Goretti Kyomuhendo is a Ugandan novelist and literary activist. A participant at the inaugural International Literature Festival Berlin in 2001, Kyomuhendo has been recognised for her "internationally renowned novels." She has also earned notice in African literary circles for her service from 1997 to 2007 as the first Programmes Coordinator for FEMRITE—Uganda Women Writers Association, and her founding of African Writers Trust in 2009, after her relocation to London, Great Britain, in 2008.
Kyomuhendo's first novel, The First Daughter, was well received in Uganda, earning some regional attention as well. Her second novel, Secrets No More, won the National Book Trust of Uganda Award for 1999. Kyomuhendo's third novel, Waiting: A Novel of Uganda's Hidden War, has garnered the most international recognition to date. Publishers Weekly described Waiting as "a sensitive, slowly unraveling observation of daily life in a remote Ugandan village as Amin's marauding soldiers approach on their retreat north." A reviewer for Book Loons praised Waiting as "a complex and disturbing story told with almost a touch of sweetness to it, through the eyes of a young girl forced to grow up before her time." Kirkus Reviews, the New Statesman, Pambazuka News, and the Mail & Guardian Online among others also provided favourable notice. In addition to the published reviews of Waiting, the Poetry Café in Covent Garden, London, featured Kyomuhendo reading a selection from Waiting for African Writers' Evening in March 2009. Kyomuhendo's first graphic novelSara and the Boy Soldier, written for UNICEF-ESARO about child soldiers in Africa, received a middling review by GoodReads. Kyomuhendo has written a number of children's books and stories, but these have not been widely reviewed yet. She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.
Service with FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers Association
As a founding member and the first Programmes Coordinator for FEMRITE from 1997 to 2007, Kyomuhendo has been cited by some younger FEMRITE members as being instrumental in their development and success. Ayeta Anne Wangusa, in an interview with Peter Nazareth of Iowa University, affectionately remembers Kyomuhendo as "a tough lady" who would not take no for an answer until she got Wangusa's first novel Memoirs of a Mother published. Mildred Barya, who joined FEMRITE in 1997 and later won the Ugandan National Book Trust Award in 2002 for her poetry collectionMen Love Chocolates But They Don't Say, has claimed: "from her, I did not only acquire knowledge in publishing dynamics, but my writing improved, my poetry soared to the skies, I was set free, so I flew." Kyomuhendo was joined by another and already established Ugandan author, Violet Barungi, who served as the FEMRITE editor from 1997 to 2007. During the Kyomuhendo/Barungi period of service from 1997 to 2007, FEMRITE members Doreen Baingana and Monica Arac de Nyeko would be nominated for the Caine Prize, with Monica Arac de Nyeko eventually winning the award in 2007. Additionally, other FEMRITE members during this time were shortlisted for or won various other prestigious literary awards. Regarding FEMRITE in general during the period when Kyomuhendo was Programmes Coordinator, Monica Arac de Nyeko in her 2007 interview with the BBC declared: "FEMRITE has definitely had a positive impact on the Ugandan literary scene, particularly in forging a space for women’s voices to be heard. Perhaps as recently as the mid nineties there was a clear absence of women’s writing. FEMRITE came in, stormed the writing scene and is now a remarkable addition to our literary landscape." Based upon both Kyomuhendo's FEMRITE service and published works as of 2009, the USA-based UTNE Reader nominated Kyomuhendo as one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World", while describing FEMRITE as a "dynamic association for indigenous female writers."
African Writers Trust
In 2009, Kyomuhendo founded African Writers Trust in an effort to "coordinate and bring together African writers in the Diaspora and writers on the continent to promote sharing of skills and other resources, and to foster knowledge and learning between the two groups." Kyomuhendo has since served as the Director, joined by the following African writers as Advisory Board members: Zakes Mda, Susan Nalugwa Kiguli, Aminatta Forna, Mildred Barya, Helon Habila, and Ayeta Anne Wangusa. Although the Advisory Board includes members from various nations and regions in African, African Writers Trust as of 2011 is primarily operational in Uganda and headquartered in London. The activities of African Writers Trust under Kyomuhendo have included writing workshops and conferences, with these receiving favourable attention from African journalists – albeit so far primarily from East African journalists. Kyomuhendo has also written The Essential Handbook For African Creative Writers, published by African Writers Press in 2013.
Novels
Children's books
Non-fiction
The Essential Handbook for African Creative Writers, African Writers Press, 2013,.
