The Goethe-Institut announced the participants to take part in #AfroYoungAdult workshops in eight African cities in February 2019 on January 3, 2019.
In September 2018, the Goethe-Institut invited aspiring African writers interested in writing for Young Adult fiction to submit short stories of 3000-5000 words in length in Kiswahili, English or French. The best texts would be selected and their authors invited to participate in workshops across the continent in February 2019.
The workshops will take place in Kiswahili in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in French in Lome, Togo and Dakar, Senegal, as well as in English in Accra, Ghana; Kigali, Rwanda; Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya; Johannesburg, South Africa. They will take place on February 11-15 in all cities except for Lagos. That workshop will run early, February 4-8, as the West African nation has elections scheduled.
There were a total of 435 submissions from all over the African continent and the diaspora with 52 whose stories can potentially be workshopped to be better selected by project facilitators.
“It is gratifying that the Goethe-Institut is leading in ensuring more Young Adult fiction is available on the continent through this initiative. It was further heart-warming to see the enthusiasm of so many writers across the continent, with the youngest submission coming from a 13-year-old Kenyan student. Through the Afro Young Adult initiative, not only do we hope for an anthology that Young Adults across Africa will relate to and enjoy, but that this can get more people writing in this genre so that we can have as much diverse YA fiction in short and long-form as we do short stories and novels for adults,” curator Zukiswa Wanner said.
The workshop participants, their stories, and their facilitators shall be;
DAR ES SALAAM facilitated by Elias Mutani
- Adui Yangu – Amos Nandasaba (Kenya)
- Arudi Shuleni – Jackline Kasanga (Tanzania)
- Fadhaa ya Marejeo – Mungai Mutonya (Kenya)
- Hukumu – Wafula Wakoko (Kenya)
- Mtaka cha Mvunguni -Karangae Chaga
- Pepo La Zehara – Jones Lukorito (Kenya)
- Safarini – Fatma Mohamed (Kenya)
DAKAR facilitated by Richard Ali Mutu
- Dangereuse Escapade – Jocelyn Tchetche Tendop (Cameroon)
- Deux Femmes, Trois ages – Nina Wade (Senegal)
- Cornee Noir, Iris Blanc – Merdi Muintshe Mukore (DRC)
- Le Vide L’Histoire – Jocelyn Danga (DRC)
- Viatique d’une Sokhna – Elhadji Amadou Ngom Dieye (Senegal)
LOME facilitated by Renee Edwige-Dro
- La Dame en Toyota – Sadlay Hounyeme (Benin)
- Abih Selassie – Simon Cardin Neyeng (Cameroon)
- Le Prix d’un Plat de Riz – Kelvin Adantchede (Benin)
- Le Labyrinthe des Complexes- Manuella Mayugo (Cameroon)
- La Maison des Noces – Raoul Djimeli (Cameroon)
ACCRA facilitated by Mamle Wolo
- Blood and Fire – Kwesi Woode (Ghana)
- The Sun is White – Kofi Benko (Ghana)
- A Memory of a Lesser God (Ghana)
- The Beauty Ceremony – Akwasi Addai (Ghana)
- Living from October the Third – Emmanuel Lindsay (Ghana)
- Summer School – Asiedu Benneh
JOHANNESBURG facilitated by Mohale Mashigo
- The Healer and the Extra – Marina Chichava (Mozambique)
- Daddy Loves Us – Peter Nawa (Zambia)
- The Year of the Failure – Shamin Chibba (SA)
- Tara’s Hair – Sabah Carrim (Mauritius)
- The Last Places – Priscillar Matara (Botswana)
- Coronation – Catherine Jarvis (SA)
- Her World – Fiske Serah Nyirongo (Zambia)
KIGALI facilitated by Zukiswa Wanner
- Cry, Oh My Soul – Alain Jules Hirwa (Rwanda)
- Within the Shadows – Precious Collette Kemigisha (Rwanda)
- Homecoming – Daniel Nuwamanya (Uganda)
- Going to Sanctuary – Paul Kisakye (Uganda)
- A Change in Sleeping Arrangements – Tamanda Kanjaye (Malawi)
- A Love of Her Dream – Yamikani Mlangiza (Malawi)
LAGOS facilitated by William Moore
- The Hunter – Chinelo Enemuo (Nigeria)
- Oubliette – Howard Meh-Buh (Cameroon)
- The Witches’ Camp – Chioma Iwunze-Ibiam (Nigeria)
- The Red Dream – Musih T. Xaviere (Cameroon)
- This is Not for Allah to Decide – Okechi Okeke (Nigeria)
- Ebiye – Justin Clement (Nigeria)
- Girl of My Dreams – Olakitan Aladesuyi (Nigeria)
- Of Little, Beautiful Broken Things – Ernest Ogunyemi (Nigeria)
NAIROBI facilitated by Kinyanjui Kombani
- To Seek Gold Dust – Dennis Mugaa (Kenya)
- Savannahs & The Sun – Selam Teslam (Kenya)
- The Jinni Girl – Mango Joyce Nawiri (Kenya)
- Moving to Kakamega – Gloria Mwaniga (Kenya)
- Twist of Fate – Valerie Tonya Kidarisi (Kenya)
- The Girl with Black and White Hair – Caroline Biegon (Kenya)
- Only Good Christian Girls Live Here – Ruth Kenyah (Kenya)
A further selection from these stories would be done for publication in an anthology to be launched at Ake Festival 2019.
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