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2025 Festival

Theme: Belonging

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+(256) 750779219
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Theme: Belonging

The second edition of Kampala Writes LitFest ran from August 15–17, 2025 at Makerere University’s Yusuf Lule Auditorium, bringing together local, diaspora, emerging, and established writers under the theme of Belonging — exploring what it meant to find home, maintain cultural identity, and connect through storytelling in a rapidly changing world. Headlined by celebrated Ugandan-British author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, the festival featured panel discussions, Writers-in-Conversation sessions, genre-specific masterclasses, book launches and signings, a children and young adults session, and a mini-book fair, all brought to life through stage plays, film screenings, and book readings and performances.

The conversations examined the unique power of stories to connect people to places, and delve into what it means and takes to belong to a culture, a community, an idea, in today’s rapidly changing world.  

Festival Programme

9:30am - 11am >> Workshop

Getting Started with Writing for the Screen
Led by: Aganza Kisaka (Yenze Theatre Conservatoire)

Interrogations of Belonging: Perspectives from Makerere
Panellists: Prof. Dominic Dipio, Dr. Susan Kiguli, Prof. Patrick Mangeni, Dr. Charles Mulekwa
Moderator: Dr. Cindy Evelyn Magara

Nii Ayikwei Parkes

Delivered by: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Iryn Tushabe, author of Everything Is Fine Here, in conversation with Yvonne Zaabu
Moderator: Yvonne Zaabu

9:30am - 11am >> Poetry Masterclass

Finding Your Voice
Led by: Nick Makoha

Funding for the Arts in Times of Shifting Priorities: Who Gets Left Out?
Panellists: Elizabeth Mbabazi, Faisal Kiwewa, Charles Batambuze
Moderator: Dr. Anna Adima

Promises by Goretti Kyomuhendo (Catalyst Press, 2025)
The New Carthaginians by Nick Makoha (Penguin, 2025)
Moderator: Nii Ayikwei Parkes

10am - 12:30pm >> Roundtable Discussion (Parallel Session One)

Innovative Publishing Strategies and New Models in Africa
Speakers: Mercy Kirui, Anwuli Ojogwu, Cynthia Kinyera, Kenneth Muhangi
Moderator: Rasheeda Nalumoso (British Council)

Creative Writing Tips for Secondary School Students
Tutor: Julius Ocwinyo, author of Footprints of the Outsider

The Role of Book Clubs in Building a Thriving Literary Community
Panellists: Daphine Kakooza Nampijja, Jonathan Kimara, Sheila Lubangakene
Moderator: Wendy Njoroge – Soma Nami Books, Nairobi, Kenya

Seeking Home Elsewhere: Navigating Literary and Personal Spaces Abroad
Panellists: Iryn Tushabe, Nick Makoha, Loic Ekinga, Dr. Mohammed Kibirige
Moderator: Jackie Asiimwe, author of Facing Mountains

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