Ugandan academic and poet Associate Professor Susan Kiguli Nalugwa received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Civil Poetry Festival in Italy.
The award comes as a recognition of Kiguli’s enormous contribution to poetry through her great poetic work, following in the footsteps of literature giants like Jesper Svenbro, Adam Zagajewski, Tony Harrison, Adonis, and Evgenij Evtushenko.
The Ugandan literature scholar was recognised as “one of Africa’s most interesting young poets who write their poems in the oral story-telling tradition.”
Prof. Suzan Kiguli currently serves in the department of literature at Makerere University and she stands out as one of the few Professors that still cherish using public transport means.
Prof. Kiguli is one of the founders and former chairperson of Ugandan Female Writers’ Association (Femrite), an association that was established to amplify female voices in the local literary landscape.
One of the works that earned her a seat at the table of literature giants is her poetic collection The African Saga. The collection compromises emotionally appealing poems such as I laugh at Amin.
In the poem, Kiguli laughs at the skulls in Amin’s hands, and says it tickles to extract money from an army of tortured widows, these lines portray the ‘state of blood’ during President Idi Amin’s reign.
The 54-year-old academic began her poetic journey at Gayaza High School where she attended her secondary education.
You must be logged in to post a comment.