Austin Bukenya (born 10 February 1944) is a Ugandan poet, playwright,
novelist and academic administrator. He is the author of the novel The
People's Bachelor, and a play, The Bride. He has taught languages,
literature and drama at Makerere University in Uganda and universities
in the UK, Tanzania and Kenya since the late 1960s. He has also held
residences at universities in Rwanda and Germany. Bukenya is also a
literary critic, novelist, poet and dramatist. An accomplished stage
and screen actor, he was for several years Director of the Creative
and Performing Arts Centre at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.Bukenya,
who prefers to be called Mwalimu, was born in 1944 in Masaka town,
Southern Uganda, where his father worked as a policeman. His family
later moved to Kitukutwe 15 miles from Kampala. His father was a
staunch Catholic who would narrate biblical stories which he would
alternate with his mother's folk stories. According to Bukenya, these
stories inspired his imagination.He attended Gayaza primary school and
joined Kisubi Seminary where he studied three languages, French,
English and Latin. This would soon inform his literary thinking and
future academic career. His growing passion for literature was soon
cemented at Namilyango College where he took his O and A levels. In
1965, he went to Dar es Salaam University where he continued to
nurture his keen interest in Language and Linguistics in addition to a
growing interest in Kiswahili. He studied the Language Linguistics and
Literature and Education (LLLE) for his undergraduate course. Most of
Bukenya's writings are in Kiswahili, he attributes this to his
grandmother, whose roots can be traced back to Dar es salaam. He was
also inspired by linguistic teachers including Wilson Whitely, a
British author famous for his book Kiswahili: the Rising of a National
Language. Bukenya joined Makerere as a postgraduate student in 1968
and later developed the oral literature course. He also studied at
universities in Madagascar and England, and took his higher degrees at
Makerere and Kenyatta Universities. He has taught languages,
literature and drama at Makerere University in Uganda and universities
in the UK, Tanzania and Kenya since the late 1960s.
novelist and academic administrator. He is the author of the novel The
People's Bachelor, and a play, The Bride. He has taught languages,
literature and drama at Makerere University in Uganda and universities
in the UK, Tanzania and Kenya since the late 1960s. He has also held
residences at universities in Rwanda and Germany. Bukenya is also a
literary critic, novelist, poet and dramatist. An accomplished stage
and screen actor, he was for several years Director of the Creative
and Performing Arts Centre at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.Bukenya,
who prefers to be called Mwalimu, was born in 1944 in Masaka town,
Southern Uganda, where his father worked as a policeman. His family
later moved to Kitukutwe 15 miles from Kampala. His father was a
staunch Catholic who would narrate biblical stories which he would
alternate with his mother's folk stories. According to Bukenya, these
stories inspired his imagination.He attended Gayaza primary school and
joined Kisubi Seminary where he studied three languages, French,
English and Latin. This would soon inform his literary thinking and
future academic career. His growing passion for literature was soon
cemented at Namilyango College where he took his O and A levels. In
1965, he went to Dar es Salaam University where he continued to
nurture his keen interest in Language and Linguistics in addition to a
growing interest in Kiswahili. He studied the Language Linguistics and
Literature and Education (LLLE) for his undergraduate course. Most of
Bukenya's writings are in Kiswahili, he attributes this to his
grandmother, whose roots can be traced back to Dar es salaam. He was
also inspired by linguistic teachers including Wilson Whitely, a
British author famous for his book Kiswahili: the Rising of a National
Language. Bukenya joined Makerere as a postgraduate student in 1968
and later developed the oral literature course. He also studied at
universities in Madagascar and England, and took his higher degrees at
Makerere and Kenyatta Universities. He has taught languages,
literature and drama at Makerere University in Uganda and universities
in the UK, Tanzania and Kenya since the late 1960s.
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