Stella Nyanzi (Uganda)

Born in Masaka, Uganda, in 1974. She lives in Germany. A poet, feminist and PhD in medical antropologist, she was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for a poem that criticized Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. She is an activist for women's rights, LGBTIQA+ citizens, and the civil and political rights of members of the opposition in Uganda. Her book No Roses from My Mouth: Poems from Prison (2020) received the Oxfam Novib/PEN Prize. She is a postdoctoral fellow of the Philipp Schwartz Initiative for Researchers-at-Risk, based at the University of Bochum. She was part of the Writers-in-Exile program of the PEN Zentrum Deutschland, a support grant attributed by the German government.

Foto credits:  © Baraka Bah