Publishing in Africa today is more than a stopgap—it’s an assertion of creative autonomy. This panel will explore how editors and writers are curating not just what gets published, but how stories are told, who they speak to, and what futures they imagine.

 

Panelists: Rodney Muhumuza, Joan Thatiah, Ahmed Aidarus

Host: Otieno Owino

What stories emerge when African women take up the comic form—an art long dominated by male voices—and redraw its frames? This panel gathers pioneering and contemporary comic artists to reflect on their place in a shifting landscape: from Celeste Wamiru, Kenya’s first woman editorial cartoonist, to a new generation experimenting with graphic novels, satire, and illustrated narratives.

The conversation will trace resonances of the past and how they infuse the present, asking: What does it mean to be an African woman comic artist now, and in the futures we imagine? How do women artists move into the shadows of the unspoken, excavating what has been silenced or buried, and translate it into visual stories that haunt and inspire?

 

Celeste Wamiru, Felista Thairu, Marcelline Akinyi

Host: Mueni Lundi

Two generations banter on literary friendships, on collaborations, and the inner workings of literary enterprises. From the symbolic “Q” in Qwani to the deliberate use of Sheng, this panel could explore the metaphors, rhythms, and subversions shaping a literary space that resonates deeply with young, aspiring Kenyan writers and readers. How do younger generations reimagine literary form, collaboration, and authorship? What does it mean to build a publishing ethos rooted in accessibility, reinvention, and voice?

 

Panelists:  Mutinda Kilonzo, Clifton Gachagua, Rodney Muhumuza

Host: Keith Ang’ana

This conversation brings together three of Kenya’s short story voices to reflect on the magnitudes and intimacies of identity—be it nationhood, sexuality, or the geographies of home. From the craft table to the deeply personal, the discussion will explore how short fiction engages memory, navigates the dichotomies of belonging and displacement, and wrestles with identity not as a passing whim but as a sustained search for meaning. Together Dennis, Mutua  & Florence will examine how the short story form can mirror contradictions, hold multiple truths, and reimagine the Kenyan self across time and place.

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Panelists: Dennis Mugaa, Kabubu Mutua, Florence Onyango

Host: Njahira Gitahi