Batswana women writers making a mark

The trio, who are close friends, are in the process of jointly writing an anthology of short stories for children.

The 44-year-old American-born Kubuitsile came to Botswana in 1989 as a Peace Corp and three years later got married to a Motswana, so she decided to stay in the country. Her first book 'Uganda', which is non-fiction, was published in the United States of America (US) in 2005. Kubuitsile's detective book 'Fatal Payout' was published by Macmillan Botswana in the same year.

Interestingly, the main character in the book is a female detective Kate Gomolemo, who seems poised to become a heroine among her readers soon.

The author has struck a deal with Pentagon Publishers to make a series of detective books featuring Kate Gomolemo, as the main character. The next instalment in the series 'Murder For Profit' will be published in February. Kubuitsile, who clinched first prize in the writing category of the Orange Botswerere national competition last year, says that she has never been discriminated against just because she is a woman.

'Maybe since I have won myself international competitions people take me seriously when I tell them that I am a full-time writer,' says Kubuitsile.

The author, who is Writers' Association of Botswana (WABO) vice-chairperson, also writes educational scripts for radio.

She has also won a number of local and international awards and prizes. Bontekanye Botumile is a self-published writer whose two children's books, Told: The Elephant Story and Patterns In The Sky, have won her international acclaim.

It is hard to believe that the books are self-published given their high quality. The author ascribes the success of her works to the fact that her family and friends back her financially during production of the books.

'Before embarking on my projects, I did a bit of research and was not impressed with the quality of local children's books. I then thought to myself 'I can never compromise quality' so I made sure that my works were competitive at international level,' says Botumile.

The 37-year-old author says so far her books have proved to be popular with both tourists and locals alike and that she always gets advance orders and can sell a thousand copies within a short time.

Although Botumile works as a freelancer in the tourism industry she always finds time to indulge in her passion.

She is currently working on two children's books. Although Wame Molefhe has not yet published a book, she is one of Botswana's foremost female writers. In 2005, she won the Alexander McCall-Smith short story writing competition as well as another international competition in South Africa.

She is currently compiling an anthology of short stories, which she hopes to publish before the end of the year.

The former WABO secretary general says that at secondary school, she was forced by the educational system to pursue science subjects and that she discovered the 'true love of her life' when she was already a grown woman.

'I discovered that I had the gift of writing when in 2005 I entered and won a number of writing competitions and since then I have never looked back,' the writer says.

Molefhe, an employee of the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) hopes to publish an educational book soon.

She is also set to attend the Caine prize-writing workshop in Kenya next month.