Tusiimukye Daniel, an engineering student at Makerere University doing a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering has reasons to let his pen bleed more and more.
Born and raised in Rukungiri District in South Western Uganda, the young poet, author and newspaper columnist has served his passion in writing at its best.
The first year student who is the Author of the poetry book ‘Golden Arrow’ scooped the prestigious African Honoree Author’s Award on July 31st in Lonehill, South Africa.
The African literature awards staged in South Africa, that take place yearly are aimed at honoring literally works by Africans that are making a change in the continent.
At their fourth rounding this year, 260 authors across the continent were honored for their keynote novels, motivational books, story books and poetry.
Only two Ugandans came with the awards; Daniel Tusiimukye for his poetry book and Kampala Lawyer Rosette Mugidde Wamambe for two of her literally works ‘The Expatriate Wife’ and ‘Did Relinquishing my career mean losing my identity.’ This is indeed a great move for Ugandan literature on a continental level.
According to Daniel, Golden Arrow the Smell of a bleeding heart, as it’s subtitled, is a collection of poems that are motivated by daily life experiences, with good reviews and reads in just one year of its publication, it is one of the preferred Ugandan poetry books on Amazon. His book Golden Arrow was also nominated for the Mulher Forte Africa Literature Awards in Botswana in 2020.
While talking to Campus Bee, Daniel Tusiimukye who is the CEO of the Publishing house- Iconic Publications said he is aiming at empowering young poets, writer so as to develop their writing talents.
“I plan to make a lifelong contribution to the literature world. I have always dreamt of a day when all writers, young and established, can locate with ease, the platform on which to publicize their literary works. With my budding initiative of Iconic Publications, I plan to bring to light the talent of young writers in the world where publishing has remained a mystery to most of them.” He explained.
On advising youthful writers, Daniel stresses that they shouldn’t look more at making book sales but bettering African literature
“As an author whose vision lies sharing and creating a literary legacy, you ought not to prioritize making sales when you are set to start writing a book. The lucrative mind will limit and narrow your potential to come out with a well-deserved masterpiece for your audience, writing should line with passion and social incentives. Specialization is needed in to make writing worthwhile because it brings out a broad image on each genre or type of writing with the different authors.” Daniel recommended