Barbara Kimenye

Elizabeth Fiona Oldfield (University of Derby)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.2.3: Anglophone African Writing and Culture: Subsaharan.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester), Alex Nelungo Wanjala (University of Nairobi)

Dates

Born 19 Dec 1929
Died 12 Aug 2012
Activity 1959-1999

Places

Born in Uganda
Active in Uganda

Activities

Primary

Story-writer

Resources

A prolific writer widely regarded as “the leading writer of Children's literature in Uganda” (Kiyimba, 239), Barbara Kimenye was among the first Anglophone Ugandan women writers to be published in Central and East Africa. Her stories are extensively read in Uganda and beyond and have been widely used in African schools.

Kimenye was born in England, in 1929, but by her own admission considered herself Ugandan by birth. She has been quoted as saying that details about her early life “have no bearing” (Jahn, Schild & Nordmann, 176) upon her career as a writer. Kimenye studied nursing at Hammersmith, London, where she met and married her Tanzanian husband prior to moving to Uganda in the early 1950s. Here she adopted the role of housewife and mother to her two sons before becoming private secretary for...

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1477 words

Citation: Oldfield, Elizabeth Fiona. "Barbara Kimenye". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 October 2007; last revised 22 July 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2501, accessed 10 June 2026.]