A Makerere University engineering student in his first year, one Tusiimukye Daniel doing a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering has reasons to let his pen dance on paper once more. Tusiimukye was born in Rukungiri District in South Western Uganda the young poet, author and newspaper columnist has served his passion in writing at its best.
The first year student who is an Author of the poetry book ‘Golden Arrow’ sqooped the prestigious AfriCan Honoree Author’s Award on July 31st in Lonehill, South Africa.
The African literature awards staged in South Africa, that take place yearly are aimed at honouring literally works by Africans that are making a change in the continent.
At their fourth rounding this year, 260 authors across the continent were honoured for their keynote novels, motivational books, story books and poetry.
Only two Ugandans came with the awards; Daniel Tusiimukye for his poetry book and Kampala Lawyer Rosette Mugidde Wamambe for two of her literally works ‘The Expatriate Wife’ and ‘Did Relinquishing my career mean losing my identity.’ This was a great move for Ugandan literature on a continental level.
Golden Arrow with it’s subtitle: The Smell of a bleeding heart is a collection of poems that are motivated by daily life experiences, with good reviews and reads in just one year of it’s publication, it is one of the preferred Ugandan poetry books on Amazon. The book ‘Golden Arrow’ was also nominated for the Mulher Forte Africa Literature Awards in Botswana in 2020.
Daniel Tusiimukye who is the CEO of the Publishing house- Iconic Publications said in an interview, “I plan to make a lifelong contribution to the literature world. I have always dreamt of a day when all writers, young and established, cab locate with ease, the platform on which to publicise their literary works. With my budding initiative of Iconic Publications, I plan to bring to light the talent of young writers in the world where publishing has remained a mystery to most of them.”
On advising youthful writers, Daniel stresses that they shouldn’t look more at making book sales but bettering African literature “ As an author/ writer whose vision lies sharing and creating a literary legacy, you ought not to prioritize Making sales when you are set to start writing a book. The lucrative mind will limit and narrow your potential to come out with a well-deserved masterpiece for your audience, writing should line with passion and social incentives.
Secondly, categorizing and discovery of specialty in the writing field based on the different genres etcetera. Specialization is needed in to make writing worthwhile because it brings out a broad image on each genre or type of writing with the different authors.”
Tags: AfriCan Honoree Author’s Award, Makerere University, Mechanical Engineering, Tusiimukye Daniel