“Undoing the censorship that was stuck in me” – A conversation with Achiro Olwoch, writer, playwright, filmmaker from Northern Uganda

Free to Think speaks with Achiro P. Olwoch, an award-winning writer, playwright, and filmmaker from Northern Uganda, and current scholar-at-risk and Weiss International Fellow at Barnard College in New York City. Achiro describes her recent play ‘The Survival,’ the impact of anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Uganda, and how living in New York has made her a “bolder artist.” She also offers advice to fellow artists-in-exile: “It takes time. Allow yourself to learn, allow yourself to make mistakes, allow yourself to mourn, allow yourself to grow.”

This episode is guest hosted by Leona Binz, a Program Officer on Scholars at Risk’s Protection team, who has worked closely with Achiro since 2022 through SAR’s Practitioners at-Risk program.

Watch Achiro’s play ‘The Survival’ at the Criminal Queerness Festival at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York this June 2024.