Last weekend, AMA grantee Achiro Patricia Olwoch travelled from Entebe, Uganda to Cape Town, South Africa, in order to participate in the Women Playwrights International Conference (June 28-July 4).
Born in exile in Nairobi and raised in the UK, Achiro Patricia Olwoch is a novelist, editor, screenwriter and playwright now based in Gulu, Northern Uganda. Transforming real-life events with the power of her imagination, she writes because she would like to make a difference in her community through the different stories that she has to tell. To date, she has written four books (three self-published), two feature films and fifteen short films, two of which have been produced. Achiro was also part of a team that wrote and produced two leading radio dramas in Uganda: Rock Point 256 and Mako Mere (Making Friends). Rock point dealt with the evils of cross generational sex in Uganda while Mako Mere addresses domestic violence. Her career also encompasses significant editorial experience: before launching her own magazine in Malawi, Achiro worked as sub-editor for an African women’s magazine in Uganda and as co-editor for the IWP – International Women Playwrights’ Seasons magazine. She presently writes freelance for In Kampala online magazine and bspirit, the SN Brussels in-flight magazine. Her most recent achievement is that she was nominated and seconded onto the IWPC management committee.
The Women Playwrights International (WPI) conference is a triennial event bringing together women playwrights and associated theatre artists, cultural workers and scholars for four days of performances, readings, workshops and discussions. The four themes for the 2015 conference are: “Beyond Words”; “In Other Words”; “Choice of Words”; and “Our Own Words.” Achiro will be reading her play On Time, a story of survival set during the recent war in Northern Uganda. It is based on the life of a 7-year-old girl who braves the war and all the hardships around her to get food for her dying mother and brother.
AMA wishes Achiro safe travels and a wonderful conference!
