Ihram writivism Campaigner Speaks to Multi-Disciplinary Ugandan Artist Nancy Kili

Mbizo Chirasha - Who is Nancy Kili Maturu and What mark has she made in the Ugandan creative industry?
Nancy Kili - Nancy Kili is a very humble, introverted, very hard working and ambitious lady. She is a go getter who will hunt down an elephant if given an opportunity to hunt opportunities. Above all she's a woman who finds so much joy in living a purposeful life by positively impacting the world in order to leave an eternal legacy.

Mbizo Chirasha -You are a poet and story teller, how do you divide your time and what inspires you
Nancy Kili -  Well to me, time is all about mathematics and priorities. We must plan on how to use our time by ensuring it is productive. I always have time to write or to direct a Theatre production or Film because at the end of the day I love what I am doing and I Prioritize it with all my heart. I know well that the impacts of writing are so powerful, so I create time for it. It's like making a time table. However sometimes I find myself writing randomly especially poems, something just comes up in my head and I must write it. Because of that, I always wake with a note book and pen. Or sometimes my phone notes app. But I am still traditional, I use a pen and book to write before I get to type it.

Mbizo Chirasha - How has been your experience since you started writing? 3) What’s lessons have you learnt so far since you started and how you would like to improve the Ugandan creative arts scene?
Nancy Kili -  If I were to talk about my entire experience since I started writing, I would write a huge book. The ups have been high and the lows have been low. But to create a beautiful world for me, I decided to focus on the positive, the highs and learn from the lows as mistakes. Literature is not a very easy field. It is not like enjoying ice cream, porridge or sipping cocktail juice. Literature is like falling from the unknown skies in to an unknown land full of rocks. You fall on those rocks and in order to survive, you must turn those rocks in to mattresses and build an empire there. With literature, you create your own happiness and the beginning is not always easy. Nigeria Novelist Ben Okri once said writing can be intimidating but it's worth it. There were times in my writing journey where I had to stand alone, I had to heal, learn , understand pain and gain, forgiveness,patience, understand commitment and life as a whole. Literature has taught me about life in general. On the beautiful side, I have won some awards, travelled to countries, met some celebrities, writers I grew up reading, Ambassadors/Diplomats, one president and two former Presidents;- this happened in Nigeria-Abuja at ECOWAS and European Union offices. All these people have said good things about me and the notable ones I will never forget were Ama Ata Aidoo the late, of Ghana and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka all in 2018 still. And the students who study my work, whenever they give me feedbacks, I truly understand the meaning of living. Even those who are not students but read my literature relate with it.

Mbizo Chirasha- How many books have you written so far, are they published yet?
Nancy Kili - When it comes to writing, I have written so much. Some of my works are yet to be published in the future. I have published six books and the 7th, a play is almost due. I write poetry, short stories, plays, novels, children's literature, essays, films. I am a coat of many colours. My published books include:- -Failure is a wizard (poetry) -Letasi(a novel) -Tradition and Education in Ayivu (a cultural curation) -Osuta(a children's picture book) -The book of wonders( a children's poetry anthology). -Hip and Hope( a children's poetry book) which I unveiled in U.K at the University of Oxford during this year's edition of the World Literacy Summit.

Mbizo Chirasha -Are your writings carry the messages of social equity, creative justice and human freedoms , if any which one are those
Nancy Kili - Question 3 appears twice. What lessons have you learnt so far since you started writing and how would you love to improve the Ugandan creative scene? Well I have learned to be patient. Literature surely teaches one to be very patient. Writing has also helped me discover how emotionally wealthy I am. I look at the writings and before people appreciate them, I appreciate them first. I see so much future in the Ugandan literary scene. Writers like Okot P Bitek, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Ber Anena, Monica Arac de Nyeko and many others have made Uganda proud, so Uganda is not a literary desert. With literature since I do collaboratively work in and outside Uganda, I always want to learn how other countries especially Ghana and Nigeria do their thing, that way I am able to also exhibit it in Uganda. I have been over the years running creative writing classes for children and adults in Kampala and Nairobi. This way, we may create a generation on new writers. I have also helped direct many national literature books in to Theatre plays, written a couple of stage plays through which people have learnt a lot from. However outside of Uganda, I also do the same.

Mbizo Chirasha- Are your writings carrying the messages of social equity, creative justice and human freedoms, if any which one are those is most important to you?
Nancy Kili - Literature is all about themes. Literature is mirror of refection of what happens in society. If it is bad, literature finds a way of diagnosing it. Literature plays a role of mindset change. So before you set out to write literature, you must have that at the back of your mind. So yes, my themes carry the message of social justice, gender equality, institutionalized injustice, discrimination, tribal and racial conflicts and it is in these writings that I diagnose these vices and create a solution for them. It is all over my poems.. I love poetry because you can write about so much at once. I am a performance poet myself and I have performed poetry for the last 12 years. If you read my novel Letasi, the protagonist, Letasi is a female who represents women and girls in today's world. The antagonist, her father Dramani represents all boys and men. Letasi lives a life of interdependency with her father right from the time she's born up to when she becomes the President of Zimba Republic. So yes my writing trumpet very important messages. I love to see transitional justice and literature is one the most powerful tool I must use.

Mbizo Chirasha- What is your take on the human rights environment in Ugandan, do you think human freedoms are upheld in Ugandan?Nancy Kili - Human rights in Uganda. Human rights in Uganda is just a shadow. I have lived beyond the boundaries of Uganda, where I have seen democracy. In a country like Kenya. A wanaichi(citizen) has a voice. In Uganda, activists, writers get arrested and jailed every now are tortured in detention forcing some to flee in to exile. Even peaceful protestors are always dispersed off with tear gas. However Uganda is still a wonderful country with very lovely and kind people, there are still other many good things about Uganda.

Mbizo Chirasha -  Are your songs, poetry and stories on themes of gender equity , cultural and religious tolerance, give us examples?
Nancy Kili - My themes is literature are very broad but they majorly rotate around transitional justice, which in this case means transformation from bad to good or better or best. It must be ascension. So cultural and religious tolerance can be seen in many of my writings. I have a poem called Men in Suits, Men with dreadlocks in my book FAILURE IS A WIZARD. I wonder to exhibit an image in justice for dreadlocked people because there is a way society seems to marginalize them calling them all sorts of names and then those in suits are glorified and magnified. I mentioned in one of the lines,'that never judge a man by his looks but rather actions.' This poem has sparked controversy because it is tackling social/cultural intolerance.
Back to the poem, I actually noticed that if African and black people don't comb their hair for so long, our hair turns in to dreadlocks, so we're all dreadlocked in a way, why discriminate dreadlocked people? With literature, as you begin to tackle the subject of intolerance, you must first die in a temporary manner in your spirit and then resurrect because there is going to be backlash, criticism, rage, sometimes persecution but you must not be moved by any of these at all. I write the truth even when my voice, pen or legs are shaking. French Poet Voltaire said ' to hold a pen is to be at war.' Literature itself is a warzone where I personally is very brutal. I use nuclear literary bones not just mere bullets because I am fighting injustices which will create a fair world today and a more fair world for future generations.

Mbizo Chirasha - Where do you see you in next five years , I mean with your writings and artistic endeavors
Nancy Kili - Well five years from now, I see myself having a bigger audience, I already have a huge audience but I am very hard working so I believe in persistent grow. I am equally growing as a Lawyer, so I believe in five years to come, I will grow more exponentially in my literature career with many countries studying my books for National exams and staging plays intetnationally which is already happening now,but in five years time, it will be bigger and better, perhaps, I will have published other literature books.
In my novel Letasi, I emphasized gender equality and I mentioned that equality starts at home. Recently Melinda French Gates was in south Africa to deliver the 13th Desmond Tutu lecture based on a theme about women and girls. She said gender equality brings peace. In my Novel Letasi, the protagonist Letasi represents all women and girls while the antagonist Dramani her father represents all boys and men. Letasi leaves a life of interdependency with her father right from the time she's born up to when she becomes the president of Zimba Republic which is a very important gender point of reflection. So many people oppose gender justice and want women to still leave like second class citizens which to me is barbaric and satanic. I am proud to identity as a feminist and who is a feminist? A person who believes in gender equality for both sexes;- men and women, boys and girls.

Mbizo Chirasha - What is your parting shot to your contemporaries?
Nancy Kili - They should have faith and live by faith at all times. They should find purpose in writing; the moment you find purpose in writing, you will be consistent come desert come ocean. They should also avoid drama and un necessary grudges. That's not something that intellectuals do. Above all they must speak and write the truth at all times.

Nancy Kili is a Ugandan award winning lawyer, poet, novelist and film maker. She is the Author of Failure is a Wizard,
Letasi and three other books. Founder of Cruise Education, Nancy Kili believes poetry is the foundation of literature, spice of
everyday life and colonisation of the future. She has performed Poetry in many Countries. She believes poetry is the most powerful tool of Activism. Nancy Kili blends slam poetry with the sound of her 'Adungu', a traditional musical instrument,
a harp.