Doreen Baingana, fiction writer and poet from UgandaThe language and literature department will hold its first "Writers Read" program of fall semester 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at EMU.
Doreen Baingana, a fiction writer and poet from Uganda, will read from her novel, "Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe" (University of Massachusetts Press, Feb. 2005).
"Tropical Fish" is a collection of linked short stories that explore the coming of age of three African sisters. Introspective and personal, the stories reveal the unexpected ambiguities of the young women’s lives. The setting is the lush beauty of Uganda; the background is the aftermath of Idi Amin’s dictatorship.
Each story develops the theme of exploration and discovery as the sisters mature and their interior and exterior lives expand. Even amid trying circumstances, the stories show that people everywhere face the same basic human struggle to understand themselves, their world, and their place in it.
Baingana has a law degree from Makerere University, Kampala, and an MFA degree from the University of Maryland. She has won the Washington Independent Writers Fiction prize, was nominated for the Caine Prize in African Writing and received an artist grant from the District of Columbia Commission of the Arts and Humanities.
The program is co-sponsored by the office of multicultural services at EMU.
Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $12. Students with I.D. will be admitted for $5. Advance reservations should be made by noon Friday, Sept. 9, by calling the EMU box office at (540) 432-4582. A season pass to all four scheduled Writers Read events is available for $40.