eight-member group is Burkina Faso's best known musical group, and one of Africa's most internationally prominent musical groups.
History
The group was founded ...
''. Her stories have been broadcast on
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and have been included in many anthologies including ''Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing''; ''The Granta Anthology of African Fiction'', ''Cultural Transformations'' (OneWorld), and ''
New Daughters of Africa
''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...
'' (edited by
Margaret Busby, 2019).
Baingana was a contractor with
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
for a decade and taught at the Writer's Center, Bethesda, MD before returning to Uganda. She was a managing editor of Storymoja Africa, a Kenyan publisher, and chairperson of
FEMRITE
FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers' Association, founded in 1995, 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.[ ...]
, the Uganda Women Writers Association. She co-founded and directs the Mawazo Africa Writing Institute and leads creative writing workshops across Africa.
The title story of Baingana's award-winning collection ''
Tropical Fish
Tropical fish are generally those fish found in aquatic tropical environments around the world. Fishkeepers often keep tropical fish in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. The term "tropical fish" is not a taxonomic group, but rather is a ge ...
'' has been adapted to the stage and performed at the Kampala International Theatre Festival (KITF 2016) and four other venues in Kampala, as well as the AfriCologne Theatre Festival in Cologne, Germany, in 2017. Another of Baingana's short stories, "Hills of Salt and Sugar", was adapted and staged at KITF 2018.
Baingana has been a judge for prizes including the
9mobile Prize for Literature, the
Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the
Golden Baobab Prize and the
Hurston-Wright Prize for Debut Fiction.
Awards
*2002: D.C. Commission of the Arts and Humanities Artist's Grant
*2003:
Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction
*2004 & 2005:
Caine Prize, finalist
*2004: Bread Loaf Writers Conference Scholar
*2004:
Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize
*2005: Bread Loaf Writers Conference Michael and Marylee Fairbanks International Fellow
*2006:
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
, Africa Region
*2006:
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program honors Black writers in the United States and around the globe for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organizatio ...
for Debut Fiction, finalist
*2011: Norman Mailer Center Fellowship in Fiction
*2014:
Miles Morland Scholarship
The Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship, also called the Morland Writing Scholarships or the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship is an annual financial scholarship awarded to four to six African writers to enable them write a fiction or no ...
*2017: Rockefeller Bellagio Artist's Residency
*2020
Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant, finalist*2020: Tebere Arts Foundation Playwright Residency
Published works
Short-story collection
*
Children's books
*
*
Short stories
Non-fiction
"Scars" ''Crab Orchard Review'', Winter 2002
"Our Stories Aren’t All Tragedies" ''The Guardian'', 2 August 2005
* "Encounters", ''The "O" Magazine'', South Africa, February 2006
* A monthly column in the magazine ''African Woman'', April 2006 to 2008
"Lamu Lover" in ''It's All Love: Black Writers on Soul Mates, Family and Friends'', Broadway Books/Doubleday, 2009
* "The Last Word", ''The African Report'', December 2009
“Hargeisa Snapshots” African Cities II: Mobilities & Fixtures, 2011
“Tuk-tuk Trail to Suya and Stars” AGNI, September 2012
“Why Write?”''START, Journal for East African Arts and Culture'', July 2013
* “Betty Oyella Bigombe” in When We Are Bold: Women Who Turn Our Upsidedown World Right, ''Nobel Women’s Initiative'', 2016
References
External links
*Jennifer Ludden
"A View of Contemporary Uganda in 'Tropical Fish'" ''NPR'', 6 February 2005
*Christina Lee
"Writer's Shock: Author Doreen Baingana Prepares to Pen a Travelogue From Memory" ''Washington City Paper'', 18 November 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baingana, Doreen
1966 births
21st-century Ugandan women writers
Living people
Makerere University alumni
Ugandan short story writers
Ugandan women short story writers
Ugandan women writers
University of Maryland Global Campus alumni