Presently finding liminal grounds between artistic practice and the curatorial, Abbey IT-A is increasingly interested in the proverbial discursiveness inherent in Contemporary Art and how it holds in praxis. They explore this concern through experimental, multi-vocal, curatorial interventions with text and conversation as likely points of departure in an independent practice. Additionally, as an associate at the Foundation for Contemporary Art-Ghana, they help promote contemporary Ghanaian art practices and discourses through research, workshops, seminars, exhibitions, interventions, and labs. Educated in Ghana, they earned a BFA in Painting from the Department of Painting and Sculpture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where they are currently a candidate for an MFA. Abbey lives and works in Accra and Kumasi.

Abdul Raafi Mohammed, known as Rafiu fishbone is a film producer, director, creative consultant and founder of Sanatu Zambang Studios. Rafiu fishbone documentary on Access to Clean Water received a nomination at the Water Film Festival and the Golden Movie Awards Africa 2016. He worked for Countrywise Communication Ghana, as a film producer, director and video editor between 2013 to 2016. Producing agricultural documentary films for organisations and institutions such as Savannah Agriculture Research Institute, AGRA, IPA , IFDC, Cabi plantwise Access Agriculture, and a drama with UNICEF. Between 2016 to 2017, he produced StarX TV, an entertainment show which featured trending videos from both Northern and Southern parts of Ghana.

Since 2017 to date Rafiu fishbone notable works for NGOs and Institutions include; International Trade Centre, World Food Programme, Wateraid, WASH United, Oxfam, Actionaid, Kofi Annan IT Centre for Excellence, Star Ghana foundation active citizenship, HERPol-Africa, African Women's Development Fund, Norsaac, Swida-Ghana etc.

Abdul-Hakim Zakaria is a writer, freelance Journalist; Blogger; Social and Climate Activist. He is currently a Field Supervisor with School for Life. He is fondly called Abdul-Hakim Genius.

Genius has worked with several youth groups and initiatives and facilitated many creative projects, symposia and workshops. Genius holds a bachelor's degree in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology from the University for Development Studies. Some of his literary publications include a poem featured in Afridiaspora's Ghana @60 Anthology of new writings from Ghana Obibini Te-Ase. His works are featured in other publications such as Poetrysoup foundation's PS: it's poetry anthology, Word Peace Anthology titled peace be upon you Davos and other online magazines such as Azahar magazine and Kulturers Publication.

Abena Kwatemaa Karikari is half of the writing duo Kwatemaa Tweneboah, authors of The Kelewele Connection and co-host of 2 Hearts in a Pod, a romance podcast. She is an avid reader and champion for African and Diasporan writing. She blogs about books on her Youtube channel Bookworm in Gh and on her Instagram @bookwormingh. She is a medical anthropologist who focuses on reproductive health and her PhD focused on social media and literary representations of infertility in Ghana and Nigeria.

Alycia Pirmohamed is a Canadian-born poet based in Scotland. She is the author of Another Way to Split Water, as well as the pamphlets Hinge and Faces that Fled the Wind, and the collaborative essay Second Memory. She is the co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, a co-organiser of the Ledbury Poetry Critics Program, and she currently teaches on the MSt. Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge. Alycia has held post-doctoral positions at University Edinburgh and at the University of Liverpool, and she received an MFA from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. She is the recipient of several awards, including the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and the 2020 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Find her online at alycia-pirmohamed.com, on Twitter @a_pirmohamed, and on Instagram @alyciap_.

Ama is an aspiring art curator, writer and photographer based in Accra, Ghana. She is published in Aperture Magazine's Fall 2023 Issue 'Accra', the The Sole Adventurer (TSA) Art Magazine’s Collectors Series: Artists & Cities, Contemporary Ghanaian Writers Series, Write Ghana and the Nubuke Foundation’s New Dawn Online. In December 2021, she made her art curating debut with Ian Kwakye’s My Nose Is Bleeding.

Ama relives some of her childhood every chance she gets and believes strongly Tea bread is the best bread there is in Ghana. She has no desire to argue this.

Amanda Thomson is a writer and visual artist who lives and works in Strathspey and Glasgow and lectures at the Glasgow School of Art. She’s written for BBC Radio 3 and 4 and her essays are in several anthologies including Antlers of Water, writing on the nature and environment of Scotland and Gifts of Gravity and Light, A Nature Almanac for the 21st Century. She has published three books: A Scots Dictionary of Nature (Saraband Books); microbursts, a collaboration with Elizabeth Reeder (Prototype); and most recently, Belonging, Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home (Canongate). She’s a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper’s Country Diary. She was a commissioned artist for the Edinburgh Art Festival in 2022 and Boundary Layers, a dual-screen filmwork and spoken-word essay about nature’s reclamation of the former steelworks at Ravenscraig, Motherwell, is part of A Fragile Correspondence, Scotland’s collateral exhibition for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. Insta: @dr_amanda_thomson w: www.passingplace.com

Anakwa Dwamena is writer and researcher focused on justice, culture, climate change, and traditional practice. He is currently a reporting fellow with the Luce/ACLS Program, doing work on traditional religious practices in Ghana. His work has been published in Africa is a Country, The New Yorker, New York Times, Aperture, amongst others.

Anni Domingo is an Actress, Director and Writer, working in Radio, TV, Films. and Theatre. She has appeared in many shows in the UK including in Inua Ellam’s ‘Three Sisters’ set in Nigeria during the Biafran War, at the National Theatre. She has just finished touring Jane Austen’s ‘Mansfield Park’. She is currently Lecturing in Drama and directing at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham, Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and at RADA. Anni’s poems and short stories are published in various anthologies and her plays produced in the UK. Her first novel, Breaking the Maafa Chain, was published in 2021 by Jacaranda Book in UK and Pegasus in USA last year. An extract from this novel won Myriad Editions First Novel competition and is one of the contributions in the New Daughters of Africa Anthology edited by Margaret Busby. Anni recently won a place at Hedgebrook Writers Retreat and Norwich National Writing Centre’s ‘Escalator’ programme. Anni is now writing her second novel ‘Ominira’, as part of her PhD programme.

Instagram: annidom4

Twitter: DomingoAnni

Facebook: AnniDomingo

Apiorkor [Seyiram Ashong-Abbey] is a Ghanaian Poet, Writer/Author, Literary Scholar and Critic, Media Practitioner, TED Speaker, Activist and Versatile Creative. She is the author of the poetry collections The Matriarch’s Verse and When the person who is called COVID came. She performs within West Africa’s most sophisticated spaces and has been featured on two TEDx platforms.

She has also been a speaker at Re:publica and has been a conversationalist as well, at the Reykjavik Global Forum, having spoken about The Power of Poetry and is an active member of TED's Red Circle Community for TED Speakers.

She was in Vancouver, for the 2023 TED Conference, as a TED Speaker Ambassador. Over the past four years, Apiorkor has led a campaign to have Ghanaian (and African) Poets, Poetry, and Artists properly documented in local media sources and on Wikipedia.

She is a member of the Poetry Association of Ghana Executive Board and a member of a newly-formed standing committee of the Creative Arts Agency (Ghana) Initiative on developing Creative Arts Education in Ghana, under the auspices of Ghana's Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture. Apiorkor is the Head of Programmes Production at Accra-based Citi 97.3 FM and Citi TV.

Born in Los Angeles, Audrey Shipp is an essayist who came to creative writing as a poet. Her writing has been published in various literary journals including Brittle Paper, Isele Magazine, A Long House, Sapphire Hues, Pure Slush, Another Chicago Magazine, LitroNY, A Gathering Together, and Linden Avenue Literary Journal. Her bilingual and trilingual poetry appeared in Americas Review (Arte-Publico Press) which was formerly published by the University of Houston. She was the 2023 winner of the Barbara Abercrombie Scholarship from the UCLA Extension Writers Program and is currently writing a memoir focusing on writing and (un)writing in Los Angeles. Audrey is founding and managing editor of the literary journal Decolonial Passage. She holds both a B.A. in English and Masters in Education from UCLA, an M.A. in English from Cal State L.A, and a Certificate in Creative Writing from UCLA

Babeth Fonchie Fotchind is a lawyer and poet. She has published in Kluger Hans, De Revisor, De Groene Amsterdammer, DW B, De Gids, and ELLE Magazine among others. She was also the in-house poet of online feminist magazine Lilith Mag. She was selected for the writing residency of deBuren and the Fellowship of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. She was chosen by VOGUE as the next talent to watch and also nominated for Harper's Bazaar Women of the Year Award. In June 2022, her debut collection of poetry titled Plooi was released at Publishing House De Geus.

Bisi Adjapong is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Daughter in Exile (HarperCollins 2023) and The Teller of Secrets (HarperCollins 2021). The latter, her debut, has been named a best book by The American Library Association, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Globe and Mail, Pop Sugar, Essence, and Ms Magazine. The short story version, titled Of Women and Frogs, was nominated for the Caine Prize for African Literature. Her second novel, Daughter in Exile, is a New Yorker Magazine best book and has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, Book Browse, World Literature among others. It has been selected by Amazon Editors as best fiction literature, a must-read by many publications including The Root. Adjapon’s writings have appeared in journals and newspapers including The Guardian, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Sun Magazine, Aljazeera, New York Time, Washington Times and Brittle Paper. A former International Affairs Specialist for the US Foreign Agricultural Service, she won the Civil Rights Award for Human Relations. As an educator, she won An Excellence in Teaching Award in Fairfax County, Virginia. She divides her time between America and Ghana.

Blessing Tarfa is an award winning writer of children’s literature, an educator and a research consultant. She is also an Abuja Global Shaper of the Global Shapers community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. As a Shaper, she chairs the editorial team and the Library4Education project where they make books and learning resources available for marginalised schools in Nigeria. Her research efforts as the program officer at the Riplington Education Initiative are focused on evaluating the difficulties of maintaining an education in contexts of conflict and attacks on education. As a teacher, Blessing wants to change the narrative of the punitive way learning is presented to children.

Boakyewaa Glover is a Ghanaian Writer, Organisational Psychologist, Human Resources Professional and Media/Communications Strategist. She is the author of Circles (2009 -- romantic drama), Tendai (2013 -- science fiction), and The Justice (2013 -- political thriller), as well as a plethora of articles, short stories, poems and other works. Boakyewaa’s essay, God’s Plan, was featured in Relations, an Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, published in 2023 by Harper Collins. She was a 2014 finalist for Africa’s Most Influential Women (organized by CEO Communications, South Africa), the 2018 winner for Ghana’s 40 Under 40 Awards (Authorship & Creative Writing category) and a 2020 nominee under the category of English/Literature/Poetry for the prestigious Ghana Millennium Excellence Awards. Boakyewaa’s current book project is Commitment. Commitment tells the story of the thousands who sacrifice personal lives and careers and choose to prioritise family. Commitment also tells the story of the particular way that women in Ghana get by – through the benevolence of older, predatory men and the physical and psychological abuse these women tolerate in order to protect their lifestyles. In Ghana, this has become a known and accepted way of life. Commitment is a passion project that Boakyewaa hopes to publish in 2023. Boakyewaa Glover has also worked in diverse and multi-faceted roles in the Corporate world in Ghana, UK and the US for over twenty (20) years. Some of these roles include, TV Presenter, Newscaster, TV Script Writer, Consultant, HR Vice President, Director, Media and PR Strategist, and Project Manager Boakyewaa is also the Founder and Group Director for Minds on Fire Group, a Human Capital Consulting company, that also provides media, editorial and publishing services.

Bronia Humble (MA, MRes, PhD) is a writer, editor and book coach based in Accra. Bronia worked in-house at an academic publisher for seven years and has recently launched her own freelance consultancy offering her editorial experience to those writers wrestling with unfinished manuscripts. Bronia works across fiction and non-fiction. In 2022, Bronia’s first novel was shortlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize. Bronia then worked for the prize in 2023 as a reader and editor.

Chief Moomen (Abdul Moomen Muslim) is a poet and playwright, and Chief Creative Officer of Bambu Center, a creative communications company with interests in theatre and multimedia productions, publishing and education. He is the creator of The Mansa World, an ambitious storytelling project exploring African and black diaspora history and heritage through theatre, film, publications and other derivatives, in well curated and exciting content for the global market. Chief Moomen is also one of the most recognisable faces of performance poetry from Ghana, having been performing for the past 15 years on various corporate, social, entertainment and international platforms. He is the recipient of The 2015 Excellence Leadership Award’s Young Achiever for Arts, Culture and Entertainment and the 2017 Coca Cola Big Six Young Achiever in Media and Entertainment.

Chika Jones is a performance poet and writer who lives in Southeastern England. He lived most of his life in Lagos, Nigeria and writes about the city, gender based violence, the Biafra war and the pursuit of joy. He won a national poetry slam in Lagos in 2013, and has performed at the Lagos International Poetry Festival and several others. He attended the Farafina Creative Writing workshop in 2016 curated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and has been commissioned by MacArthur Foundation to write and perform poems creating awareness for voters. Since moving to England in 2021, he has performed at Jawdance, Sunday Papers Live in London and other spaces. He was part of the Lyrici Arts production - Soul Food, which toured the Medway in October 2022. He is currently working on his first collection of poetry and other projects He posts about his work on Instagram under his name. Visit https://www.instagram.com/chika_jones

Dr. Nikitta Dede Adjirakor is a Ghanaian scholar and creative writer. She is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Ghana examining digital African language literature and popular culture. Her creative works explore the intersections between women’s health, trauma, language, and belonging. She is the producer of the award-winning film A Thousand Needles which documents African women’s sexual and reproductive health stigmas. Her recent works include the poetry chapbook Learning to Say My Name (2023) and the children’s book Black and Bold Queens: Women in Ghana’s History (2023). She is the co-editor of the poetry anthology Hɔmɔwɔ: Ga Lalawiemɔi (2022). Her work can be seen on her website: nikittadede.com.

Dr. Wale Okediran a Medical Doctor and Former Member of the Nigerian Parliament is a former National President of the Association of Nigerian Authors and the current Secretary General, Pan African Writers Association. He is a Published author of fourteen novels many of which have won local and international Literary prizes such as, American Poetry Association Book Prize (Call To Worship, 1990), Commonwealth Literature Prize Shortlist (The Boys At The Border, 1991), ANA Prize for Children’s Literature (The Rescue of Uncle Babs, 1998), NLNG Nigerian Literature Prize Shortlist (Dreams Die At Twilight, 2004) Spectrum Books Prize For One of the Best 25 Books in Nigeria in the last 25 years (Dreams Die At Twilight, 2004), ANA Best Fiction Prize (Strange Encounters, 2005), and Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa shortlist (The Weaving Looms, 2008) In addition, he has authored six Biographies of some renowned African professionals and political leaders. The Ebedi International Writers Residency in Iseyin, Nigeria, a free facility for the use of writers which he founded in 2010 has hosted over 200 African Writers from 12 different countries since it was established. His book, Tenants of the House which is a factional account of his stay as a Member of the Nigerian Parliament was the co-winner of the 2010 Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature and has now been adapted as a motion picture currently streaming on NETFLIX Global Platform.

Edwige Renée Dro is a writer, literary translator, and literary activist from Côte d’Ivoire. Her short stories and articles have been published in anthologies such as New Daughters of Africa, Africa39, the Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies, This is Africa, etc. As a literary translator, she has mentored emerging literary translators as part of the Bakwa Literary Translation workshop that birthed the anthology: Your feet will lead you where your heart is / Le crepuscule des âmes soeurs. She is also the translator of the anthology Les oiseaux d’eau sur la rive du lac / Water birds on the lakeshore (English and French), the children’s book: Rêve d’oiseau by Shenaz Patel (A Dream of Birds -- English), the short story: Petit Pa by Hemley Boum (Little Pa -- English), etc. In 2020, she founded 1949: the library of women’s writings from Africa and the black world in Abidjan. Visit https://edwigedro.wordpress.com.

Ekow Manuar is an award winning African Futurist writer from Accra, Ghana. He won the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s climate fiction short story award in 2021 for his short story ‘Beans without Korkor.’ His works have been published in literary magazines across the planet, including: The Dark Mountain Project, Decolonial Passage, Writers Project of Ghana, Kalahari Review and many more.

Ekow Manuar has a Masters’ in Sustainability Science from Lund University. Currently, Ekow Manuar works in Ghana for a German-Based solar financing company called ecoligo, developing projects across the sub-region. Aside from his formal employment, Ekow Manuar is a Director of the NGO the Ghana Food Movement, which is a grass-roots organisation focused on the celebration of West Africa’s cuisine and ecology, youth empowerment, and building a network across the food value chain. He recently self-published his first book The Men from StayWell and has sold over 200 copies to date. The book can be found on Amazon and his stories can be found on his medium page abdallahsmith06.

Elizabeth-Irene Baitie is a clinical biochemist and the founder and director of Patholab Solutions Medical Laboratory in Accra. She is an internationally-published, multiple award-winning writer of entertaining novels for and about children and young adults. Each of her novels leads page by page to the discovery of the hero buried within her characters.

Elizabeth-Irene is working on her ninth novel. She lives in Accra with her husband Rami. They have 3 adult children.

Elvira Bonafacio is a Curaçao native and a teacher. She holds a master's degree in education of Papiamentu - the Creole language unique to the ABC islands. As the general coordinator of Arte di Palabra, an annual Papiamentu literary festival, she inspires high school students in Curaçao to proudly express themselves in their own language. In 2018, she won an 8-week writer residency in Ireland offered by "In Other Words" for the promotion of minority languages. This young writer is one of the winners of the Transatlantic Relatives Writers contest for the residency in Ghana. Besides pursuing her passion for writing, teaching, and culture, she also guides young talents in achieving their writing goals.

Empi Baryeh is a Ghanaian author of sweet and sensual African, multicultural and interracial romance and women’s fiction. Her published novels include: Most Eligible Bachelor (2012, 2020), Chancing Faith (2012), Forest Girl (2018), His Inherited Princess (2018), Expecting Ty’s Baby (2019), Unwrapping Hanie and The Illegitimate Prince (2021).

Empi has won several awards and recognition for her novels, including First Prize in the Novel Category for The Illegitimate Prince in the 2023 Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) Literary Awards. In 2018, she won Third Prize in the same category with her book, Chancing Faith. She has also won the Ufere Awards Book of the Year for Most Eligible Bachelor and Expecting Ty’s Baby.

Ese Emmanuel is a writer, culture worker and curator, among other things. Their work prioritises the radical imaginary, making space for collaboration, play, care, and rest. Ese coordinates the We Make Books project, an initiative of Goethe-Institut Nigeria focused on capacity building, fostering international exchange and establishing networks among small/medium-sized art publishers and art writers across Africa.

Farai Mudzingwa is a Zimbabwean writer whose debut novel, Avenues by Train, has been recently published by Cassava Republic Press. His work has been published in Weaver Press anthologies, Kwani?, Short Story Day Africa, New Frame, Chimurenga Chronic and Mail & Guardian. He is represented by Laxfield Literary Associates.

Fatima Sumani is a fashion designer and fashion consultant. Affectionately known as Fatsu Garments, she founded Fatsu Fashion House, a bridal and bespoke clothing brand.Fatsu Garments also offers weekdays and weekends training for interested persons. She featured on Joynews business segment titled " An entrepreneur's resilience: UDS graduate abandons professional studies; ventures into fashion design". Fatsu Garments holds a B A in development studies from the University for Development Studies. Since 2022, Fatsu Fashion House has collaborated with Sanatu Zambang Studios to organise two fashion workshops. Fatima has also collaborated with Rafiu fishbone since 2022 to work on her professional branding as a fashion designer and consultant. Fatima Sumani and Abdul Raafi Mohammed, known widely as Fishbone are again collaborating to produce a body of works for the next three years. One of the works was presented at this year's Norsaac Norgha Norgha2023 conference titled Piece.

Femi Elufowoju is British born, Nigerian raised performance practitioner working across the creative industries. He is the second theatre director of African descent to establish a national touring company in the UK. Elufowoju's stage work has been seen across most key flagship production houses in the UK, and has collaborated extensively with notable creatives within the film, television and radio sectors.

Image Credit: Tyler Fayose

Frances is a Ghanaian-British author with seven novels and two non-fiction books to her name. Her debut novel, the romantic comedy From Pasta to Pigfoot (2015) which follows underachieving PA Faye Bonsu in her search for love and identity, went straight to no. 23 of WH Smith Travel’s Top 100 Summer Reads. It was followed by a sequel From Pasta to Pigfoot: Second Helpings (2016) which continued Faye’s story in London and Ghana. After the Pasta series, Frances’s subsequent books - the novel Imperfect Arrangements (2020) and a novella series, the Marula Heights Romances - were set in contemporary Ghana.

In 2022 Frances’s novel The Second Time We Met hit No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller charts. Her latest novel, Strictly Friends, (March 2023) went straight to the top of Amazon’s Black African American Kindle Books chart upon release. As a freelance writer, Frances has contributed feature articles to numerous print and online publications including The Voice, The Big Issue, The Irish Times as well as short stories for My Weekly, Hello! Magazine, and S (Daily Express) Magazine. Frances has also published two non-fiction books: Everyday Heroes: Learning from the Careers of Successful Black Professionals and I Want to Work in Africa: How to Move Your Career to the World’s Most Exciting Continent. Frances is also the CEO of Interims for Development Ltd and the founder and Managing Editor of ReConnect Africa, a careers portal for African professionals in the diaspora.

She is an experienced professional whose entrepreneurial business and international skills development projects in the UK and Africa have earned her numerous awards, culminating in a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II in 2020. Alongside her writing, Frances is currently a Consultant and Executive Coach.

Gerður Kristný was born on June 10, 1970 and brought up in Reykjavík. She graduated in French and comparative literature from the University of Iceland in 1992. She won the Icelandic Literature Awards 2010 for her book of poetry Bloodhoof (Arc Publication, 2012) which is based on an ancient Nordic myth, told in the Eddic poem Skírnimál, about the attempt of the Nordic fertility god Freyr to fetch the poet's namesake Gerdur Gymisdóttir from her far away home as his bride. Bloodhoof was also nominated to the Nordic Council Literature Prize. Gerður Kristný is one of the most prolific contemporary writers in Icelandic, writing poetry and short stories, novels, books for children and a biography, for which she received The Icelandic Journalism Award. Other awards for her work include The Icelandic Children's Choice Awards, The Halldór Laxness Literary Award and The West-Nordic Children's Literature Award. Last year Gerður won the Jónas Hallgrímsson Award for her contributions to the Icelandic language.

Heather Parry is a Glasgow-based writer, editor, and publisher. She is the co-founder and Editorial Director of Extra Teeth magazine, co-host of the Teenage Scream podcast and the Scottish Senior Policy & Liaison Manager for the Society of Authors, a trade union for writers. In 2021 she created the free-access Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide with artist Maria Stoian. Her short stories and nonfiction have been published internationally, and her debut novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, was published in October 2022 with Gallic Books. Visit https://heatherparry.co.uk/.

I.O. Echeruo is a writer. He spends his time between Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana. He is the author of the short story collection Expert in All Styles and Other Stories. His short stories have appeared in Transition Magazine and Eclectica Magazine. His short story “Aishatu’s Dinner” was selected as one of Eclectica Magazine’s Top Thirteen Stories of 2013. Echeruo is currently at work on his first novel.

Itumeleng Qhali is a South African bilingual writer, editor, sustainable development practitioner and social justice activist. She is a 2022 Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity and the founder of Loss-iLahleko which has produced South Africa's first multilingual book series on gender-based violence. Qhali holds a master’s degree in creative writing, obtained with distinction, from Rhodes University and she holds qualifications in public policy, development studies and economics. Her work has appeared in literary magazines and journals including The Red Wheelbarrow, Agbowo Magazine, The Kalahari Review, and The New Contrast Literary Journal. She currently heads up research and development at Qhama Social Housing Institute and the Steve Biko Precinct in the Eastern Cape Province, a living memorial development combining housing, art and heritage preservation. She is the creator of the precincts’ book series titled, My Story-Your Heritage, created to archive the untold stories of the fallen and living freedom fighters from the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Her debut poetry collection, Crying in my mother tongue: Ukulila, is set to be released in 2024 under the APFB Chapbook series. Qhali is a mother of two and currently lives between the Eastern Cape province where she was born and Johannesburg.

Nairobi, Kenya-based James Murua is a blogger, journalist, and podcaster who has written for a variety of media outlets in a career spanning print and web. His online space WritingAfrica.com, formerly founded as JamesMurua.com in 2013, focuses on literary news and reviews is the number one blog on African literature in the world today. He was an editor for The Star newspaper in Kenya for five years and a columnist for nine where he was voted “Columnist of the Year” in 2009. He has also been a contributor to Management Magazine (Kenya), The Daily Nation (Kenya), The Nairobian (Kenya), DigifyAfrica.com (South Africa), Johannesburg Review of Books (South Africa), and Africa Independent (South Africa). He has been nominated for “Best Creative Writing Blog” for the 2018 Bloggers Association of Kenya Awards. He was also announced as Best Writer “Theatre, Art and Culture” at Kenya’s Sanaa Theatre Awards and listed as one of the top men in digital in Kenya in 2018. James Murua has conducted workshops on blogging and social media in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Malawi and has been a media consultant for the Goethe Institut, Nairobi.

Jay Kophy is a Ghanaian poet and the author of Maceration (African Poetry Book Fund / Akashic Books, 2023) and Walking on Water (Library of Africa and the African Diaspora / Light Factory Publications, 2021). His poems have been featured and are forthcoming in literary magazines such as AGNI, Lolwe, FourWay Review, Indianapolis Review, Glass Poetry, Tampered Press, and many others. He is also the first prize recipient of the 2020 Samira Bawumia Literature Prize in poetry and a co-founder and managing editor for the Contemporary Ghanaian Writers Series (CGWS).

Jeff Atuobi is a writer based in Accra, Ghana. They are interested in African artistic and literary productions as sites for revolutionary praxis. An alumnus of the Caine Prize for African Writing Workshop, Goethe-Institut Lagos Art Writing and Criticism Workshop and an Ebedi Fellow, Jeff prioritises collaborative, collective thought. Their work aims to build connections between art practitioners, writers and thinkers on the continent committed to decolonising Africa's cultural output. Their work can be found (or is forthcoming) in Jalada Africa, A Mind to Silence: The Caine Prize Anthology, Art From Africa: Its Place in our Life and Time, Za! Magazine and elsewhere.

Kobby Ben Ben was born and bred in Ghana. No One Dies Yet is his first novel.

Kwame Brenya is a Ghanaian multi-disciplinary artist, whose practices are strongly influenced by AKƆM; Akan philosophy. Kwame Brenya has four (4) studio albums that inculcate Spoken word, Highlife, Hip-life and Palm Wine Music.

His recent album BRƐNYA NE BARIMA was presented to Agya Koo Nimo, the palm wine music connoisseur after its release and the Legend expressed impression. Kwame's works are contemporary birthed from the desire to sustain the oral traditions and history of his community where he uses the Akan language in the fields of music, spoken word, video performance, teaching, translation and voice-over.His poem was selected as the best spoken word in the 2023 Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora, Accra (LOATAD) Adinkra poetry prize. In 2022, Kwame Brenya was invited by African University College of Communication, Accra to speak about his philosophy, art and lifestyle.

Brenya was a speaker at the third Pan African Museum Heritage conference (2023) where he presented a paper on the importance of African languages titled EDIN, KASA, NIMDEƐ NE NYANSA: ETYMOLOGY AND MEMORY IN SOCIAL CONNECTION.Kwame Brenya’s collaborative song was selected by GEDP/EU for the 2020/2021 campaign against child abuse which made him and his partner Kpodo, official ambassadors for the campaign against Child Abuse. Kwame has poems published in AKE Review 2020, Ghana Association of Writers, Legon 2019. He has been published in many Ghanaian newspapers including Business and Financial times (16 December, 2022), and the Ghanaian Chronicle (2017).

Mariska Araba Taylor-Darko is a published writer, poet and youth motivator. She has published several books, The Secret to Detoxifying your Life and Love, Rhythms of Poetry in Motion (Vol 1), The Iced Water Seller, an eBook titled A Widow must not Speak, The Deer Hunt, King Goat Aponkye, I love Ghana and The Proud Peacock.

Her poems are featured in anthologies such as According to Sources (ed. Martin Egblewogbe and Mawuli Adjei), Ellas (Tambien) Cuentan (ed. Federico Vivanco), Inspiration African Voices, Door of [No] Return, Our Spirits carry Our Voices, and Sisters Across Oceans and various blogs, including an online poetry site www.oneghanaonevoice.com. Her short story, “The Proud Peacock” was selected among 12 stories out of 80 submitted for an anthology in “Story, Story, Story Come” published in East and West Africa and another short story “Escaped” was featured in the Writers Project anthology Resilience. She has also been published, in Jambo, an East African magazine. Mariska has performed on stage and at Festivals in Ghana and the United Kingdom. She is a long time collaborator with The Women Poets International Movement (Mujeres Poetas Internacional, MPI Inc.) in partnership with the Grito de Mujer®. She is also a member of the Ghana Association of Writers.

Mariska also has two blogs, www.africanwomanspoetry.blogspot.com and www.fantimaame.wordpress.com .

MoAfrika wa Mokgathi is a poet, singer, curator, teaching artist and a serial civic leader. She is co-founder of Hear My Voice NPO based in South Africa, the author of My Tongue is a Rainbow (2019) and co-curated the Nobel Peace Prize Week (Stockholm 2022). wa Mokgathi has co-curated multiple HMV partner programmes including the EUNIC spaces of culture: Right to speak project lead by Goethe Institute (JHB 2022); and is co-founder and co-curator of the South African Saxophone Symposium (2020). She was named one of the Mail & Guardian's 2020 Top Young 200 South Africans, completed an Honours Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Writing from Wits University (2019); and is an alumni of YALI RLC (2017) and the VANSA Cultural Leadership Programme (2021/2022).

wa Mokgathi has shared her poetry physically and online in China, Sweden, Nigeria, Mozambique and the USA – where she launched her collection, My Tongue is a Rainbow , in Washington DC during the 2019 Azania to DC Tour. Music collaborators include Nduduzo Makhathini and Gabi Motuba. She is currently working on a music and poetry album.

Image Credit: Michael Blacks

Moshood is a writer who photographs. His work has been published in a number of publications, both online and in print. He lives in Tutu-Akuapem, in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Mrs. Anyele Perbi is the founder and CEO of Perbi Cubs. She is an Economist by training, with a first class honors B.A in Economics from the University of Ghana and a Master’s degree in the same field from McGill University, Canada. She also holds certifications in Accounting and Statistics and worked as a Financial Security Advisor with World Financial Group for a few years. She was the Chief Operating Officer at Adeshe Real Estate with operations in three countries on both sides of the Atlantic and serves as a Board Member of The HuD Group Canada. Anyele has ample experience in church and charity work in both Africa and North America and has a deep passion for child literacy. She is championing the cause of leisure reading among children of African descent as she believes that is a great catalyst for the emergence of many more successful African families. She is a blessed mother of seven children and enjoys spending family time with her husband and children.She is the founder of Perbu Cubs, a library service that recognizes that a well-structured reading initiative is crucial to efforts at tackling declining reading levels and ensuring a fulfilling educational experience for children.

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond is the author of the children’s picture book BLUE: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky , illustrated by Caldecott Honor Artist Daniel Minter. Named among the best books of 2022 by NPR, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, The Center for the Study of Multicultural Literature, and Bank Street College of Education, BLUE was honoured with the 2023 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award® recognizing excellence in the writing of non-fiction for children, included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Brew-Hammond also wrote the young adult novel Powder Necklace, which Publishers Weekly called "a winning debut", and she edited RELATIONS: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, of which Kirkus Reviews said in a STARRED review: "This smart, generous collection is a true gift." Every month, Brew-Hammond co-leads a writing fellowship whose mission is to write light into darkness.

Born on 9th December 1975 in Oster of the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, Oksana Kutsenko (Rozumna) grew up and studied (at school and university) in Chernihiv. She made her poetry debut with the book of poems "In the Winters of Desires" in 1996 as a laureate of "Smoloskyp" literary award. In 2004 she obtained a PhD in Religious Studies from the National Academy of Science. She has worked at the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and the National Institute for Strategic Studies. She is a Ukrainian diplomat to South Africa since 2018 and a researcher on cultural diplomacy as well as the development of cultural diplomacy institutions.

Oksana Kutsenko launched and curated the project "I’ll be Waiting for You under the Kaїce-drat" to translate African contemporary poetry into Ukrainian. In collaboration with folk theatre "Dyvyna" (Donetsk) and contemporary dance theatre "Black Orange Dance Production" she developed the narrative on internal refugees and global migration within the projects "The Sand" and "The Sand. Coming home".

As a poet-performer, Oksana Kutsenko highlights the ideas of ecofeminism, the movement widespread in African countries ("In Memoriam of a River", 2018-2019). Oksana Kutsenko has been published in anthologies and literature reviews of Ukraine and South Africa, performs at the festival and poetry stages of both countries.

Olusayo Ajetunmobi aka Ajet is a Nigerian artist and illustrator who started practising art in 2013. Their practice began as an exploration of self, however Ajet is now exploring memory, gender, family and cultural continuity through art. Since 2015 she has exhibited her mixed-media art at galleries in Nigeria and Canada. Ajet began working as an illustrator in 2017 and has since illustrated seven published picture books, and over a dozen children’s stories.

Ajet's work is characterised by bold colours, intricate details, and a distinct sense of whimsy. They draw on rich Nigerian traditions while incorporating elements of the contemporary. In addition to their visual art, Ajet crafts new folktales, to make up for ancient oral African folktales that are lost and forgotten, and continue the culture of storytelling. They have published two original folktales, including Just One Bite which was published as a part of the Okada Books Write the Future literacy initiative. They have also published educator resources that explore the socio-political nuances in their folktales, on their website artofajet.com.

Today, Ajet is widely regarded as one of Nigeria's most exciting young artists. She continues to create beautiful, thought-provoking art that inspires conversation, and delights audiences of all ages. With each new work, Ajet invites viewers to engage with the complexities of the human experience and to consider the ways in which art can serve as a powerful tool for cultural transformation.

Pamela Nichols is an Associate Professor and head of the Wits Writing Programme. Her PhD in Comparative Literature (New York University) was guided by the work of Edward Said. Said’s understanding of the institutionalization of knowledge as well as her experiences of working with major writing teachers in the US, influenced her establishment of the Wits Writing Centre (WWC) in 1998. Nichols also spear-headed Writing Intensive courses at Wits, through the Wits Writing Programme (WWP), formalised in 2018. Her recent publications have focussed on listening, the development of the citizen scholar, and the deepening of critical thinking within WI courses.

Patron Henekou is a poet and cofounder of Festival International des Lettres et des Arts (www.nimblefeathers.com) at Université de Lomé, Togo. He writes in French and English as well, and translates. His poems have appeared in anthologies such as Palmes pour le Togo, Arbolarium, Antologia Poetica de Los Cinco Continentes, and The Best New African Poets Anthology 2017, and in poetry journals such as AFROpoésie, Revue des Citoyens des Lettres, Aquifer: The Florida Review Online, Asymptote, Better than Starbucks, Zócalo, etc. His published books include Dovlo (2015), Souffles d’outre-cœur (2017), Souffles & Faces (2018), Des cheveux et des ongles (2021) and Vendredi soir sur la 13 (2021). Patron obtained the second prize in the Prix International de Poésie « Sur les traces de Léopold Sédar Senghor 2020 » in Milan, Italy. He is a 2018 African American Fellow at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival in Delray, Florida.

Racheal Kizza is the cultural coordinator at Goethe-Zentrum Kampala/Ugandan German Cultural Society (UGCS). Racheal is a recipient of the bespoke 2022 Momentum Delegate Programme, which hosts international delegations of producers, cultural leaders, entrepreneurs, government representatives, festival programmers and cultural/funding agencies, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Racheal is the 2022 winner of the Goethe Zentrum Kampala (Uganda German Cultural Society) Small Grant Project for her project, Meet Your Author Series, a podcast spotlighting and celebrating African authors on the continent through collaborative discussions and author interviews.A holder of a BA degree in Humanities and Social Sciences from Makerere University, Uganda, Racheal is an avid reader and blogger, and has for the past five years maintained an active, passion and lifestyle blog, where she regularly shares her insights on books that have inspired her, with more than 50 readers from diverse backgrounds and locations who follow the blog.

Ray NDEBI is a Cameroonian writer, literary analyst, translator and book promoter based in Yaounde. He leads a large number of online and in-person creativity workshops.

His workshops include Literary translation, Creative Writing, Reading and Analysis and aim at helping African literature produce more books that can facilitate quality education; he works with associations, universities and school, hence his continuous research towards the new means of writing, reading and translating. His concept is Natural Writing; with the need to improve authors’ authenticity while preparing their books.

As a literary agent, he works with authors from the first line of their inspiration to the promotion of their literature.

He is also an editor, script proofreader, translation proofreader and guides publishing’s staff towards better ways to receive and treat authors’ pieces.

Ray NDEBI hosts several programs where literary actors and promoters appear to discuss the challenges of the new practices related to writing, reading, publishing and translation. He is co-founder of Ônoan Literature, and a member of Acolitt and Ghosts Universe, three groups that promote Books and Creativity across Cameroon and Africa.

Richeline Christine Joe, born and raised in Curaçao, has lived in the Netherlands for over 15 years where she completed her Masters study in Psychology and PhD in Social Sciences. She currently lives in Curaçao and is amongst others a writer of short stories and poems. She is one of the two winners of the 2023 writers contest of the Transatlantic Relatives digital platform, aimed at connecting Ghana and Curaçao through their common history. She gets her main inspiration for writing during nature walks, hikes, reading and just by observing and listening to people. In 2022 she was awarded a royal decoration as Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau.

Sabata-mpho Mokae is a South African novelist and translator. He writes in Setswana and English. His works include novels Ga ke Modisa and Moletlo wa Manong as well as Sol T. Plaatje: A Life in Letters, which he co-edited with Brian Willan. Mokae teaches Creative Writing at the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, South Africa.

Samantha Boateng Habadah is a writer, educator, creative and nonprofit leader. she is the Co-Founder of Read 2 Lead, a literacy-focused nonprofit organization that has 3 libraries in Ghana. She is the author of the children’s book If You Give a Girl a Book. She attended the College of William & Mary and is now completing her MFA in Poetry at Emerson College. She works at Amazon as a Social Media Community Manager. In her free time, she teaches writing, offers college and career counselling, and creates content for brands.

Sarpong Osei Asamoah is the author of the forthcoming "YAANOM" a chapbook selected by Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes for the Africa Poetry Book Fund. He was a finalist for the debut Bernardine Evaristo Prize for African Poetry, 2023, and is an alumni of the Obsidian Foundation Poets. His work has featured in SAND Journal, Poetry Ireland, Protean Magazine, Bacopa Literary Review, Tampered Press Magazine, Agbowo Magazine, Lolwe, Olongo Africa Magazine, and elsewhere. He has worked at the L.O.A.T.A.D, Tampered Press, and is the founder, creative director and host of CanonPodcast, a poetry podcast that speculates on Ghanaian poetics and poetry canon.

Selwyn R. Cudjoe is a professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 2019 he won the Anna and Samuel Pinanski Teaching Prize for demonstrated excellence as a teacher. He has taught at Harvard, Cornell, Ohio, and Fordham universities. He is the author of several books, the most recent of which is The Slave Master of Trinidad: William Hardin Burnley and the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World, that was long listed on the 2019 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. He has written for several publications including the New York Times, the New Left Review, and the Harvard Educational Review. Presently, he writes a weekly column for the Trinidad Express.

Simon Sebag Montefiore is an internationally bestselling author whose prize-winning books have been published in 48 languages. Prizes include the British Book Awards’ History Book of the Year for Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, the Lupicaia del Terriccio Prize for The Romanovs, the LA Times Book Prize for Young Stalin and the National Library of China’s Wen Jin Prize for Jerusalem. He is also the author of the acclaimed Moscow Trilogy of novels.

Tawiah Mensah is a content strategist and creative writer. She is the author of the poetry chapbook Litany on Loss (2023) published by the African Poetry Book Fund. Her works have also been featured in prestigious publications, including Tampered Press, WildPine, CanonPodcast, CGWS and others. Her writing centres on the complex relationship between family, friends, and the myriad challenges that women face in contemporary society. Through her poetry, she explores the intricacies of being a young African woman, grappling with acceptance and the journey of self-discovery. Empowered by her own journey, Tawiah Mensah stands as a compelling voice, uplifting women, advocating for their growth, self-acceptance, and self-love. Hailing from Ekumfi Narkwa in Ghana's Central Region, is a graduate of the University of Ghana, where she studied French and Political Science.

Tolu Agbelusi is a Nigerian British poet, playwright, artist and lawyer. Author of Locating Strongwoman (2020), Agbelusi’s play, Ilé La Wà, opened to a sold-out audience in 2016 and toured the UK between 2018 – 2019. She has performed internationally, including at Cheltenham Lit Festival, Stanza International Poetry Festival, Lagos International Poetry Festival, Poetry Africa & Manchester Literature Festival. Her work has been published widely including in Aké Review, White Review, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Brittle Paper and Wildness Journal. A lecturer in Writing & Dramaturgy at London Southbank University, she teaches workshops and guest lectures regularly and has collaborated with academics at King’s College University London & Birkbeck University on artistic approaches to understanding academia. Films produced/directed by Agbelusi screened at Toronto Food Film Festival (2022), New York Museum of Food and Drink and Forecast International Festival (2021), and the Zebra Poetry Film Festival (2016). Visit www.ToluAgbelusi.com.

Vangile Gantsho is healer, poet and co-founder of impepho press. She is the author of two poetry collections: red cotton (2018) and Undressing in Front of the Window (2015). She holds an MA, with distinction, from the University Currently Known as Rhodes (2016) and is a graduate of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Academy (Pioneer Class). She was named one of Mail& Guardian’s 2018 Top Young 200 South Africans. Her poetry has been published in various literary publications, including Years of Fire and Ash – South African Poems of Decolonisation (2021) New Daughters of Africa (2019), The Atlanta Review (2018), and her collection, red cotton, was named City Press Top Poetry Read of 2018, and long-listed for the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences 2020 Award. gantsho has participated in, curated and produced national and international programmes both virtually and in person since 2004. She is Livulile’s mama and is passionate about using the voice as a tool to help build confidence and open doors. As a teaching artist, she has worked with organisations on three continents and continues to dedicate herself to creating and/or supporting spaces that encourage (black) feminine visibility and healing.

Image Credit: Jess Denyschen

Anthony Yeayi Kobina Jackson is a versatile professional with a distinguished career spanning over a decade. He has excelled in various roles within the realm of broadcast journalism, including news anchoring, branding and programming communications, scriptwriting, and content producing. Notably, he served as the lead producer for TV3’s highly regarded morning show, Newday from 2012 to 2021.

Beyond his journalistic pursuits, Yeayi Kobina is also an accomplished writer and a tech enthusiast, particularly passionate about the possibilities of the new generation. He has showcased his creative talents in various art forms, including his latest venture - the historical fiction book ‘The Weaving of the First Gods’.

Yeow Kai Chai is a poet, fiction writer, and editor from Singapore. He has three poetry collections: Secret Manta (2001); Pretend I’m Not Here (2006); and One to the Dark Tower Comes (2020), which was awarded the 2022 Singapore Literature Prize. He has worked as editor-in-chief, entertainment editor and music reviewer in the media, for nearly three decades. He co-wrote The Adopted: Stories from Angkor (2015); Lost Bodies: Poems Between Portugal and Home (2016); and Lilla Torg: A Scandinavian Journey (2023), with three other authors. A co-editor of Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, he was Festival Director of Singapore Writers Festival from 2015 to 2018.

Yves Xavier Ndounda Ndongo is a curator, author and publisher who lives in Cameroon. He co-founded ARTOPIA with Francine Abada in 2022, a Cameroonian company specialising in the publishing of art books, graphic and web design, but also in the production of curatorial projects. Within this institution, he is General Director in charge of editorial policies, administration, financing and accounting. As a curator, his practice revolves around the contextuelogy of art.. He has carried out numerous curatorial projects with important artists from the Cameroonian scene. We can go through some of them in a row.

Subsequently in 2019, he created the digital magazine Critiques d’Arts and is the manager of the visual arts exhibitions of the project The Burden of Memory organized by the Goethe-Institut Kamerun. In 2020, he won the Madrassa 2020 museum and curatorial program in Morocco, organized by L'Atelier de l'Observatoire. In 2021, he is the curator of the multi-site retrospective of Salifou Lindou Fouanta. The same year, he was the scenographer of the “Prospective” exhibition which celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut Kamerun. He is also the Curator of the exhibition "Fractale" by Mohamed Ngoupayou, "Goethe-Découverte" 2021 in visual arts. In collaboration with "Les Ateliers Lindou", ARTOPIA will co-publish the book SALIFOU LINDOU FOUANTA in 2022. In 2023, he is co-editor with Jospeh Omoh Ndukwu of the book ANTHOLOGY: ART FROM AFRICA, ITS PLACE IN OUR LIVES AND TIME. This project is funded by the Goethe-Institut Nigeria.