Brittle Paper’s Writer of the Month for March is Marjorie Namara Rugunda!

Marjorie was born and is currently based in Uganda, but in between, she has been travelling around the world picking up skills and degrees. She started off with her Bachelor of Arts from Rhodes University in South Africa where she earned the Andrew W. Mellon Scholarship for Urban Connections in African Popular Imaginaries to complete her Honours degree in Literary Studies. She is also a recipient of the MacKenzie-Hicks Graduate Scholarship which she got while obtaining her Master’s degree in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Calgary, Canada.

With all that time spent studying literature, her research interests are post-colonial literature, African popular imaginaries and female subjectivities in African literature. Currently, she is imparting her studies by working as an English teacher at the International School of Uganda. When she is not doing any of the above, she is scrolling Brittle Paper and (hopefully) writing more to share with us all.

So, let’s jump into our conversation with Marjorie!

Brittle Paper

Marjorie, congratulations on being March Writer of the Month! Your piece “The Shade” was my absolute favourite for February. It was captivating, suspenseful, and something you’d want to come back and read multiple times.

What made you take up writing?

Marjorie Namara Rugunda

Thank you so much, Tahzeeb. This is still quite bizarre and I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience because WHAT? I am an avid Brittle Paper reader so I am so grateful to be recognised by an amazing publication but also grateful to the editor for editing my story and being so kind during the process.

I went to boarding school when I was really young. My school had this attic and in it there were these old poorly kept books that at the time I was probably too young to understand but I picked them up each time I went into that room, and I got so invested in the stories and the characters. So, my love for reading began at a really young age and made me take up writing. At the same school every lunchtime, primary one and two students would sit under a tree and one of our matrons would read a story to us. I remember each story time so clearly because the older we got the more advanced the books would get. James and the Giant Peach at the time was my favorite story because for seven-year-old me, it was so spooky, weird, and scary. That school, Kabale Preparatory, definitely played a major role in my love for reading and writing.

Brittle Paper

I’m going to pose some questions I myself find incredibly difficult to answer but I have faith in you:

Firstly, what is your comfort or guilty pleasure book? What is your favourite book of all time? And what is the last book you read?

Marjorie Namara Rugunda

  1. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
  2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
  3. The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

Brittle Paper

And lastly, and quite possibly the hardest question, what book do you think influenced and/or stuck with you the most?

Marjorie Namara Rugunda

There are way too many, but I would say So Long A Letter by Mariama Bâ. It is written so beautifully, and what stood out to me the most is the theme of friendship.

Brittle Paper

Now, let’s get into your February piece, “The Shade.” As someone who has read your work before, I am so in awe of your ability to weave suspense and emotion into your writing that always catches your reader off guard. Is this your main motivation when writing or is it just one of many genres you like to explore?

Marjorie Namara Rugunda

I’d say it is a bit of both. In 2020, I watched a film titled Atlantics directed by Mati Diop. I was moved. Diop’s ability to weave multiple genres into one story inspired me. When I watched the film I was actually starting to write this piece. I had only written the beginning of the story and I had decided to give up on it because I was feeling constrained by genre. I knew I wanted to be suspenseful and have some aspects of horror in it, however, if someone asked me if the story was a horror, fantasy or  gothic fiction, I’d say no. I wanted my story to have elements of suspense, humor, emotion and I also wanted to attempt to intertwine different genres into the story as well. Before watching Atlantics, I felt I could not do that. At least not the way I wanted to.

Brittle Paper

Something I am not a fan of doing but is a part of the job is to categorise writers’ works. It is especially hard when it is a beautiful amalgamation of the best types of literature and styles, which your work definitely is.

A few years ago, you and I actually presented papers on the same panel at the AFEMs conference. We spoke about feminism, masculinity, and sexuality in African literature. As a huge lover of African literature, how do you feel about the progress being made in reflecting these topics, generally but also in aid of the discourse for change?

Marjorie Namara Rugunda

Yes, we did, and we were both incredibly nervous at the time [laughs]. I am really excited about the stories emerging out of Africa as well as the African diaspora. African writers have been challenging the status quo for some time now, our stories have just not been visible or celebrated outside the continent. Right now, the future is bright.

African women, queer, and trans stories are at the centre and while we still have a really long way to go, I am optimistic about the future. I recently read The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah. As I read, I was in complete awe because here is a book that celebrates the diverse sexualities of African women and I could see myself and my own personal experience in one of those stories. It feels good to be a reader and writer right now because what I’m engaging with personally in the African literary world continues to challenge how I view the world and myself.

Brittle Paper

I have been meaning to finally read The Sex Lives of African Women and now I am definitely going to get around to it!

On the note of brilliant things to read, we will get to read a new piece from you on Friday. What can you tell our readers about your upcoming story?

Marjorie Namara Rugunda

I think when you talk about African writers aiding in the discourse for change, this story is my attempt at doing so. The story takes place in an unnamed country, and it is the merging of art and womanhood.

Brittle Paper

As someone who has read it already, I can assure our readers that it is a fantastic read.

As a self-proclaimed lover of Brittle Paper, you know the final question. So, Marjorie, before we end off, what is one thing about yourself that you want to share with our readers?

Marjorie Namara Rugunda

I would like to own a bookstore one day. I have not really shared this with anyone outside of my family but that is the dream. I would like to open it up in Uganda but life is unpredictable, so my hope is to open it up wherever it is I call home in the near future.

Brittle Paper

I truly hope that happens soon. You could even set up home in SA and we could open it together. But for now, thank you for such a lovely interview!

 

 

For more of Marjorie’s work, be sure to check back in on Friday, and for more interviews with our writers, check out our last month’s with Daniel Joe here.