Friday 21 August 2009. How can we forget? The very first BN Poetry Award Ceremony; held at a plush Chinese Restaurant in Kampala city. With Uganda’s top female leader; Rt. Hon Rebecca Kadaga as Guest of honour, awarding the very first poetry winner, Lillian Aujo, for her mesmerizing and surreal piece, Soft Tonight. The BN herstory was written. In 2019, we will be celebrating ten years. Imagine that! Ten years of awarding poets across Uganda and the continent for their unrivalled work in verse. Ten years of partnering with some of the most generous and poetically progressive organisations across the globe, in order to promote, heighten and celebrate African poets.
At The Babishai 2015 Poetry Festival (above)
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Promoting our Boda Boda Anthem Poetry Anthology, above.
Ten years of ensuring that poets are specially mentioned across media, represented in important art festivals and published. Our poetry-nature series: first on Mt. Rwenzori, then Mabira Forest, followed by Sipi Falls and now, Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale. Every year, from 2016, we have been combining our artistic prowess with nature’s finest spaces in Uganda; merging the spaces of poetry with scenic backgrounds breathtaking and precious.
Children’s training
Mabira Forest: Babishai 2017
Poetry on Mountain Rwenzori: 2016
Awarding winners: 2012
It’s been worth it. It’s been tremendous. And we’re celebrating ten years of it. Thanks to the support of festival organisers, arts platforms, friends, editors and poetry lovers for being part of this stupendous journey.
At Mbale Secondary School, during the #Babishai2018 Poetry Festival
In order to celebrate this ten year milestone with aplomb and panache, we have dedicated World Poetry Week of 2019 in March, for this purpose. Are you ready for Babishai@Bunyonyi? BabishaiAtTen? 2009-2019. DON’T MISS!
The program is as follows:-
Thursday March 21, World Poetry Day, Departure from Kampala to Kabale, in South Western Uganda.
Campfire and poetry, barbeque and poetry, moonlight and poetry; at the unparalleled Bunyonyi Safaris Resort.
Friday March 22, Visit to Kabale University, to hold master classes, poetry discussions and performances and book launches. This will be our second visit of several; establishing firm poetry groups, departments and eventually publishing on a wide scale in the region.
Saturday March 23, Visit to Kabale’s Grace Villas; a center that supports vulnerable children. Share poetry, read, inhale the youthful energy of Kabale’s children.
Sunday 24 March, Return to Kampala, exhilarated and ready for the Kampala edition of Babishai At Ten.
Monday 25 March, Visit to the African Poetry Library, Makerere University and final celebrations at Femrite Offices, Kampala. Lillian Aujo, our first winner, will be one of our main guests. Travelling through ten years, awarding poets, publishing poetry, travelling across the continent, annual festivals, training children and adults, holding performances, reaching beyond Kampala to Mbale, Kabale, Kapchorwa and Jinja. There’s so much to look back on and so much to look forward to. Below is the cost of this priceless adventure.
The fee:
$500 For delegates requiring airport pick-up and accommodation within Kampala. This fee includes airport pickups, accommodation and meals in Kampala, return transport to Kabale and all meals and accommodation in Kabale.
$300 For delegates living in Uganda. The fee includes return transport to Kabale and all meals and accommodation in Kabale.
Kindly pay by January 31 2019, to allow for proper planning.
For further information, email babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com or call +256 751 703226
JOIN US, WON’T YOU?