 Marione Malimba Namukuta lives and works as a researcher in Kampala, Uganda. She has keen interests in other cultures, together with a command of several languages and loves to write and travel as well. Marione writes children’s short stories and is a member of the Uganda Children’s Writers and Illustrators Association. You can read her essay, "The Battle Within" about her struggles to leave a difficult past behind in Letting Go: An Anthology of Attempts. "Making a decision to put my work out there, especially when it is crammed with personal recollections, presents the greatest challenge. I keep wondering whether I have said enough or too much." Letting Go is an anthology of true stories. As a writer of fiction, did you find it harder to write a nonfiction story? I don’t have a neat answer to this question. In certain aspects yes, it was harder (when you consider the emotional bearing particularly the vulnerability). However, it was relatively simpler given the information conveyed was about me and real events. Fiction, at first glance, may seem without challenge - after all as a writer you are expected to possess a vivid imagination - but this is not entirely true. It is artistically demanding, requires enormous amounts of dedication and effort, and at the same time involves a great deal of imagination and research. At the end of the day, for any composer, it is about knowing that you have told a story and told it satisfactorily - fiction or not. What do you enjoy most about writing? Writing frees. Every time I feel strongly about something, I like to let it out and writing is my process. It is therapeutic even when folksy. I have with me scribbles of lyrics, poems and stories dating way back; if looked at carefully it would be like looking into my soul. Sometimes, unintended even, our work reveals us. In some instances it is those parts we would rather disguise that sprout. Even in our best effort to “hallow” what we express, these traces of who we are at that given point in time come to life in every choice word; be it happy, sad, good, lost or even dark… When our inner self comes to the surface, freedom is achieved. What’s the hardest part about writing for you? Making a decision to put my work out there especially when it is crammed with personal recollections presents the greatest challenge. I keep wondering whether I have said enough or too much? What happens if I am misunderstood - after all there is likely to be varied interpretations of my work? Would I write again if my work was reviewed negatively? Those with a lot of experience have perhaps out-grown some of these fears but I still struggle this way. Where do your ideas come from? I would expend many pages answering this question but to put it simply - more often than not, my ideas are birthed from the familiar. Something I have seen, read, heard, dreamt etc. History has proved that there’s always a recurrence of events and ideology only they are given a different “face” or name and just like they say, there’s nothing new under the sun. What are you working on? I am working on a children‘s short story whose title is, “There is magic in that old burgundy veil,” for now anyway - I have changed it a number of times already. The story at this stage is too short to share an excerpt. It is about three courageous little girls (six, eight and eleven) who set out on an adventure. They have with them a cloak they believe to have magical powers. In the story I highlight their moments of both disaster and victory. 
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