Press & News

The Macondo Book Society (Kenya) and Literature Live! (India) are pleased to announce the selection of four poets for the 2026 Turkana Nature Poetry Retreat, scheduled for May 2026 at the historic “Cradle of Humankind” in Northern Kenya. Frank Njugi and Evalyn Wanjiru Githina (Kenya) alongside Amulya Bhat and Mesak Takhelmayum (India), were selected from a pool of 162 applicants. The cohort will spend eight days at the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) Turkwel Campus in Turkana County, immersed in a landscape that defines our shared origins. Upon return to Nairobi, the poets will present their works during a public event on May 23rd.

The Macondo Book Society (Kenya) and Literature Live! (India) are pleased to invite applications from Kenyan and Indian poets for a funded, week-long writing retreat at the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), the third partner in this endeavor, in Northern Kenya, scheduled for May 2026. This immersive program is designed for poets whose work centers on the non-human world, seeking to expand poetic perspectives and deepen engagement with more-than-human ecology, including plants, animals, oceans, and landscapes.

Nairobi, Kenya – The Macondo Literary Festival proudly returned for its fifth edition that September, under the evocative theme “Chronicles & Currents.” That year’s festival cast its net wide across the Atlantic, spotlighting the literary, historical, and cultural ties between Africa, South America, and the Caribbean—regions deeply intertwined by histories of migration, resistance, and cultural resilience.