Juliane Okot Bitek (born 1966) is a Kenyan-born

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

n-raised diasporic writer and academic, who lives, studies and works in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. She is perhaps best-known for her poetry book ''100 Days'', a reflection on the 100-day 1994

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

, in which an estimated 800,000

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

and

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

people were killed. She has been a contributor to several anthologies, including in 2019 '' New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent'', edited by

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

Biography

Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek was born in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in 1966 to Ugandan evacuees. Her father was the late

Okot p'Bitek Okot p'Bitek (7 June 1931 – 19 July 1982) was a Ugandan poet, who achieved wide international recognition for '' Song of Lawino'', a long poem dealing with the tribulations of a rural African wife whose husband has taken up urban life and wis ...

, an internationally recognized Acholi

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

. Growing up, Okot Bitek was an avid reader who was encouraged by her parents to write. The first time she had a poem of hers published, she was 11 years old. In 1990, she migrated from Uganda and settled on the unceded lands of the

Musqueam The Musqueam Indian Band ( ; hur, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within the boundari ...

, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh peoples. She holds a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

degree in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

(1995), a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. In May 2020, she completed her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in Interdisciplinary Studies from UBC's

Liu Institute for Global Issues The Liu Institute for Global Issues is a research organization at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded by Professor Ivan Head in 1998, the institute officially opened in 2000. The institute is na ...

. Okot Bitek is also an "ardent fan" of

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

's music. She has two children.

Career

Okot Bitek is a literary artist, poet, writer, scholar, and a sessional instructor at

Emily Carr University of Art and Design Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

's Faculty of Culture + Community. Her works incorporate themes of exile, home, belonging, and

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 ...

. Okot Bitek is a prolific author, whose has been published in a variety of formats, including literary magazines and journals such as ''ARC'', ''Whetstone'', ''

Fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

,'' and ''Room of One’s Own.'' In 2017, her poem "Trees Line the Street" was featured in ''Transition, Issue 124: Writing Black Canadas.'' As of March 2021, she has contributed to ''

The Capilano Review ''The Capilano Review'' (''TCR'') is a Canadian tri-annual literary magazine located and published in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh ...

'' on five different occasions, between 2017 and 2019. The first book she published was titled ''Words in Black Cinnamon: A collection of Poetry'' and was published in 1998. In 2018, her work "Sentry" was included in the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

''Love Me True,'' a collection of writings about the challenges, joys, and evolutions that exist within longterm relationships. Her work has also been anthologized in ''Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry'' (2012), and ''Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them'' (2015), and '' New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent'' (2019). Her book
100 Days
' was based on a "loose collaboration" with Kenyan-American artist,

Wangechi Mutu Wangechi Mutu (born 1972) is a Kenyan-born American visual artist, known primarily for her painting, sculpture, film, and performance work. On 6 April 2014, Mutu began posting images on social media, counting down from 100. When Okot Bitek saw the first image, she knew immediately from the context that it was a countdown to the 20th anniversary of the

, and wanted to make work "to countdown with her." Okot Bitek reached out to Mutu in order to agree on a collaboration, where Okot Bitek would use text to respond to Mutu's images. As the days went on and the anniversary grew closer, she and Mutu (respectively) would post one poem and one photograph every day, as a way to create space for, and grieve in solidarity and community, the horrific events of the spring and summer of 1994. While this project evolved into a book, published through

the University of Alberta Press University of Alberta Press (UAlberta Press) is a publishing house and a division of the University of Alberta that engages in academic publishing. Overview UAlberta Press is situated in the Rutherford Library on the University of Alberta campu ...

, each of the 100 poems that are a part of this project are available to read o
Okot Bitek's website.
ref name=":5" /> Okot Bitek has also been a part of a variety of global poetry and writing festivals and events, including the Fraser Valley Literary Festival (2020), the Festival Internacional de Poesía de Granada in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

(2009), and the Medellín International Poetry Festival in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

(2008). Currently, she is the 2020/21 Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer in Residence at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

, and has been a poetry ambassador for the City of Vancouver, working with Vancouver

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

Rachel Rose.

Recognition

In 2004, Okot Bitek's short story "Going Home" won a special mention in the 2004 Commonwealth Short Story Contest. It was featured on the

British Broadcasting Corporation #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

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

. Her story "War No More" won first prize in a StopWar post-secondary essay competition in 2005. An essay in

Iris Chang Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968November 9, 2004) was a Chinese American journalist, author of historical books and political activist. She is best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, '' The Rape of Nanking'', an ...

's ''

The Rape of Nanking The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Ba ...

'' also won a special mention in 2006 and is included in an anthology of winning essays from that year. In 2007, Okot Bitek received a grant from the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...

, which has facilitated her to write more non-fiction work. Okot Bitek's ''100 Days,'' is one of her most highly regarded bodies of work. In 2017, it was the recipient of multiple awards, including the Glenna Luschei size for African Poetry, the INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards (Poetry), AAUP Book, Jacket & Journal Show, Book (Poetry and Literature, Jackets & Covers), and was shortlisted for several more. John Keene, one of the judges for the 2017 Glenna Luschei award, wrote: "In 100 Days, poet Juliane Okot Bitek set out to memorialize the tragedy of the Rwandan genocide, but the witnessing force of these brief, incantatory poems ripples outward to figuratively encompass multiple histories of violence and brutality, including the terror her own family and countless others faced under Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda. The lyric beauty, intertextual depth, and metonymic power of Okot Bitek's poetry underscores the capacities of art and language to cast light into the darkest corners of our human experience, and bridge the gulfs that lie between us.2

Works

"Day 62" poem from ''100 Days.''"Day 91" poem from ''100 Days''
*
100 Days
'
"Trees Line the Street"
*
The Mundane, Sublime and Fantastical: 165 New Poems (26-30)
' *
Love Me Tender
'' edited by Jane Silcott and Fiona Tinwei Lam *
The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry
'' edited by Valerie Mason-John and Kevan Anthony Cameron. *
Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them
'' edited by Wayne Compton and Renée Sarojini Saklikar.

References

External links