2023
Dr. Gilbert Shang Ndi
Dr. Gilbert Shang Ndi is a Fellow of the Cluster of Excellence – Africa Multiple, University of Bayreuth, working on the Project: Black Atlantic Revisited: African and South American UNESCO-World Heritage Sites and โShadowed Spacesโ of Performative Memory. A member of the Young Colleague Programme of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Between 2017 and 2019 he was Feodor Lynen Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Bayreuth in Germany (2014), where he recently completed his Habilitation (2022). Dr. Ndi is the author of State/Society: Narrating Transformations in Selected African Novels (2017) and Memories of Violence in Peru and the Congo (2022) and has coedited Tracks and Traces of Violence (2017) and Re-Writing Pasts, Imagining Futures: Critical Explorations of Contemporary African Fiction and Theater (2017). In addition to monographs and book chapters, his articles have appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as English in Africa, French Studies in Southern Africa, LโErudit Franco-Espagnol, International Journal of English and Literature, Metacritic, Mouvances francophones and Comparative Literature Studies. He is the author of two creative works: Letter from America (2019), The Radio, and Otherย Storiesย (2021).
Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto
Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto (@ChinuaEzenwa) lives in Lincoln, NE where he is pursuing his Ph.D. in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a focus on Creative Writing (poetry). A MacPhee fellow, 2022- 2023. He became a runner-up in the Etisalat Prize for Literature, Flash Fiction, 2014. He won the Castello di Duino Poesia Prize for an unpublished poem, in 2018 and the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize (EOPP 2018). He was the recipient of the New Hampshire Institute of Artโs 2018 Writing Award, and also the recipient of the New Hampshire Institute of Artโs 2018 scholarship toย the MFA Program. In 2019, he was the winner of the Sevhage/Angus Poetry Prize and second runner-up in the 5th Singapore Poetry Contest. He was shortlisted for the Alpine Poetry Fellowship, in 2023. His works have appeared in Isele Magazine, AFREADA, Poet Lore, Massachusetts Review, Frontier, Palette, Malahat Review, The Common, Southword Magazine, Vallum, Mud Season Review, Salamander, Notra Dame, Anmly, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Spectacle Magazine, Ruminateย andย elsewhere.
2022
Karen Jennings
Karen Jenningsย is a South African author. Her debut novel,ย Finding Soutbek, was shortlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for African Fiction. In 2014, her short story collection,ย Away from the Dead, was longlisted for the Frank OโConnor International short story competition. Her memoir,ย Travels with my Father, was published in 2016, and in 2018 she released her debut poetry collection,ย Space Inhabited by Echoes. Her historical mining novel,ย Upturned Earth, was published in 2019, followed in 2020 byย An Island, which was published by Holland House Books and longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.
Fayssal Bensalah
Fayssal Bensalahย is an Algerian writer who writes in English. He was born and raised in Algeria. He was educated at Constantine 1 University (C1U) and graduated with an MA in Anglophone Literature. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. in creative writing at Cardiff University, UK, where he also works as a creative writing tutor. He is the winner of the 2020ย Toyin Falola Prize.ย He now devotes himself to publishing his first book.
2021
Nerine Dorman
Nerine Dormanย is a South African author and editor of science fiction and fantasy currently living in Cape Town, with short fiction published in numerous anthologies. Her YA fantasy novelย Dragon Forgedย was a finalist in the 2017ย Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature, and she is the curator of the South African Horrorfest Bloody Parchment event and short story competition. Her short story โOn the Other Side of the Seaโ (Omenana, 2017) was shortlisted for a 2018 Nommo award. Her novellaย The Firebirdย won a Nommo for โBest Novellaโย in 2019, and her novelย Sing Down the Starsย won Gold for theย Sanlam Prize for Youth Literatureย in 2019. In addition, she is a founding member of the SFF authorsโ co-operative Skolion.
Dr. Akwasi Aidoo
Dr. Akwasi Aidooย is a philanthropy professional, poet, and human rights and peace advocate.ย He is a Senior Fellow at Humanity United, a US foundation dedicated to building peace and enhancing human rights around the world. Before that, Dr. Aidoo was the founding Executive Director of TrustAfrica, an African Foundation that supports work on democratic governance and equitable development across the Continent. His previous roles include head of the health sciences program of the International Development Research Centerโs office for West and Central Africa, Director of Ford Foundationโs West Africa office, and Director of Ford Foundationโs Special Initiative for Africa. In the 1970s and 1980s, Dr. Aidoo taught at universities in Ghana, Tanzania, and the United States. Dr. Aidoo was educated in Ghana and the United States and received a Ph.D. in medical sociology from the University of Connecticut in 1985.
2020
Mukoma wa Ngugi
Mukoma wa Ngugiย is an Associate Professor of English at Cornell University and the author ofย The Rise of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity and Ownership, the novelsย Mrs. Shaw, Black Star Nairobi, Nairobi Heat,ย and two books of poetry,ย Logotherapyย andย Hurling Words at Consciousness. A new novel,ย We Sing the Tizita to Unbury Our Dead,ย is forthcoming. Some of his works have been translated into German, Turkish, and French. He is the co-founder of theย Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prizeย for African Literature. In 2013,ย New African Magazineย named him one of the 100 most influential Africans. In 2015, he was a juror for theย Writivism Short Story Prizeย and theย Neustadt International Prize for Literature. He co-edited, with Prof. Laura Murphy, a special issue ofย New Orleans Reviewย titledย The African Literary Hustle. For more information, please visit www.mukomawangugi.com.
Abimbola Adunni Adelakun
Abimbola Adunni Adelakunย teaches in the African/African Diaspora Department at the University of Texas at Austin. She researches modern African culture as it is lived and performed through the trans-disciplinary lenses of performance, gender, Africana, and Yoruba studies. Abimbola is the author of the novel, Under the Brown Rusted Roofsย (Kraft Books). She also writes a weekly column,ย Thursdays with Abimbola Adelakun, for PUNCH Newspapers.