The readers writers club

Every Monday as the day gets a little less daylight and weary drivers rush by to get home, a determined group of artists pops in through the maroon gates. Their mood is upbeat because for them their day is just about to begin. They will always find time to gather up in a close brethren-like but totally cool circle, literally. There is everybody in this midst, from the school teacher, to the journalist, to the psychologist and the actor. Many come because they are passionate about reading and writing.

 

The goal of the readers/writers club is to be a writer’s peer review forum and the converging point for beginning, shy and definitely established writers. The club has been holding sessions every Monday at 5:30pm for over 5 years at the FEMRITE offices. Writers submit their work so that it is critiqued by fellow writers and readers.

There’s no room for ‘dis-literaturerisation’ at this place. If you say you can write, then those who read will approve. But not before telling you exactly what they think of your writing style. That is how club embraces and tries to better Ugandan writers. We try to keep things interesting by having our own writing competitions.

We’ve gone through it all, from badly written work to a downturn in numbers and a resurgence. But club has stayed true to being committed to creative writing. It even managed to survive the global economic downturn! 

The readers/writers club has hosted big names from Prof. Taban to Prof. Austin Bukenya to graduate students from Europe wanting our good opinion about writers and writing in Uganda. We tell them we are all struggling to get published. Ah the life of a Ugandan writer…

We have reviewed every literary material from half done novels, to hilarious stories and lamentable poetry. If you can write we can give you an opinion on how bad or good you are.

But we try to take things a little more slowly because we know there is always that lighthearted moment of well earned evening tea to wrap up a short but meaningful day.

To find out more about joining the readers/writers club and FEMRITE log on to www.femriteug.org or send an e-mail to info@femriteug.org
 

Some club members at the Monday meeting