Jessica Horn

Jessica Horn is a Ugandan poet,^[1] women’s rights activist and founder of Akiiki Consulting.^[2][3] She has worked with NGOs, progressive donors, the UN and community-based initiatives around advancing sexual rights, ending violence against women, supporting women living with HIV and ensuring women’s rights in post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding. She managed funding for women’s rights and minority rights at the Sigrid Rausing Trust.^[4] She was the coordinator of Amanitare- the African Network on Sexual and Reproductive Rights. She currently serves on the boards of the international women’s fund, Mama Cash and Urgent Action Fund-Africa, and is an advisor to the journal Development. She is a founder member of the African Feminist Forum Working Group.^[5][6]

Early life and Education

Jessica was born in England and grew up in Lesotho and the Fiji Islands.^[7] She holds an MSc (Distinction) in Gender and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA (Magna Cum Laude) in Anthropology from Smith College.^[2]

Writing

Jessica Horn won the IRN Fanny Ann Eddy Poetry Prize in 2009 for her poem "They have killed Sizakele" and the Sojourner Poetry Prize judged by June Jordan in 2001 for her poem Dis U.N: For Rwanda. Her prose-poem Dreamings was profiled in the International Museum of Women’s online exhibition Imagining Ourselves. She is also the author of a collection Speaking in Toungues (Mouthmark, 2006).^[7]

A published poet, Ms. Horn reads from her work at forums and workshops, encouraging others to use creative expression as a way to deal with horrors they have witnessed.^[8] Her work has been featured on the Pan-African poetry platform Badilisha Poetry Radio.^[9]

Published works

Poetry collections

• Speaking in Tongues. Flipped Eye Publishing Limited. 2006. ISBN 9781905233113. 

Poems

• "A night in Zanzibar", in Sylvia Tamale, ed. (2011). African sexualities: A reader. Fahamu/Pambazuka. ISBN 9780857490162. 
• "Uganda haikus (sunrise to 9pm)"
• "Sista, why do you run?"
• "Ye ye o (between a dancer and a drummer)"
• "epidermal offerings" and "salt"

Prizes and awards

• Winner IRN Fanny Ann Eddy Prize 2009
• Winner Sojourner Poetry Prize 2001

References

External links

• "Articles by Jessica Horn"