Oculi, Okello

▪ Ugandan novelist and poet

born 1942, Dokolo county, Lango district, Northern Uganda

      Ugandan novelist, poet, and chronicler of African rural village life. His writing is filled with authentic snatches of conversation, proverbs, and folk wisdom that confirm African values and denounce European imitations.

      Oculi was educated locally at Soroti College and at St. Peter's College in Tororo, St. Mary's College in Kisubi, and Makerere University in Kampala, where he edited the university journal, The Makererean. He also studied abroad at Stanford University in California and at the University of Essex in England. At the latter, Oculi wrote Prostitute (1968), a novel dealing with the plight of the uprooted who have left home for the lure of the city, and Orphan (1968), a dramatic, symbolic tale in lively free verse about modern urbanized Africa. His later books include Kanti Riti (1974), Malak (1977), and Kookolem (1978).

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