Anthropologists and historians have long distinguished between polygyny—the practice of one man having multiple wives—and infidelity or promiscuity. Across many African societies, polygyny operated within communal structures. Wives generally knew one another. Senior wives held authority. Children belonged not only to parents but to extended families. Marriage itself was understood as a union between lineages rather than merely two individuals.

Theatre is like juggling multiple balls at once. You’re in character, but you’re also aware of the audience, your scene partners, and the technical aspects of the show. Occasionally, there’s a moment—maybe fifteen minutes in a two-hour performance—when everything aligns, and you’re fully inside the character. Those moments are magical.

Shiko’s passion for books began in childhood. As a child, she would sometimes fake being unwell at school just so she could sit in the secretary’s office and read the books kept there.

Panellists shared how social media has made us have “brain rot”. It has shaped our perceptions and ideologies and made us rely on small talk and conversations that don’t build but rather take away our knowledge.

In many ways, the festival became a space where women’s contributions to liberation movements were repositioned from the margins to the centre. Rather than appearing as secondary figures within nationalist narratives, women were discussed as organisers, strategists, educators, and custodians of collective memory

From 7 to 9 May, the Alliance Française de Nairobi will host the fifth edition of Africa Forward Fest, now expanded into a pan-African platform that brings together writers, publishers, translators, and cultural thinkers from across the continent. Timed ahead of the Africa Forward Summit, the festival arrives with a clear sense of intent: To move beyond celebration and into the harder work of connection, circulation, and influence.