Doreen Baingana

Doreen Baingana
Doreen Baingana at the Gothenburg Book Fair, 2010
Born	Doreen Baingana Entebbe, Uganda
Occupation	writer
Nationality	Ugandan
Alma mater	Makerere University, University of Maryland
Genre	Fiction
Notable works	Tropical Fish

Doreen Baingana is a Ugandan short story writer and editor. Her book Tropical Fish^[1] won the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book, Africa Region,^[2] and the AWP Award for Short Fiction (US).^[3] She won a Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize and has twice been a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing.^[4] She was managing Editor at Story Moja,^[5] and was one of the 2013 Commonwealth Short Story Prize judges.^[6] She gave a talk on TED 2013 about "The role of offensive language in novels"^[7]

Early life and education

Ms. Baingana obtained a law degree from Makerere University, Uganda, and an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland, USA.^[8] While at Makerere University Baingana was an active member of FEMRITE - Uganda Women Writers Association,^[9] which she has referred to as "a literary home of sorts".^[10] Baingana lived in the USA for over a decade before returning to Uganda.^[11]

Writing

Baingana's work has appeared in AGNI,^[12] Glimmer Train, African American Review, Callaloo, The Guardian, Kwani?^[13] and on BBC Commonwealth stories.^[14] Her book Tropical Fish has been published in the US, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and most recently came out in Swedish translation. She has taught creative writing at various institutions including the University of Maryland, the Writer's Center in Maryland, the SLS/Kwani? Literary Festival in Kenya, and with Femrite in Uganda.^[15]

Baingana has won the Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize and is a two-time finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing. She has received fellowships and scholarships to the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and the Key West Writers Seminar, and an Artist's Grant from the District of Columbia. Baingana's fiction has been published in journals such as Glimmer Train, Chelsea, African American Review, Callaloo and The Sun; her poetry in the anthology Beyond the Frontier; and her essays and articles in The Guardian (UK), and in New Vision and The Monitor newspapers in Uganda. She was on the faculty of the Summer Literary Festival in Kenya in 2005 and 2006.^[16]

Published works

Short story anthology

• Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe. University of Massachusetts Press. 2005. ISBN 978-1-55849-477-0. 

Children's books

• Gamba the Gecko Wants to Drum. Storymoja Africa. 2010. ISBN 9789966001115. 
• My Fingers are Stuck. Storymoja Africa. 2010. ISBN 9789966001092. 

Shortstories

• "Christianity Killed the Cat", in Rob Spillman, ed. (2009). Gods and Soldiers: the Penguin anthology of contemporary African writing. Penguin Books. ISBN 978 0143114734. 
• "Hunger", in Seventh Street Alchemy. Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd. 2005. ISBN 978-1770091450. 

Awards and recognition

• Shortlisted for the Caine Prize in 2004 and 2005.^[2]
• Won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book Award (Africa region) in 2006 for her collection of short stories, Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe.
• Awarded an Associated Writers and Writing Programmes Award for short fiction.^[3]
• Won the Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize
• Won an Emerging Writer’s Fellowship from The Writer’s Center.

References

External links

• "A View of Contemporary Uganda in 'Tropical Fish'", NPR, Jennifer Ludden, 6 February 2005
• "Writer’s Shock: Author Doreen Baingana Prepares to Pen a Travelogue From Memory", Washington City Paper, Christina Lee, 18 November 2010.