The Africa39 anthology will be launched at the Port Harcourt Book Fair on 21–25 October 2014 at the Royal Banquet Hall (Hotel Presidential), University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University of Science and Technology and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. In attendance will be a stellar group of 22 Africa39 authors (11 women, 11 men), who will give readings and speak at various panels and events throughout the week.
Tope Folarin (Nigeria)
Tope Folarin, Africa39 author.
Tope Folarin was born in the United States to Nigerian parents. He made his fiction debut in Transition with ‘Miracle’ in 2012, for which he was awarded the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2013. His work has also appeared in Africa Report and the Virginia Quarterly Review. He is a grad- uate of Morehouse College and Oxford University, where he earned two Master’s degrees as a Rhodes Scholar. He is a recipient of fellowships from the Institute for Policy Studies and Callaloo and serves on the board of the Hurston/Wright Foundation. He lives in Washington DC and is currently at work on his first novel.
Clifton Gachagua (Kenya)
Clifton Gachagua, Africa39 author.
Clifton Gachagua is the recipient of the 2013 inaugural Sillerman Prize for African Poetry. In 2013 he was longlisted for the 2013 Kwani? Manuscript Project and his debut poetry collection, The Madman at Kilifi, as well as his second poetry collection, “The Cartograppher of Water” were published in 2014. His short story, “Sketch of a bald woman in the semi-nude” was published by the Jalada Africa writers’ collective. His work has appeared in publications including Storymoja and Kwani? He is currently an editor and television scriptwriter. He blogs at The Drums of Shostakovich.
Mehul Gohil (Kenya)
Mehul Gohil, Africa39 author.
Mehul Gohil was born in Nairobi, Kenya. He is the winner of the Kwani? ‘The Kenya I live In’ short story prize in 2010. His fiction has been published in Kwani? and on several online platforms including Short Story Day Africa. His journalism has appeared in publications including the Shahan Journal and http://chessbase.com. His forthcoming stories in 2014 will be published by the Jalada Africa Writers’ collective.
Shadreck Chikoti (Malawi)
Shadreck Chikoti, Africa39 author.
Shadreck Chikoti is a Malawian writer. His awards include the 2013 Peer Gynt Literary Award for his forthcoming futuristic novel, Azotus the Kingdom. He is vice president of the Malawi Writers Union and Director of Pan African Publishers Ltd.
Edwige-Renée DRO (Ivory Coast)
Edwige-Renée DRO, Africa39 author.
Edwige‐Renée Dro worked as a marketing assistant and community journalist in the UK before moving back to Cote d’Ivoire. Her stories have been published Prima magazine and http://africanwriter.com. She is currently completing work on her first novel and is the founder of Abidjan Lit, an African fiction book group.
Ukamaka Olisakwe (Nigeria)
Ukamaka Olisakwe, Africa39 author.
Ukamaka Olisakwe was raised in Kano State. Her debut novel, Eyes of a Goddess, was published in 2012. Her stories have appeared in various online journals and blogs including Saraba, Sentinel Nigeria, Short Story Day Africa and Naija Stories. She writes a weekly column for the Nigerian Telegraph.
Nana Brew-Hammond (Ghana-USA)
Nana Brew-Hammond, Africa39 author.
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is a Ghanaian-American writer living in New York. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in publications including African Writing, Ebony magazine, the Village Voice, NBC’s The Grio and in the anthology Women’s Work. Publishers Weekly hailed her novel Powder Necklace, published in 2010, as ‘a winning debut’. Most recently, she founded the blog People Who Write.
Ndinda Kioko (Kenya)
Ndinda Kioko, Africa39 author.
Ndinda Kioko is a Kenyan writer and filmmaker. Her stories have been published in Fresh Paint ‐ Literary Vignettes by Kenyan Women, and Amka Space for Women’s Creativity and other publications including Sanaa literary magazine. Her story, “Death at the End of Bougainvillea”, is published by Jalada Africa. She is currently working on her debut novel and producing a 52-episode television series for M-Net.
Stanley Gazemba (Kenya)
Stanley Gazemba, Africa39 author.
Stanley Gazemba is a journalist and the author of three novels: The Stone Hills of Maragoli, Khama and Callused Hands and eight children’s books. A recipient of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize, his articles and stories have appeared in publications including ‘A’ is for Ancestors, the Caine Prize Anthology, the East African and the New York Times.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria)
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Africa39 author.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s debut story collection The Whispering Trees was long listed for the inaugural 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature; the title story was shortlisted for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. A 2013 Gabriel García Márquez Fellow, he won the BBC African Performance Prize in 2007. He lives in Abuja, Nigeria where he works as an arts editor for a national newspaper.
Okwiri Oduor (Kenya)
Okwiri Oduor, Africa39 author.
Okwiri Oduor was born in Nairobi. She is a 2014 MacDowell Colony fellow. She is currently at work on her debut novel. Her story, ‘My Father’s Head’, won the Short Story Day Africa Feast, Famine and Potluck story contest, and also won the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing.
Glaydah Namukasa (Uganda)
Glaydah Namukasa, Africa39 author.
Glaydah Namukasa is a midwife and writer. Currently chairperson of the Uganda Women Writers’ Association, Femrite, her awards include the Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa. Her short stories are published in anthologies in Uganda, South Africa, UK, US and Sweden. She is the author of three children’s books and is currently completing her first novel.
Onjezani Stanley Kenani (Malawi)
Onjezani Stanley Kenani, Africa39 author.
Stanley Onjezani Kenani was born in Malawi and currently lives in Switzerland. He has twice been shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing, in 2008 and 2012. He is the author of the story collection For Honour and Other Stories and is currently working on his first novel.
Hawa Jande Golakai (Liberia)
Hawa Jande Golakai, Africa39 author.
Hawa Jande Golakai was born in Liberia and has lived in several African countries. Her debut novel, The Lazarus Effect, was shortlisted for the 2011 Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize and longlisted for the Wole Soyinka Prize. She works as a medical immunologist and is currently completing her second novel.
Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria)
Rotimi Babatunde, Africa39.
Rotimi Babatunde writes poems, plays and prose fiction. His story ‘Bombay’s Republic’ was awarded the 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing. His plays have been produced by the Young Vic in London, the Halcyon Theatre in Chicago, and Sweden’s Riksteatern, among others. He lives in Nigeria.
Chibundu Onuzo (Nigeria)
Chibundu Onuzo, Africa39 author.
Chibundu Onuzo was born in Lagos, Nigeria. The youngest ever author to be signed by Faber and Faber publishers, her debut novel, The Spider King’s Daughter, was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Commonwealth Book Prize and won a Betty Trask Award. She writes comment pieces for the Guardian, with a special interest in Nigeria. She lives in London and is currently completing a PhD on the West African Student’s Union. Her new novel, The Wayfarer’s Daughter, will be published by Faber and Faber in 2016.
Linda Musita (Kenya)
Linda Musita, Africa39 author.
Linda Musita is a writer, editor and lawyer. She is a literary agent at Lelsleigh Inc in Nairobi and an editor at the Star newspaper. Her fiction has been published on the Storymoja publishers’ blog and the Daily Nation. A Storymoja Hay Festival 2012/13 fellow, she is currently working on her first novel. Her short stories, “Picket Fences” and “Kudinyana” were published by the Jalada Africa writers’ collective
Recaredo Boturu (Equatorial Guinea)
Recaredo Boturu, Africa39 author.
Recaredo Silebo Boturu is a poet, playwright, storyteller and the co-founder and director of Companía Teatral Bocamandja. Born in Bareso, on the island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea, his writings explore themes of social change and seek to re-establish oral traditions. He is among the most important advocates of theatre in his country and his works are performed in every region of the country, and have earned him considerable recognition. He is the author of two books Luz en la noche, Poesía y Teatro (Light in the Darkness: poems and plays) (2010) and Crónicas de memorias anuladas, poesía y teatro (Chronicles of obliterated memo- ries: poems and plays) (2014) published by Editorial Verbum. His writings have been published in a number of anthologies and magazines, including Caminos y veredas: narrativas de Guinea ecuatorial (UNAM), La Palabra y la Memoria: Guinea anos después and the Afro-Hispanic Review. Translations of his work in English have appeared in Bengal Lights, Molossus, and World Literature Today. He has participated in conferences and spoken at univer- sities in Spain, Columbia and the USA.
Adrian Igoni Barrett (Nigeria)
Adrian Igoni Barrett, Africa39 author.
A. Igoni Barrett is the author of the story collection Love Is Power, or Something Like That. He is the winner of a BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. He lives in Lagos.
Richard Ali A Mutu Kahambo (Congo)
Richard Ali A Mutu Kahambo, Africa39 author.
Richard Ali Mutu writes in Lingala. The winner of the 2009 Mark Twain Prize, he published his first novel, Le cauchemardesque de Tabu, in 2009. He has also written poetry, monologues and theatre performance pieces.
Zukiswa Wanner (Zambia)
Zukiswa Wanner, Africa39 author.
Zukiswa Wanner is the author of novels The Madams (2006), shortlisted for the K. Sello Duiker Prize; Behind Every Successful Man (2008); Men of the South (2010), Commonwealth Best Book Africa Region; and London Cape Town Joburg (2014). Wanner is also the author of non-fiction satire Maid in SA: 30 Ways to Leave Your Madam (2013); the children’s book (an African retelling of Rapunzel) Refi lew (2014); and co-author with Alf Kumalo of the Mandela home biography 8115: A Prisoner’s Home (2010). Wanner is Zambian-born to a South-African father and a Zimbabwean mother, and lives in Kenya.
Lola Shoneyin (Nigeria)
Lola Shoneyin, Africa39 author.
Lola Shoneyin is the author of three volumes of poetry and two children’s books. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, her debut novel, was longlisted for the Orange Prize and won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award and the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize. Her work has appeared in publications including the Iowa Review, Chimurenga, Poetry International and Orbis. She founded the Book Buzz Foundation in 2012 and is the director of the Aké Arts and Book festival. She lives in Lagos and is currently at work on a collection of poems and her second novel.
Africa 39 
2 comments