Grace Akello

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| image = Grace Akello, Ausschnitt aus dem Foto von Filo gèn'.jpg

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| birth_name = Dinah Grace Akello

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1950}}

| birth_place = near Soroti, Uganda Protectorate

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| alma_mater = Makerere University

| occupation = Poet, essayist, folklorist, and politician

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Grace Akello (born 1950) is a Ugandan poet, essayist, folklorist, and politician.{{cite book | author1-last=Umeh | author1-first=Marie | editor1-last=Miller | editor1-first=Jane Eldridge |chapter=Akello, Grace| title=Who's Who in Contemporary Women's Writing | date=2001 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=0415159806 | edition=1st | pages=6–7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-TMhtk5AUYC}} She is the Uganda Ambassador to India.{{Cite web |url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1468071/grace-akello-uganda-ambassador-india |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-08-23 |archive-date=2019-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406192558/https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1468071/grace-akello-uganda-ambassador-india |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://newdelhi.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-55-Ambassador-Grace-Akello.html|title=Ambassador Grace Akello|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406191057/https://newdelhi.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-55-Ambassador-Grace-Akello.html|url-status=dead}}

Early life and education

Dinah Grace Akello is Iteso, and was born near Soroti, in the Eastern Region of the Uganda Protectorate. She studied Social Administration and Social Work at Makerere University in Kampala. In 1979, she lived in Tanzania after fleeing from Idi Amin's government as a refugee.

Career

She worked as a magazine editor in Kenya and Tanzania before traveling to England in the 1980s to become an assistant editor for the Commonwealth Secretariat. Akello held the position from 1983 to 1990.{{cite news | title=Sacrificial love helped bring peace to Uganda | url=http://portsmouth.anglican.org/fileadmin/images/pompey_chimes/2007/2007-02p8-9.pdf | accessdate=19 November 2016 | work=Pompey Chimes | date=February 2007 | pages=8–9}}

Politics

In 1990, Grace Akello went back to Uganda and created a commission to help solve the issue of the displacement and killing of Teso people during Amin's presidency. This commission lasted until 1996. In 1996, she became a member of the Parliament of Uganda, and in 1999 was appointed Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development.{{cite web | title=2020 Africa Conference - Assuring Food and Nutrition Security in Africa by 2020 | url=http://conferences.ifpri.org/2020africaconference/advisory/bios.asp#akello | website=conferences.ifpri.org | accessdate=19 November 2016}}

From 1999 to 2006, she was a member of the Cabinet of Uganda. She held the position of Minister of Microfinance Initiatives from 1999 to 2003, and the Minister of Northern Uganda from 2003 until losing her seat in 2006.

Grace Akello Went on to become the Ugandan ambassador to Italy, based in Rome and recently became the Ugandan ambassador in New Delhi, India, supplying ambassadorial support across the whole Indian subcontinent.{{Cite web |title=Ambassador Grace Akello |url=https://newdelhi.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-55-Ambassador-Grace-Akello.html |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=newdelhi.mofa.go.ug |archive-date=6 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406191057/https://newdelhi.mofa.go.ug/data-smenu-55-Ambassador-Grace-Akello.html |url-status=dead }}

Literature

In 1992, her poem "Encounter" from her collection My Barren Song was included in Margaret Busby's Daughters of Africa, a selection of works from women authors in Africa."Encounter", in {{cite book | editor1-last=Busby | editor1-first=Margaret | title=Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present | date=1992 | publisher=Jonathan Cape|isbn=9780224035927 | pages=638–39 | edition=1st}}

Works

Iteso Thought Patterns in Tales, 1975{{Cite web |title=Iteso Thought Patterns in Tales |url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/45806506-iteso-thought-patterns-in-tales |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=Goodreads |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Akello |first=Grace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pwKAQAAIAAJ |title=Iteso thought patterns in tales |date=1981 |publisher=Dar es Salaam University Press |location=Dar es Salaam [Tanzania |isbn=9789976600032 |language=English |oclc=608844846}}{{Cite book |last=Akello |first=Grace |url=https://franklin.library.upenn.edu/catalog/FRANKLIN_9918382443503681 |title=Iteso thought patterns in tales |date=1981 |publisher=Dar es Salaam University Press |isbn=978-9976-60-003-2 |location=Dar es Salaam }}{{Cite web |title=9789976600032: Iteso thought patterns in tales - AbeBooks - Akello, Grace: 9976600038 |url=https://www.abebooks.com/9789976600032/Iteso-thought-patterns-tales-Akello-9976600038/plp |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=www.abebooks.com |language=en}}
My Barren Song. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Eastern African Publications, 1979{{Cite book |last=Akello |first=Grace |url=https://www.amazon.com/My-barren-song-Grace-Akello/dp/B0000EDS8H |title=My barren song |date=1979-01-01 |publisher=Eastern Africa Publications}}{{Cite book |last=Akello |first=Grace |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7547266 |title=My barren song |date=1979 |publisher=Eastern Africa Publications |location=Arusha; Dar es Salaam |language=English |oclc=7547266}}{{Cite web |last=Akello |first=Grace |title=My Barren Song |url=https://discovered.ed.ac.uk/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=44UOE_INST:44UOE_VU2&tab=Everything&docid=alma9916478433502466&query=sub,exact,Highlands%20(Scotland)%20--%20Economic%20conditions&context=L&lang=en |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=discovered.ed.ac.uk |language=en}}
Self Twice-Removed: Ugandan Woman, London: Change International Reports, 1982{{Cite book |last=Akello |first=Grace |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19271811 |title=Self twice-removed : Ugandan woman |date=1982 |publisher=CHANGE |isbn=0-907236-08-1 |location=London, England |oclc=19271811}}{{Cite book |last=Akello |first=Grace |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2177456 |title=Self twice-removed: Ugandan woman |date=1982 |publisher=CHANGE |isbn=978-0-907236-08-5 |series=CHANGE international reports : women and society |location=London, England}}