Uganda, April 2 -- On April 5, there will be a celebration at Makerere University to mark the 80th birthdays of two important figures of Ugandan and East African literature; Arthur Gakwandi and Austin Bukenya.

For the majority of his active writing and teaching life, and the burdens of exile, Bukenya worked outside Uganda. Most of Gakwandi's has been in Uganda. Gakwandi taught our merry band of misfits and angst-ridden young Ugandans literature at "the Hill". So today, we reflect on him and his academic co-conspirators. Though away, Bukenya was, however, a hovering presence. We shall speak of him another time.

Those were the dying years of Field Marshal Idi Amin's rule. Openly outspoken scholars at Makerere University had either been mu...