About

Twongyeirwe Hilda Jacqueline is a writer, editor and is passionate about contributing to an enabling environment for women to write. This has its background in her experience as literature teacher, seeing absence of women-authored works in reading spaces and in her involvement with FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers Association. To amplify women’s literary voices, she started a network of African women writers initiatives (AWWINET). Hilda serves other literary initiatives in different capacities and is interested in learning how writers in other countries galvanise their voices to influence government action. Twongyeirwe is mother of two sons and one daughter. 

What FEMRITE do

FEMRITE activities revolve around four thematic areas; Writing development, Learning and Capacity Building, Literary activism and human rights, Women empowerment. The organisation runs writing and editorial workshops for Ugandan writers seeking to up their writing skills, runs a Resource centre both as a writing and research space, mentors, publishes and promotes writers and creates professional development opportunities for them. To strengthen collaborations amongst African women writers, FEMRITE has regional activities such as the regional residency for African women writers, the regional workshop on writing for social change and the African Women Writers Initiatives Network.  

The work FEMRITE wants to develop

This is a timely collaboration that enables FEMRITE to make a tangible contribution to strengthening Uganda’s literary sector. In 2016 FEMRITE published a mini survey and one of the recommendations was that Uganda’s literary sector could benefit from establishment of a Writers Union. FEMRITE will engage a writer with knowledge and experience of writers unions to facilitate a process of bringing writers together. FEMRITE Strategic Plan 2017-2020 provides for Learning and Development. The survey also recommended diversification of literary output. FEMRITE will identify a performance poet with such knowledge to work with for the next regional residency.