Biography:
Poet, activist, interpreter of the ordinary; heiress of a nomadic lineage extending into the Ruwenzori Mountains of Uganda and the shadows of New York’s Yankee Stadium. Jessica Horn won the IRN Fanny Ann Eddy Poetry Prize in 2009 for her poem “They have killed Sizakele” and the Sojourner Poetry Prize judged by June Jordan in 2001 for her poem “Dis U.N: For Rwanda”. Her prose-poem “Dreamings” was profiled in the International Museum of Women’s online exhibition Imagining Ourselves. She is also the author of a collection Speaking in Toungues (Mouthmark, 2006). Jessica works in Africa and internationally on issues of women’s rights, health, violence and peacebuilding.
Related Podcasts & Events:
Uganda haikus (sunrise to 9pm)
sunrise. red earth crows women’s gossip swells needle drowning in
as loud as the rooster for
raindrops, falling seeds
day awakens her
fresh limbs, lays out promises
of millet and tea
Bakongo women
glide to market backs taut as
ndingidi strings
schoolmaster passes
students tremble single file
small eyes starched silent
essential as matoke
in the midday heat
kanzu cloth, as delicate
as the call to prayer
moonrise. ageing man
pacing towards home weary
as the day’s gunfire
Check out other Badilisha artists:
Albert Chitsanzo • Legodile "Dredd X" Seganabeng • Gloria D. Gonsalves • Mbizo Chirasha • Beverly Rycroft • Ponatshegelo Katlholo • Tswarelo Mothobe • Liam Kruger • Yewande Omotoso • Scott Woods • Sage Hasson • Barbra Breeze Anderson • Elizabeth "Zaza" Muchemwa • Eric Otieno • Sarah Frost • Philani Amadeus Nyoni • Haidee Kruger • Hakim Bellamy • Sindiwe Magona • Morongwa Matsau • Sandhya Mathura • Linda Gabriel • Odia Ofeimun • Ife Piankhi • SoProfound • Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa • Tanisha Bhana • Pippa Little • Mutombo Da Poet • G.O • Tinashe Muchuri • Dejavu Tafari • Memory Chirere • Blackpearl • Kennet B • Muki Garang • Marce Underwood • Billene "Bilu" Seyoum • Dikson • Sabrina Moella • Synik • Yrsa Daley-Ward • Octavia McBride-Ahebee • Checkmate Mido • Cynthia "Flowchyld" Marangwanda • M. Ayodele Heath • Icebound • Jon Goode • Jumoke Verissimo • Ama Nuamah • Sydney Sam • Jesse Jojo Johnson • Brenda Bakomora Dokmah • Laud de Poet • IanJazzi • Nana Nyarko Boateng • Adjei Agyei Baah • Nana Yaw Sarpong • Mariska Taylor-Darko • Anna Varney-Wong • Dornubari Annah • Vincent Nwilo • Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye • Nana Agyemang Ofosu • Jumi • Ralph Tathagata • Lara Kirsten • Troydon Wainwright • Omo Faith Oshodin • Nana Korantema Hanson • Mr.rE • Crystal Tettey • Tahiru Hamid Seinu • Dk Osei Yaw • Batsirai E Chigama • Chief Moomen • T.J. Anderson • Bulelwa Basse • Amir Sulaiman • Pitika Ntuli • Mahogany L. Browne • Aj. Dagga Tolar • Lwanda • Chirikure Chirikure • Ivori • Evans Nganga • Evolution • Uche Uwadinachi • Isabella Motadinyane • Obanya • Lebo Mashile • Karyl Huggees • Jeff Plumbline • Greg Ritallin Frankson • Onokemi Onojobi • Rustum Kozain • Native Son • Afurakan • Jessica Horn • Desiree Bailey • Paulination • Thobekile Mbanda • Roché Kester • Omnyama • Coco Putuma • Quentin Lindsay • Maakomele Manaka • Erin Bosenberg • Efe Paul Azino • Tanya Evanson • Siphiwe Ka Ngwenya • Dolapo Ogunwale • Bongiwe Dlamini • Malika Lueen Ndlovu • Hugh Hodge • Raul Alves da Silva Calane • Keith Gottschalk • Kemba King • Jenna Mervis • Charlie Bobus • Osaze Dolabaille • Pamella Dlungwana • Patricia Schonstein • Toni Stuart • Queen Lariuskus • Lionel Murcott • Kaie Kellough • Wangari Ngugi • Phyllis Muthoni • Cornelius Eady • Ameera Patel • Mukoma Wa Ngugi • The Mighty Third Rail • Sininho Paco • Bernedette Muthien • Tina Mucavele • Mark Espin • Kelwyn Sole • Simric Yarrow • Natasha Tafari • Karin Schimke • Ari Sitas • Tracy K Smith • Genna Gardini • Antjie Krog • Ngwatilo Mawiyoo • Ewok • Mbali Kgosidintsi • Rantoloko Molokoane • Natalia Molebatsi • Stephen Derwent Partington • Olumide Popoola • Jacob Oketch • Muhammed Muwakil • Moses Serubiri • Chantel-Fleur Sandjon • Anthony Joseph • DéLana Dameron • James Matthews • Kokumo Noxid • Chiedu Ifeozo • Camille T. Dungy • Patricia Smith • Epiphanie Mukasano • Muhammad Muwakil • Bassey Ikpi • Sam Umokoro • Chenjerai Hove • Roger Bonair- Agard • Julian Curry • Togara Muzanenhamo • Boonaa Mohammed • Kolade Arogundade • Poetic Pilgrimage • Sandile Dikeni • Jimmy Rage • Lloyd Akin Palmer • Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie • Tinashe Mushakavanhu • Imani Woomera • Mpho Ya Badimo • Bethel C. Simeon • Khadijah Ibrahim • Naima Mclean • Kayo Chingonyi • Segun Lee French • Liesl Jobson • Inua Ellams • Cosmas Mairosi • Avaez Mohammad • Jethro Louw • Kwame Dawes • Anis Mojgani • Blaq Pearl • Mwalim Morgan Peters • Violetta Simatupang • Ruben van Gogh • Changa Hickinson • Antoine de Kom • Odidi Mfenyana • Napo Masheane • Shabbir Banoobhai • Jacques Coetzee • Gert Vlok Nel • Gcina Mhlophe • Ernestine Deane • Gus Ferguson • Helen Moffett • Winslow Schalkwyk • Jacqueline ‘pretty poet’ Kibacha • Shailja Patel • Hale Tsehlana • Samantha Thornhill • croc E moses • Ben Caesar • Musa Okwonga • D´bi Young • Breyten Breytenbach • Gabeba Baderoon • Omekongo wa Dibinga • Mojisola Adebayo • Zena Edwards • Khadija Heeger • Jitsvinger • Diana Ferrus • Annelie De Wet • Andrea Nomasebe Dondolo • Uche Nduka • Tantra-Zawadi • Seni Seneviratne • Phillippa Yaa de Villiers • Mwila Mambwe • Michael Mabwe • Megan Hall • Mbali Vilakazi • Loftus Marais • Kai Lossgott • Jessica Mbangeni • Tania van Schalkwyk • Jamala Safari • Eric Miyeni • Annie Moyo • !Bushwomen • Emile Jansen • Lemn Sissay • African Noise Foundation • Aryan Kaganof • Warsan Shire • Ngoma Hill • Dorothea Smartt •
