The world is a better place with more women literary voices

The world is a better place with more women literary voices

Hilda Twongyeirwe wants women to boldly own the literary space in Africa. As an author, editor, and activist she has for decades championed literature from African women as one that stands equal to that of men. She speaks to Inspiring Open’s Betty Kankam-Boadu. 

An accomplished writer and editor, Hilda Twongyeirwe’s story is similar to that of many women who took steps to break the cycle of men dominating in particular fields. For her reward, Twongyeirwe stands today as a driving force of women’s literature in Uganda and an inspiration to many girls.

Twongyeirwe’s involvement in literature and books can, however, be said to have come through fortuitous circumstances, as she wasn’t an avid reader as a kid.

“I remember my dad had a small cupboard where the top could’ve passed as a small shelve but other things occupied that space,” she revealed on the Inspiring Open podcast. “You’d find one or two or three books and I think, looking back, those books came into our family from my cousin.

“He came to live with us for his primary school and he came with books. So that was my first interaction with books away from school. Otherwise, for me, books belonged to the school setting.”

Her introduction to books may not have come early, but her interest began to grow. It was in secondary school that Twongyeirwe fell in love with books, as she had teachers who encouraged her.

“I think that school did so much in shaping me into the life I live now; into loving literature, into loving language, into loving words and wanting to use words,” she admits.

Twongyeirwe became a Literature teacher after graduating from college. But she soon realised she wanted to do more in the literary space than just teach.

She, therefore, made an audacious move by leaving her job as a teacher. Taking a leap of faith, she became a volunteer at FEMRITE. Of course, some objected to her decision to leave a paid job for an NGO. But it eventually paid off.

As a teacher, she realised there were few books by Ugandan writers on the syllabus, and women’s literature was on the periphery. And this, she sought to change. 

“Before that, in secondary school, I didn’t know there would be a career in literature other than teaching literature and so I chose to be a teacher of literature,” she disclosed. 

“That is how I lunged into being a teacher. As a teacher, I saw that very big gap and I think it’s part of what has turned me into a literary activist. Because, then, you realise that you’re not part of the mainstream literary canon. 

“You get sidelined in a way, because there’s very minimal women’s literature that is in mainstream literary canon that is taught in schools.”

This desire to shine more light on women’s literature led her to join the Uganda Women Writers’ Association, commonly known as FEMRITE.

There, she helped to design programmes that focus on developing and publishing women writers in Uganda. Also, as coordinator of FEMRITE, she initiated the Residency for African Women Writers, which is currently one of the most sought-after writing programmes on the continent.

“The main founder of FEMRITE was teaching me at university and so she made her idea known to us and a few of us from university joined her,” Twongyeirwe recounts how she joined the NGO.

“At that point, it was already clear to me that very few women were writing or very few women were getting into where literature was taught and discussed. I knew that I wanted to belong there.”

FEMRITE started in 1995 when women’s literary voices weren’t a thing yet in Uganda. And, as expected, some predicted that the NGO would fail. Only that they didn’t. Rather, they’ve created something special and beautiful that has attracted more disciples year after year.

Twongyeirwe admits there’s still a bit of struggle to get their ideas into the spaces that matter but there’s also been progress, as many women with the organisation have gone on to win several national and international awards for their works.

“FEMRITE has introduced me to a lot of initiatives that are into literary activism, both in the country and outside of the country,” she said. “So I found myself moving with others on the continent, outside the continent, looking at how we make literature important. Looking at how we centre literature into the important spaces of policy, development and how to use our stories to build an even better society.”

All the progress so far in improving women’s literature in Uganda has taken more than just hard work and determination to achieve. It has also required some level of openness, which Twongyeirwe is a huge advocate of.

“For me open is a position of honesty, a position of vulnerability,” she noted. “Many times I think we’re not open about who we are, about our vulnerabilities, because we forget that we occupy the same space as humans and that puts us in a space of fear, of being judged.

“I interpret open as that space of honesty, that space of facing a fellow human being, in putting them in the same space as I am, and then they choose how they’ll want to respond to me,” Twongyeirwe said.