Mugabi Byenkya is an award-winning writer, editor, performer, and rapper. They were born in Lagos, Nigeria, to Ugandan parents and are currently based in Kampala, Uganda. Byenkya writes and performs across various mediums, namely prose, poetry, comics, essays, drama, and song.
An internationally touring performer and speaker, they have performed and spoken at over 100 festivals, concerts, poetry slams, reading series, and conferences across 50 cities in five countries in North America and East Africa.
Their writing and music has been published in Carte Blanche, Best Canadian Poetry, and Skin Deep, among others. They published their award-nominated, Ugandan bestseller, debut novel-memoir Dear Philomena; released their award-nominated, label bestselling debut mixtape Songs For Wo(Men) 2; and published their debut chapbook Songs For Wo(Men).
Their work has received fellowships, grants, and awards from Discovering Diversity Publishing, b current Performing Arts, Realwheels Theatre; House of African Feminisms, Sundress Academy for The Arts, Africa No Filter, Unlimited, and The British Council, among others.
At MacDowell, they developed Songs For Wo(Men)?, their debut musical theatre project. While in residence, they were selected as one of ten playwrights for Cimientos 2025 Play Development Program from IATI Theater in New York. Songs For Wo(Men)? will have its first dramatized reading with a professional director and actors, as part of Cimientos 2025 Staged Readings Series in June 2025. Byenkya presented at MacDowell Downtown on their second day in residence and concluded their residency with an artist talk at The Toadstool Bookstore and a MacDowell in the Schools presentation at ConVal High School.
Portrait by Muhammad Kanchu
