Goretti Kyomuhendo

Goretti Kyomuhendo (born 1 August 1965) is a Ugandan novelist. A participant at the inaugural International Literature Festival Berlin in 2001, Kyomuhendo has been recognised for her "internationally renowned novels." She has also earned notice in the African literary circles for her service from 1997 to 2007 as the Programs Coordinator for FEMRITE—Uganda Women Writers Association, and her founding of African Writers Trust in 2009, after her relocation to London, Great Britain, in 2008.

Maria Goretti Kyomuhendo was born and grew up in Hoima, Western Uganda. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) English Studies degree (2003), from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, and a Master's of Arts in Creative Writing (2005), from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. In 2003, Kyomuhendo was awarded a Graduate Scholarship for academic excellence by the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She was the first Ugandan woman writer to be declared an Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa, 1997, after participating in the International Writing Program of Iowa.

Kyomuhendo's first novel The First Daughter] (1996) was well received in Uganda, earning some regional (East African) attention as well. Her second novel, Secrets No More (1999), won the National Book Trust of Uganda Award for 1999.

Kyomuhendo's third novel, Waiting: A Novel of Uganda's Hidden War, has garnered the most international recognition to date.Publishers Weekly described Waiting as "a sensitive, slowly unraveling observation of daily life in a remote Ugandan village as Amin's marauding soldiers approach on their retreat north." A reviewer for Book Loons praised Waiting as "a complex and disturbing story told with almost a touch of sweetness to it, through the eyes of a young girl forced to grow up before her time."Kirkus Reviews, the New Statesman,Pambazuka News, and the Mail & Guardian Online (South Africa) among others also provided favourable notice.

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