Elvania Namukwaya Zirimu
| Elvania Namukwaya Zirimu | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elvania Namukwaya Zirimu 31 August 1938 Uganda |
| Died | 31 October 1979 |
| Occupation | Poet, dramatist |
| Nationality | Ugandan |
| Alma mater | King's College Budo |
| Notable works | When the Hunchback Made Rain,Snoring Strangers |
Elvania Namukwaya Zirimu (31 August 1938 – 31 October 1979) was a Ugandan poet and dramatist. She formed the Ngoma Players, with the policy of writing and producing Ugandan plays, and was actively concerned with the National Theatre. She belonged to the early generation of English-language Ugandan writers and playwrights that includes novelist Okello Oculi, playwright John Ruganda, and novelist Austin Bukenya. Her best-known work is the one-act play Keeping up with the Mukasas, included in David Cook's 1965 anthology of East African plays, Origin East Africa.
Namukwaya was born at Bussi Island, Kalangala District in Uganda. She attended high school at King's College Budo, a coeducational school, where she distinguished herself as an actor and writer of plays. Namukwaya repeatedly featured in the school's many theatrical productions. Her early efforts at short-story writing appeared in the 1960 edition of the school's magazine, The Bodonian. She proceeded in 1961 to Makerere University for her Diploma in Education (1962). At Makerere, her play Keeping up with the Mukasas won the English competition and the original play award in the Ugandan drama festival.
While at Makerere, Namukwaya met and fell in love with the Ugandan linguist and scholar Pio Zirimu. They married a few years later. The marriage produced a daughter.
In 1963, Namukwaya went to the University of Leeds where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1966. On her return to Uganda, she became a tutor at the teacher's training college at Kyambogo and later also at Makerere University. She helped found the Uganda National Choir in 1967. Also that year, she formed the Ngoma Players with a declared policy of writing and producing plays in the Ugandan mode, and acted in, or directed, at least twelve of their productions. From 1971 to 1979, she was active in the National Cultural Centre, helping to formulate the policy of the National Theatre (of which she became chair in 1978).
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