Linda Akoth Orando was born and raised by Winifred Akello Orando and Mercellus Orando of the Goria clan of the Japadola tribe in eastern Uganda. She has lived most of her life in Kampala. She received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Makerere University and has practiced architecture for 10 years as a project manager, interior designer, furniture designer, and contractor. She performs social work to empower a group of the urban poor in Kampala through skills training and literacy learning.

Linda describes Remembering the Future as a personal rite of passage in a soul-searching interview on the podcast “African Father in America.”

Wobusobozi Amooti Kangere, a writer, publisher, and artistic director, runs the publishing enterprise Ibua Publishing, which was established to promote reading and writing in African societies with oral traditions. A lover of literature, history, theatre, film, debate, expressive art and learning, he defines his mission as documenting and preserving African history, lore, culture and knowledge systems, and seeing Africans assume their place as equal players at the global cultural table. His poems appear in two anthologies – “Broken Voices of the Revolution” and “Streetlights at Noon Eclipse.” He contributes essays to Journal.ibuapublishing.com

Edna Namara is a news reporter for Global Press Journal, an international online publishing House. Born in Kampala but raised in Rukiga district, she attended Old Kampala secondary school and received a BA degree in Education and a Master’s degree in Education Management and Policy Planning from Kyambogo University. Her undergraduate research was on The Force and Literary Merit of Oral Literature among her people, the Bakiga. She has loved storytelling since her early childhood.

You can hear Edna share stories on topics ranging from childhood to marriage to the end of life in an interview on the podcast "African Father in America.”

Joachim Buwembo is a distinguished Ugandan journalist and social commentator. He has served as Sunday Editor for the New Vision newspaper and as managing editor of the Daily Monitor newspaper. In 2004, he became the founding editor of The Citizen newspaper in Tanzania, which is owned by the Nation Media Group, the largest media group in east and central Africa. He also created Kilimo Kwanza – Agriculture First – an agriculture supplement that focuses on poverty and development issues in Tanzania. Buwembo won acclaim for his book, “How to be a Ugandan” (2002), which deconstructs Ugandan society in a series of profiles of social types. He followed that with “The Ugandan Paradox” (2012), which describes Uganda as “a rich country of poor people” in addressing varied topics.

A.K. Kaiza is a Ugandan writer and journalist, who joined the media in 1994. He has worked at the former Uganda Television and at The East African newspaper as a reporter at large and pioneering art and literary journalism and critic. He has worked in Kenya as literary editor for the magazine Kwani and as editor of the online arts magazine, AfricanColours. He is currently involved in arts and cultural development.

Caroline Ariba is a journalist, researcher, and media consultant. A graduate of Makerere University and former Global Health Scholar at the Queen Mary University of London, her passion for culture and social justice has informed her reporting, winning her multiple awards both locally and internationally. She has worked with the New Vision media group in Uganda, the Guardian and The Times in the UK, and City Press in South Africa. She also contributed to several media outlets across the globe. Caroline was part of the eleven women authors of Crossroads: Women Coming of Age in Today’s Uganda.

Caroline shares memories of childhood defined by freedom and play in the village of her youth – and regrets that villages today are a pale shadow of what they once were on the "African Father in America" podcast.

Joseph Elunya Sr. was born into a peasant family in Oderai village in eastern Uganda’s Soroti District. He spent his early life helping his parents cultivate food crops and raise cattle for the family’s subsistence. At the age of nine, he assumed responsibility for raising money to pay his school fees by selling vegetables. After high school, he joined Voice of Teso radio station as a newscaster and later as News Editor. He also has worked as Bureau Chief for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting at Uganda Radio Network. He is co-director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Uganda. He holds a Diploma in Journalism, a Bachelor of Ethics and Development Studies, and a Master of Science in Monitoring and Evaluation.

Regina Asinde is an activist, facilitator, trainer, publisher, editor and author who passionately believes in stories as a powerful tool for social change. She is the Managing Director of Wordsmith Publications Uganda Limited and the author of Shards of Brokenness (a poetry collection) and Sullied Threads (a short story collection).  Her other works have been published in a number of anthologies and various online magazines.  She lives in Tororo, Uganda, with her husband and children.

Regina tells interviewer Simon Javan Okelo of the "African Father In America" podcast that young Africans today must listen to their elders’ stories because “we are fast losing out on our stories, on our values on what makes us African.”

Aliker P’Ocitti is a poet, author of two books – My Mayor: The Political Campaign Story of a Poor Elite and Rich Illiterate and Even Female Dogs Hunt (publication pending) – and a collection of poems in the book “Hidden Scars.” He also is a blogger and online news editor, and he has served as a local television talk show host. He has contributed opinion to major Ugandan newspapers and online publications and has published literary works in the African Book Collective: Best “New” African Poets Anthology 2020 and other books. He holds a B.A. Education and has earned Master’s Degrees from Makerere University and the University of San Diego.

Aliker discusses the role his chapter in Remembering the Future played in his growth as a writer on the "African Father in America" podcast.

Achelam Kinyera was born in Northern Uganda and grew up in Kampala. He completed secondary school at Uganda Martyrs Secondary School, Namugongo, and then joined Makerere University and trained as a medical doctor. A member of the Lantern Meet of Poets, he has written poetry, performed all over Kampala and played numerous roles in theatre productions. His poetry was published in an anthology, “Streetlights At Noon Eclipse,” and he has published short stories, essays, and reviews online in the Ibua Journal, for which he is a regular contributor and part of the editorial team. He lives in Kampala and is eternally haunted by manuscripts he hopes will one day see the light of day.

Stephen Ssenkaaba, an award-winning features writer and editor, was a contributing editor for The New Vision, where he specialized in covering arts and culture, education and development issues. As a 2018-2019 Knight Wallace Journalism Research Fellow at the University of Michigan, he studied the role of online technologies in journalism in Africa. He subsequently helped establish the New Vision’s first-ever podcasting platform. He has taught undergraduate courses in online and digital communication, editing, feature writing and contemporary issues in media and society at Uganda Christian University. As this book went to press, he was a PhD student in Communications and Media Studies at the University of Oregon.

Stephen, a working journalist and PhD candidate reflects on the role of digital media in African society during an interview on the podcast “African Father in America.”

Flavia Nassaka is a journalist based in Kampala. A graduate of Makerere University, she currently works with Uganda Radio Network, a news agency that offers hard news, documentaries, and magazine stories to subscribing newspapers, radio stations, and online media outlets. She is a mother of two boys, Jamal and Jibril. Flavia developed a passionate interest in health science as a print journalist for the Independent Magazine. She has won two awards for excellence in health journalism. Her greatest fulfillment comes from comprehending scientific issues that often tend to be complicated to non-scientists.

Christopher Conte is a writer, editor and journalism teacher based in Washington, DC. A former reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal, he has trained journalists on health, economic, and social issues, and writing. He has worked with the International Center for Journalists (which introduced him to Uganda) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. He also has consulted and edited for a number of nonprofit organizations, including the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and Gateway House – the Indian Council on Global Relations.

Watch Chris explain his love of Uganda and how he became an editor for Ugandan writers in the podcast “African Father in America.”

Hilda J. Twongyeirwe is a writer and book editor from Western Uganda. She works with FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers Association, and has coordinated writing projects for women in Uganda, South Sudan and the United States. She is a member of the Lions Club of Kampala Central and The Graca Machel Trust – Women in Media Network. She serves on the International Advisory Board of African 278 Research Universities Alliance – Makerere University. A Fellow of the USA International Visitors Leadership Programme, she received the Uganda Government National Medal and the Uganda Registration Services Bureau Award for her contribution to Uganda's literary arts. She is a mountain climber – a sport that has taken her to special spaces such as Mount Moroto, which is mentioned in Remembering the Future.