We were excited to receive over 30 manuscripts in response to our call for submissions for our very first course, Writing the Novel. But we only had six spots for Africa-based authors.
After several meetings and the help of readers across the continent who volunteered their time and expertise, we were able to narrow down the list. And for the last month, we have had a great start with our great mix of writers — a bio-technologist, editors, a pharmacist, and a lecturer — who sign in from different corners of the continent every Monday evening to critique each other’s work and learn together, led by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, sitting at her desk in Manchester, UK. Here they are below.
Anne Moraa is a Kenyan writer, editor and performer. She is the Managing Editor of Nia Teen magazine at ZanaAfrica and co-founder of Oil Creatives, a storytelling consulting company. An Amplify Fellow and founding member of Jalada Africa, her writing can be read in Jalada, KikeTele, Bakwa, Brainstorm and Short Story Day Africa among other publications. She has a Masters degree in Creative Writing (Distinction) from the University of Edinburgh. Follow her on twitter @tweetmoraa.
Ozimede Sunny Ekhalume is a pharmacist from Nigeria. His writing has appeared in The Missing Slate, Cecile’s Writers, African Voices, Kalahari Review, Praxis Magazine, African Writer, Café Aphra, Poetry Pacific, Winamop and Africa Book Club. His storybook for children was shortlisted for the 2016 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Children’s Literature.
He looks forward to making his novel manuscript “print-ready.”
Doreen Anyango is a Ugandan bio-technologist and writer. Her short fiction has been published both online and in print. She blogs at doroanyango.blogspot.com. She lives in Fort Portal, Uganda where she spends her days running a plant tissue culture lab and being intrigued by this life. She is currently working on her first novel.
Nana Nyarko Boateng describes herself as a writer, poet and an editor. She is CEO at Gird Center, a writing, editing, and training services company in Accra, Ghana. She has taught creative writing workshops in schools across Ghana and at the University of Lomé. Her work can be found in 13 anthologies including Lusaka Punk and Other Stories, Reflections: An Anthology of New Work, Summoning the Rain: An Anthology and the New Ghanaian Poet’s Look Here You Have Gone to Sit: An Anthology.
Ivy Nyayieka is a Kenyan writer who graduated from Yale with a double B.A. in English Literature and African Studies. She publishes her work on her personal blog and other outlets such as the Huffington Post. She is excited that Mawazo’s workshop is midwifing her novel-in-progress. She is glad to meet other African writers with whom she hopes to continue exchanging feedback about writing after the workshop.
Madhlozi Moyo, from Zimbabwe, has been writing since he was the 16, and his first novella was written in Ndebele. He holds a PhD in Classical Studies. His thesis was a comparative analysis of ancient Greek and proto-literate African oral traditions. He lectures in the areas of Classical Greek and Latin literature at the University of Zimbabwe. He has published some poetry, but in this workshop will be working on a manuscript he started in 2010.
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