Often it is the tragedies that befall us that bring out the best in us in terms of creative talent. This is reflected in this short-story anthology. From the origins of life - and its antithesis, death - through tradition as opposed to modernity, through depredations and ravages of war, HIV/Aids, marital infidelity, school experiences, to the importance of resilience, this anthology traverses a broad literary territory both in terms of themes and styles. Here you will find the voices of women from different parts of Uganda joined together by a commonality of concerns. Some of the twelve works...

Written against the backdrop of the turbulent 1980s, Cassandra is a self-confident and ambitious Ugandan girl who is determined to reach the top without the aid of men. She believes women have more options than the subservient role designed for them by society, but when she falls in love, with all its power to subdue and overwhelm, she unexpectedly experiences new self-discovery.

Female genital mutilation is the excruciating and damaging experience that Beyond the Dance a lot of women in many cultures across Africa and in many other parts of the world suffer. Even when the women find themselves, for one reason or another, relocate in what should be safe havens, this practice frequently follows them like a vengeance ghost. Beyond the dance is a compilation of testimonies and poems about the humiliation of female genital mutilation, and about the resulting deprivation and loss. It encompasses accounts, factual in some cases and lyrical in others, of the experience of...

In Talking Tales a variety of women tell their stories in prose and poetry. They cast their nets wide, hauling in themes that celebrate as much as they castigate and mourn. There is the delight of discovering oneself on the cusp of womanhood, and of hearing about success in the fight for women's emancipation. There is also the wonder at the restorative power of love. However, the murkier side of human life is explored too: the failed search for love, unwanted advances, misunderstood affinities, incest, betrayal, disillusionment, unfruitful enterprise, domestic violence, corruption, brutality,...

The names of those who penned the writings in this impressive collection alone tell half the story. They tell their stories in different modes. They run the whole gamut - they tell of defiance, and spin hilarious tales of elopement and wry tales of despair, loss and lovelessness. Some of the poems lift up the heart, and others peel back the blinkers that blind our eyes. There is the romantic, the macabre and the surreal. The writings never leave you indifferent - you are likely to take sides, to get angry, to laugh, to cry, and to think of a lot that goes on inside the human heart.

The traumatised woman who dies of grief, the girl whose dream to become a doctor is thwarted, the little girl who raises a vulnerable family of little children because her parents and all her relatives have been killed by LRA rebels, and many other harrowing tales comprise this collection of Farming Ashes These are real life experiences told by women of Northern Uganda about the atrocities that they have endured for over two decades at the hands of the notorious rebel leader, Joseph Kony and his vicious lieutenants. Farming Ashes offers cogent and explosive tales of the LRA exploits that are...

The oral histories, short stories and poems in this collection in which women in Uganda speak out revolve around the inhumanity of FGM (female genital mutilation). Tradition shrouds the practice in mystery but the societal norms which dictate such cruel interventions in women's sexual development don't take their welfare into consideration. It is hoped that after reading these perturbing testimonies by FGM victims, women and young girls in all parts of Uganda -- and the world-- will take more vigorous steps to denounce the barbaric tradition and reclaim their rights, lives and enjoyment of...