Chigozie Obioma among Top Authors to attend the Macondo Literary Festival in Nairobi
Nairobi, Kenya – Macondo Book Society in collaboration with eKitabu is pleased to announce that acclaimed Nigerian novelist Chigozie Obioma will be among the distinguished authors attending the fourth edition of the Macondo Literary Festival to take place from 20-22 September at the Kenya Cultural Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.
The theme for this year’s Festival, “The Sea is History,” is inspired by a poem of the same name by Caribbean Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. While the 2023 festival celebrated literature of all of the African continent's linguistic currents—hosting authors who write in English, Portuguese, French, and Arabic—the 2024 edition will extend the festival’s geographic reach to the spheres of the Swahili Sea and the Indian Ocean. “The Sea is History” pays tribute to this oceanic region’s historical connections with Africa that exist in story, art, technology, cultural memories, and society. From inception, Macondo Literary Festival’s anchor was and is African histories and futures from African perspectives in literature.
Other distinguished international guests are: M.G. Vassanji, Janika Oza (both Canada); Hamza Koudri (Algeria); Shubnum Khan (South Africa); Shubhangi Swarup (India); Johary Ravaloson (Madagascar); Jeferson Tenório (Brazil); and João Melo (Angola). Participating authors from Kenya will be announced soon.
Over the previous three festivals and additional side events, the Macondo Book Society has hosted 59 authors and artists from 20 countries, including 2021 Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah. It has reached more than 3,000 people and attracted 20 partners and sponsors, building a community of “Macondo citizens” eager to engage with featured guests. Each festival offered 18 topical sessions and 3 craft workshops with platforms for emerging Kenyan writers and art forms including music, film, spoken word poetry, and exhibitions. Macondo live-streamed selected sessions to global audiences, and the #MacondoLitFest hashtag reached millions around the globe. In April 2024, Condé Nast Traveler Magazine listed MLF among the 9 Best Literary Festivals in the World.
In 2024, with support from eKitabu, Macondo will continue its tradition of low entry fees to help make Macondo as accessible as possible to all literature lovers—including book enthusiasts, aspiring writers, and all who are passionate about African histories in literature, storytelling, and charting possible futures.
Please join the Macondo community at Macondo Literary Festival 2024 for an enriching experience that deepens understanding of the interrelationships and futures of Africa and the Indian Ocean worlds. More details on Macondo 2024 are available here and the following social media platforms:
Facebook: Macondo Literary Festival
X: @MacondoLitFest (#MacondoLitFest2024)
Youtube: Macondo Literary Festival
Instagram: @macondolitfestival
LinkedIn: Macondo Literary Festival
Ticket information:
Tickets are available for sale via Kenyabuzz
Friday events are FREE of charge
Day pass (each Saturday and Sunday): KES 800 advance, KES 1,200 gate
Weekend ticket: KES 1,400 advance, KES 1,600 gate
Student ticket: KES 200/day (student ID required, available only at the gate)
(All mobile money as well as Visa and Mastercard payment options are offered.)
MLF 2024 Author Lineup
Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) is the author of the novel The Fishermen, a winner of the 2016 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction), the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, the 2015 FT/Oppenheimer Emerging Voices Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize; An Orchestra of Minorities, which was also a finalist for the Man Booker Prize; and his 2024 novel The Road to the Country which examines brotherhood, spirituality and the Nigerian-Biafran War. Together, his novels have been translated into more than 29 languages.
M.G. Vassanji (Canada) is the author of ten novels, three collections of short stories, a travel memoir about India, a memoir of East Africa, and a biography of Mordecai Richler. He is twice winner of the Giller Prize (1994, 2003) for best work of fiction in Canada. Vassanji was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and raised in Tanzania. He was a nuclear physicist for decades before turning to writing full-time. He lives in Toronto and visits East Africa often.
Janika Oza (Canada) is the author of A History of Burning, winner of the 2024 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. She is the winner of the 2022 O. Henry Award and the 2020 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Award. She is an assistant editor for The Rumpus and lives in Toronto.
Hamza Koudri (Algeria) is the author of Sand Roses. He holds an M.A. in English Literature and currently serves as the Director for the British Council in Algeria. Research for his debut novel took the better part of a decade. In 2022, Sand Roses was shortlisted for the Island Prize for unpublished African authors.
Shubnum Khan (South Africa) is an artist and author. Her 2024 novel The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil is a sweeping literary gothic coming-of-age novel set on the east coast of South Africa. It was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Pick. She is a writing fellow at OMI’s Ledig House in New York and an Octavia Butler Fellow at Jack Jones Literary Arts. She lives in Durban.
Shubhangi Swarup (India) is a writer and educator. Latitudes of Longing, her debut novel, was a bestseller soon after its release in India. It won the Tata Literature Live! Award for debut fiction and was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Indian Literature. She was awarded the Charles Pick Fellowship for creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and has also won awards for gender sensitivity in feature writing. She lives in Mumbai.
Johary Ravaloson (Madagascar) is a Madagascar-born author and publisher. His English-translated novel, Return to the Enchanted Island, earned him the Prix du Roman de l‘Océan Indien. In 2006 he founded Dodo Vole Publishing with his wife, contemporary artist Sophie Bazin, starting a new trend of in-country publishing in Madagascar and Réunion. He lives in France.
Jeferson Tenório (Brazil) is the author of The Dark Side of Skin that won the PEN Translates Award in the UK and the 2021 Jabuti Prize for the Best Novel published in Brazil. Based in Porto Alegre, he is a lecturer in literature. His writing has been adapted for theatre and translated into English and Spanish. He's also the author of Estela sem Deus (Godless Star, 2018).
João Melo (Angola) is an author, journalist, and communication consultant. He is a founder of the Angolan Writer's Association, and of the Angolan Academy of Literature and Social Sciences. He was professor, advertiser, member of parliament (1992-2017) and minister (2017-2019). His works include poetry, short stories, novels, articles and essays and have been published internationally. He lives exclusively from writing, and splits his time between Luanda, Lisbon and Washington, D.C.
About Macondo Book Society
The Macondo Book Society, a non-profit organization registered in Kenya under the Societies Act and founded by journalist Anja Bengelstorff and award-winning Kenyan author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, seeks to organize regular literary festivals and other events that promote literature and authors of and from Africa beyond linguistic borders, to amplify and showcase the rich diversity of literature from and of Africa, and to provide a public platform to initiate and encourage, through literature, the engagement of a wider public with Africa’s histories and its significance for the present and future of the continent as a means of societal growth. Its flagship event is the Macondo Literary Festival, a literary festival on African histories and futures featured in fictional and non-fictional works, bringing together, for the first time on the continent, all its ‘main’ writing language zones: Arab, English, French and Portuguese/Spanish in conversations across perceived limitations and barriers.
Macondo is a fictional place in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Márquez, a place where magical things happen. For more information, visit the Macondo Literary Festival website.
About eKitabu
eKitabu is a publishing company that delivers accessible print, audio, video and digital content, a Kenyan, Rwandan, Malawian, and US company headquartered in Nairobi. “Kitabu” is Swahili for book; کتاب in Arabic, कताब in Hindi. eKitabu’s journey begins in the language learning world of local languages, including seven local sign languages of Africa to date. eKitabu develops, publishes, and distributes books in Africa, including print, digital, audio, and video at shop.eKitabu.com. Collaborating with local and global authors and publishers in Africa, eKitabu is dedicated to creating, adapting, and publishing quality stories and books.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Anja Bengelstorff
Director
Macondo Literary Festival
Amon Bett
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
eKitabu
Phone: +254 740 524629
Chigozie Obioma among Top Authors to attend the Macondo Literary Festival in Nairobi
Nairobi, Kenya – Macondo Book Society in collaboration with eKitabu is pleased to announce that acclaimed Nigerian novelist Chigozie Obioma will be among the distinguished authors attending the fourth edition of the Macondo Literary Festival to take place from 20-22 September at the Kenya Cultural Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.
The theme for this year’s Festival, “The Sea is History,” is inspired by a poem of the same name by Caribbean Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. While the 2023 festival celebrated literature of all of the African continent's linguistic currents—hosting authors who write in English, Portuguese, French, and Arabic—the 2024 edition will extend the festival’s geographic reach to the spheres of the Swahili Sea and the Indian Ocean. “The Sea is History” pays tribute to this oceanic region’s historical connections with Africa that exist in story, art, technology, cultural memories, and society. From inception, Macondo Literary Festival’s anchor was and is African histories and futures from African perspectives in literature.
Other distinguished international guests are: M.G. Vassanji, Janika Oza (both Canada); Hamza Koudri (Algeria); Shubnum Khan (South Africa); Shubhangi Swarup (India); Johary Ravaloson (Madagascar); Jeferson Tenório (Brazil); and João Melo (Angola). Participating authors from Kenya will be announced soon.
Over the previous three festivals and additional side events, the Macondo Book Society has hosted 59 authors and artists from 20 countries, including 2021 Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah. It has reached more than 3,000 people and attracted 20 partners and sponsors, building a community of “Macondo citizens” eager to engage with featured guests. Each festival offered 18 topical sessions and 3 craft workshops with platforms for emerging Kenyan writers and art forms including music, film, spoken word poetry, and exhibitions. Macondo live-streamed selected sessions to global audiences, and the #MacondoLitFest hashtag reached millions around the globe. In April 2024, Condé Nast Traveler Magazine listed MLF among the 9 Best Literary Festivals in the World.
In 2024, with support from eKitabu, Macondo will continue its tradition of low entry fees to help make Macondo as accessible as possible to all literature lovers—including book enthusiasts, aspiring writers, and all who are passionate about African histories in literature, storytelling, and charting possible futures.
Please join the Macondo community at Macondo Literary Festival 2024 for an enriching experience that deepens understanding of the interrelationships and futures of Africa and the Indian Ocean worlds. More details on Macondo 2024 are available here and the following social media platforms:
Facebook: Macondo Literary Festival
X: @MacondoLitFest (#MacondoLitFest2024)
Youtube: Macondo Literary Festival
Instagram: @macondolitfestival
LinkedIn: Macondo Literary Festival
Ticket information:
Tickets are available for sale via Kenyabuzz
Friday events are FREE of charge
Day pass (each Saturday and Sunday): KES 800 advance, KES 1,200 gate
Weekend ticket: KES 1,400 advance, KES 1,600 gate
Student ticket: KES 200/day (student ID required, available only at the gate)
(All mobile money as well as Visa and Mastercard payment options are offered.)
MLF 2024 Author Lineup
Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) is the author of the novel The Fishermen, a winner of the 2016 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction), the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, the 2015 FT/Oppenheimer Emerging Voices Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize; An Orchestra of Minorities, which was also a finalist for the Man Booker Prize; and his 2024 novel The Road to the Country which examines brotherhood, spirituality and the Nigerian-Biafran War. Together, his novels have been translated into more than 29 languages.
M.G. Vassanji (Canada) is the author of ten novels, three collections of short stories, a travel memoir about India, a memoir of East Africa, and a biography of Mordecai Richler. He is twice winner of the Giller Prize (1994, 2003) for best work of fiction in Canada. Vassanji was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and raised in Tanzania. He was a nuclear physicist for decades before turning to writing full-time. He lives in Toronto and visits East Africa often.
Janika Oza (Canada) is the author of A History of Burning, winner of the 2024 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. She is the winner of the 2022 O. Henry Award and the 2020 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Award. She is an assistant editor for The Rumpus and lives in Toronto.
Hamza Koudri (Algeria) is the author of Sand Roses. He holds an M.A. in English Literature and currently serves as the Director for the British Council in Algeria. Research for his debut novel took the better part of a decade. In 2022, Sand Roses was shortlisted for the Island Prize for unpublished African authors.
Shubnum Khan (South Africa) is an artist and author. Her 2024 novel The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil is a sweeping literary gothic coming-of-age novel set on the east coast of South Africa. It was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Pick. She is a writing fellow at OMI’s Ledig House in New York and an Octavia Butler Fellow at Jack Jones Literary Arts. She lives in Durban.
Shubhangi Swarup (India) is a writer and educator. Latitudes of Longing, her debut novel, was a bestseller soon after its release in India. It won the Tata Literature Live! Award for debut fiction and was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Indian Literature. She was awarded the Charles Pick Fellowship for creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and has also won awards for gender sensitivity in feature writing. She lives in Mumbai.
Johary Ravaloson (Madagascar) is a Madagascar-born author and publisher. His English-translated novel, Return to the Enchanted Island, earned him the Prix du Roman de l‘Océan Indien. In 2006 he founded Dodo Vole Publishing with his wife, contemporary artist Sophie Bazin, starting a new trend of in-country publishing in Madagascar and Réunion. He lives in France.
Jeferson Tenório (Brazil) is the author of The Dark Side of Skin that won the PEN Translates Award in the UK and the 2021 Jabuti Prize for the Best Novel published in Brazil. Based in Porto Alegre, he is a lecturer in literature. His writing has been adapted for theatre and translated into English and Spanish. He's also the author of Estela sem Deus (Godless Star, 2018).
João Melo (Angola) is an author, journalist, and communication consultant. He is a founder of the Angolan Writer's Association, and of the Angolan Academy of Literature and Social Sciences. He was professor, advertiser, member of parliament (1992-2017) and minister (2017-2019). His works include poetry, short stories, novels, articles and essays and have been published internationally. He lives exclusively from writing, and splits his time between Luanda, Lisbon and Washington, D.C.
About Macondo Book Society
The Macondo Book Society, a non-profit organization registered in Kenya under the Societies Act and founded by journalist Anja Bengelstorff and award-winning Kenyan author Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, seeks to organize regular literary festivals and other events that promote literature and authors of and from Africa beyond linguistic borders, to amplify and showcase the rich diversity of literature from and of Africa, and to provide a public platform to initiate and encourage, through literature, the engagement of a wider public with Africa’s histories and its significance for the present and future of the continent as a means of societal growth. Its flagship event is the Macondo Literary Festival, a literary festival on African histories and futures featured in fictional and non-fictional works, bringing together, for the first time on the continent, all its ‘main’ writing language zones: Arab, English, French and Portuguese/Spanish in conversations across perceived limitations and barriers.
Macondo is a fictional place in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Márquez, a place where magical things happen. For more information, visit the Macondo Literary Festival website.
About eKitabu
eKitabu is a publishing company that delivers accessible print, audio, video and digital content, a Kenyan, Rwandan, Malawian, and US company headquartered in Nairobi. “Kitabu” is Swahili for book; کتاب in Arabic, कताब in Hindi. eKitabu’s journey begins in the language learning world of local languages, including seven local sign languages of Africa to date. eKitabu develops, publishes, and distributes books in Africa, including print, digital, audio, and video at shop.eKitabu.com. Collaborating with local and global authors and publishers in Africa, eKitabu is dedicated to creating, adapting, and publishing quality stories and books.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Anja Bengelstorff
Director
Macondo Literary Festival
Amon Bett
Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications
eKitabu
Phone: +254 740 524629
Share :
Delete