Goethe-Institut Releases List Of Selected Participants For The Afro Young Adult Workshops—
The Goethe-Institut is pleased to announce the selection of writers for the eight African cities for Afro Young Adult workshops from 11-15 February (except for Lagos which will occur 4-8 February due to elections).There were a total of 435 submissions from all over the African continent and the diaspora. Of those, the facilitators selected 52 whose stories can potentially be workshopped to be better for selection for their upcoming anthology.
To ensure impartiality, names of participants were removed from stories before being sent to facilitators. Additionally, it was avoided for facilitators taking part in selecting stories submitted for their own workshop cities. As an example, Lagos workshop facilitator read through and selected stories for the Accra workshop while Johannesburg facilitator Mohale Mashigo selected the Nairobi workshop stories. The exceptions to this were the Dakar, Lome and Dar es Salaam workshops. In the first two, Lome facilitator Edwige Dro and Dakar facilitator Richard Ali Mutu jointly selected the ten participants for the two cities respectively. In the latter, Elias Mutani who is the Dar es Salaam facilitator selected all the Swahili participants. His impartiality and strive for the best stories can best be seen in his selection of more participants from Kenya than his own home country, Tanzania.
“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 heartwarming 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.
MEET THE SELECTED WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS, TITLE STORIES AND FACILITATORS:
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 – Maria 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 Sancturary – 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)
The selected participants will also receive a small honorarium for making it and a trip to the Ake Festival, where the anthology would be officially launched.
