Kevin Mwachiro, Faith Oneya, and Saba El Lazim Elbasha are the featured writers at “Nairobi | Maps of Exile” at the Coffee Casa, Nairobi on Thursday, January 16, 2020. The event will be moderated by Hassan Ghedi Santur.
“Nairobi | Maps of Exile” is a literary salon series examining questions of home, belonging, migration, and marginalization while exploring and redrawing the maps of African identity. It is a project by Warscapes an independent online magazine and The Carrot Co, a collective of award-winning African artists and other professions with an art focus. The first edition of the salon moderated by novelist Hassan Ghedi Santur featured Itoro Bassey, Abdul Adan, and Lutivini Majanja.
The second edition of the salon, also moderated by novelist Hassan Ghedi Santur will feature Kevin Mwachiro, Faith Oneya, and Saba El Lazim Elbasha.
Faith Oneya is a creative writer and journalist who works for Nation Media Group. Her writing has appeared in various publications, including The Standard, African Woman Magazine, the Daily Nation and The EastAfrican. Her short stories were first published in 2012 in Fresh Paint, an anthology. In 2018, she published her first children’s book, The Girl with a Big Heart, which is approved for use as a class reader in Kenya. Her short stories have also been published in the Hotel Africa anthology (2019) and the forthcoming Nairobi Noir anthology.
Kevin Mwachiro has over 18 years of working as a broadcast journalist and producer in Kenya, Uganda, and the UK. In 2017 he launched a story-telling podcast, called Nipe Story, which produces an audio version of short-story fictional stories from the continent. He was the editor of the Invisible – Stories from Kenya’s Queer Community and was part of the editorial team for Boldly Queer – African Perspectives on Same-sex sexuality and gender diversity. His first play, Trashed, was published in Six in the City – Six Short Plays on Nairobi and his poems are published in the Pan African queer anthology, Walking The Tightrope.
Saba El Lazim Elbasha is originally from Sudan but was born and partly raised in Yemen before moving to Kenya. She is the author of a poetry collection titled mirror published by Dar Rafiki Press in 2017. It focuses on war, revolution, women, and questions of identity. In 2014, her poem Carpenter was shortlisted for the Babishai Niwe Poetry award and ranked amongst the top 10 out of 1500 poems submitted. She has also won two South Theatre Awards, one for best poem of the year and another for best live performance.
The event on Thursday, January 16, starts at 6pm.
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