UQP announces the recipient of the 2023 UQP Writing Mentorship

UQP and The University of Queensland’s School of Communications and Arts are pleased to announce that Doreen Baingana is the recipient of the 2023 UQP Writing Mentorship.

The UQP Writing Mentorship was established to share knowledge, nurture creativity and develop culturally important stories, and is open to current students and recent graduates of UQ postgraduate writing programs.

Doreen will receive editorial support and advice from the UQP team to develop her novel, Tongues of Fire.

Doreen Baingana 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.

UQP Publishing Director Madonna Duffy says,

‘Doreen Baingana’s novel-in-progress presents a vivid and richly characterised picture of 1980s Uganda in the grip of civil war. We can’t wait to work with her to mentor and develop this exciting work.’

Tongues of Fire was chosen from a shortlist including Vince Haig for The Automatic (Fiction), Daniel Seed for The North Poll (Middle grade fiction), and Natalie Sprite for Ripe (Fiction).

The recipient of last years' mentorship was Carly-Jay Metcalfe for her memoir, Breath, which will be published by UQP in March 2024 and is available to pre-order.

Applications for the 2024 mentorship will open mid-2024.