The Mt Kenya Times 
Kibirige Desire Edward
- Who are you? Where are you from? Give us your academic background.
My name is Kibirige Desire Edward, son to Kalule Peter and Tukahirwa Naume and I am from Busia, Uganda. I went to St. Jude Nursery and Primary School, Busia, Greens Nursery and Primary School- Busia, Ebenezer Junior Academy-Busia, Lubiri High School- Wakiso where I got my Ordinary Level Certificate of Education from, St. Peter’s College Tororo and Busia Secondary School where I actually got my Advanced Certificate of Education from.
- What is your profession?
I am a Poet, Novelist, short story writer, Essayist and playwright
- Where did you publish it from?
I published, The Pearl from The Iconic Publications from, Kampala.
- How was your publishing journey and experience like?
Actually my publishing journey is quite funny though serious. I first submitted my manuscript to 12 different publishing house and the messages I received from them had words like “we are sorry to say, we won’t be able to, I am so sorry, we cannot publish your…” but I never lost hope the more I got rejected was the more I worked on perfecting and so I never gave up. A time came and I decided to look for different poets and compile an anthology about Life, Love, Laughter, Motivation and much more that English Language and Literature scholars and readers would reflect on. I also worked hard to see that this anthology comes out because I wanted to be an icon to the upcoming writer in my country, Uganda. So when I got my manuscript ready, I decided to submit it to 12 publishers and surprisingly they all welcomed it and they were willing to publish it so I also had to sit down and think about whom to sign agreements with on matters regarding The Pearl. I decided to work with the Iconic Publications and honestly I am glad to say that we really have a great publisher in Africa today
- Who is your Illustrator, did you do an input in the illustration?
My illustrator is Aine Allan and I never did an input in the illustration. The publisher read through my manuscript and came up with several suggestions and this was where I also had a say about the final illustration.
- Who/what motivated you to write the book?
My dream was to get published and at least make a positive impact on my readers. I have always desired to be a positive influencer who strongly believes in destiny and change.
- How best could the book industry be improved in your country?
I think the government should find possible ways of how to sponsor different writers’ workshops and also find ways of offering scholarships to talented writers in the country since this can easily motivate the writers to publish. The government should also give rights to the publishers and the writers too. The government should stop censoring political writers’ works since it kills the writers’ message and intentions. And lastly I think publishers like mine should also be strongly recognized such that writers wok hard to get published.
- Do you have fans, how have they contributed in the marketing of your craft?
Praise is to God, I surely have a huge fun base. I have come across several posts on different social media platforms about me and about the anthology. Several funs of mine have gone ahead to surprise me by uploading recitals on YouTube too. It’s really amazing.
- Merging the books with community service, are you involved in any community service?
I am actually a peer educator and I have worked with several organizations like world vision international, Educate Uganda, to mention but a few. I am also a public speaker.
- What are your future plans?
Well, I really want to have an internationally read book published by an African Publishing house. I am also looking forward to starting up an institute for the creative writers plus a foundation to support upcoming writers.
- Any advice to the upcoming writers?
It is every writer’s dream to be widely read so I advise them never to give up. God is never late and so whatever the delays are, God will deliver on time and they should agree with me that change needs time to make just like baking a sweet cake. They should take time on their molds such that when they get old, they do not get to break or to crack.
- How can people access your book, is it available as an eBook?
Anyone interested in an autographed copy can simply contact my publisher or reach out to me on kibirigedesireedward@gmail.com and also one can access the eBook on online stores like Amazon Kindle and other stores.
- Parting shot!
Thank you for the opportunity granted to me. God bless Africa and her children, never give up.
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About the Author
