Synopsis of tropical fish doreen baingana

A thank you note by doreen baingana
Ugandan author Doreen Baingana originally studied international law at Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda, and expected to embark on a career as a lawyer.
Doreen Baingana is a Ugandan writer.

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First published in Next Newspapers, July 18, 2010. Reproduced for archival purposes only.

Doreen Baingana’s collection of short stories Tropical Fish examines Uganda and the Diaspora in black and white, with history graying in the fading distance. Idi Amin was a deadly buffoon. Up to 400,000 people may have perished under his reign of lunacy. Amin’s atrocities were perhaps dwarfed by Milton Obote’s. Then there is AIDS. Up to 800,000 people may have died already. Amin and Obote died in peace in exile without any credible attempts to hold them accountable. So much for justice. In Tropical Fish, Baingana says virtually nothing about Obote’s evil reign. This is baffling. How do you forget? Should fiction not document the lived history? Baingana says in the book that Idi Amin gave Asians 72 hours to leave Uganda in 1972. They were actually given 90 days because Amin claimed that Asians had the habit of giving Ugandans 90 days credit. Baingana is inattentive to historical detail.

The story, “Green Stones” is a delightful conversation about relationships, marriages, and life. I

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Doreen Baingana

Ugandan short story writer and editor (born 1966)

Doreen Baingana (born 1966) is a Ugandan writer. Her short story collection, Tropical Fish, won the Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction in 2003 and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa Region in 2006. Stories in it were finalists for the Caine Prize in 2004 and 2005. She was a Caine Prize finalist for the third time in 2021 and has received many other awards listed below.^[1]

Early life and education

Raised in Entebbe, Doreen Baingana attended Gayaza High School and obtained a law degree from Makerere University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland, College Park.^{[citation needed]} Immediately thereafter, she was appointed writer-in-residence at the Jiménez-Porter Writers House. She embarked on a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland in 2023.

Career

Baingana won the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction in 2003 for her collection Tropical Fish. It was published by the University of Massachusetts Press a

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Baingana, Doreen

PERSONAL: Daughter of Neri (a physician) and Erina (a human resources professional and Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Commission, Uganda) Baingana. Education: Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, J.D.; University of Maryland, M.F.A.; attended the American University, Washington, DC.

ADDRESSES: Home— U.S. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer, educator, short-story writer, broadcaster, and lawyer. Ugandan Embassy, Rome, Italy, former administrative assistant; Voice of America, Washington, DC, former broadcaster. University of Maryland, College Park, writer-in-residence, 2005; Summer Literary Festival, Nairobi, Kenya, member of faculty, 2005. Conducts creative writing workshops and seminars.

MEMBER: FEMRITE (a Ugandan women writers association).

AWARDS, HONORS: Artist Grant, District of Columbia Commission of the Arts and Humanities, 2002; Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Award for Short Fiction, 2003; Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize, 2004; Caine Prize in African Writing nomination, 2004 and 2005; Bread Loaf Writ