The Writivism Literary Initiative is relaunching its prestigious literary prizes under the new managing editor and Ugandan author Tramaine Suubi. Get ready to submit as soon as the calls for submissions are out!
The Writivism Literary Initiative is a Pan-African organization that awards writing by emerging authors. It has been 10 whole years since its first literary festival was held in Kampala, Uganda in 2013. To mark this 10-year anniversary, Writivism will relaunch three literary prizes in collaboration with the Center for African Cultural Excellence (CACE) nonprofit organization.
The categories for the three awards are short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry in translation. Winners of each category will receive $1000 USD, while shortlisted writers will be compensated with $50 USD.
Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire, one of three co-founders of the Center for African Cultural Excellence, remarked that the relaunch of the prizes stems from the decision to move Writivism to a digital work environment due to current conditions in Uganda:
After Writivism’s three-year hiatus that started after our literary festival held in Kampala in August 2019, we are transferring our work to an exclusively digital plane and expanding eligibility for the prizes to include the African diaspora. This can be partly explained by direct personal experience of the increasing insecurity in Uganda that makes it difficult to guarantee the safety of staff and everyone involved in our activities. It is not a boycott of the country because nobody can boycott home, but an acceptance of the inability to sustain our work in the current environment.
We are hopeful that Writivism can continue to support Ugandan authors through a digital space. The calls for submission of stories, essays, and poems will be announced in the coming weeks.
The new prizes will be administered by Tramaine Suubi, who will take on the role of Managing Editor. Born in Uganda and based in the U.S., Suubi is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and their poems have been published in Solstice Literary Magazine, Prompt Press, Protest Through Poetry, and other spaces. Their debut poetry collection phases is forthcoming and will be published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Stay tuned for more details including the calls for submissions, panel of judges, and timeline for prizes!
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