Shadreck Chikoti was elected the new Malawi Writers’ Union President in Lilongwe on Saturday, December 21, 2024.
The Malawi Writers Union is a national body of creative writers in Malawi, an affiliate of the Pan African Writers Association, founded in September 1995. Its role is to lobby for the members and provide them with opportunities for training and career advancement. The most recent president was Chikumbutso Ndaferankhande who ran it since 2020.
The organisation hosted an Annual General Meeting, which included the election of its new secretariat, on Saturday, December 21. On election day, writer, editor, publisher, curator, and media owner Shadreck Chikoti became the new leader of Malawi’s writers’ body unopposed. The author of several speculative fiction books including the award-winning novel Azotus the Kingdom rose to continental prominence when he was included in the Africa 39 list in 2014. After extensively travelling to literary festivals and book fairs across the continent, he and his team brought the literary festival home with the Feminart Arts and Book Festival in 2019. The Pan African Publishers director is the founder of The Story Club Malawi which went on to give us Story Club FM, a platform for Malawian artists.
“My utmost desire is to see our writers honing their craft to the point where the universe, not just Malawi, becomes our platform,” he said after his win. “We must expose our writers to international platforms. Our Union must be vibrant, in touch with new media, technology, and the digital universe.”
Prominent writer Onjezani Kenani said after the election, “Congratulations Shadreck Chikoti on becoming President of the Malawi Writers’ Union. The writer’s body has fallen in able hands. I don’t know anybody more passionate about taking Malawian writing to the world. His novel, Azotus the Kingdom, has become a recommended textbook for Malawian schools. He has done a lot in introducing writers to excellent writing, and in networking with writers on the continent and in the world. He also owns and runs Story Club FM, which massively promotes artists and their works.”
Here is the new Malawi Writers’ Union secretariat in full;
- President – Shadreck Chikoti
- Vice President – Foster Benjamin
- Secretary General – Charity Munyimbili
- Treasurer General – Jacinta Phiri
- Public Relations – Chifuniro Eliazar Banda
- Budding Writers Desk – Juliet Neba
- Religious Desk – Bishop Sylvester Chabuka
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