Big shout out to Africa-based presses creating opportunities for writers. Huza Press recently announced the list of writers and artists selected to participate in their exciting new collaborative project. Thanks to funding provided by the British Council, Huza Press is joining forces with Kenya’s Kwani? and UK’s No Bindings to role out a new imprint called RadioBook Rwanda.

Under this new imprint, they will publish “hybrid books.” The idea of hybrid books, which some are calling a “new approach to form and community publishing,” is quite brilliant and follows a model developed by No Bindings, a publishing company based in Bristol. A hybrid book is a multi-media literary project that integrates text, pictures, and sound. Artists and short story writers work together to produce an artfully designed book that is also produced as a podcast.

Here are the names of the three lucky artists and writers selected from a pool of 120 submissions to work together on three separate projects.

  • Annick La Reine Shimwa’s story ‘The Skykes are Woke’ with artwork by Jess Atieno
  • Eric Mutsinzi’s story ‘Waiting for Words’ with artwork by Nduta Kariuki
  • Jimmy Tuyiringire’s story ‘Umuhigi w’Inkuba’ with artwork by Souls (Dukuzumuremyi Hamza, Salma Seif, Ntigurirwa Shingiro and Jean Marie Vianney)

The outcome of all three collaborations integrating story, artwork, and recordings will be published in three different editions and will be “shared in community arts and library spaces and on local radio in Kigali, Nairobi and Bristol.”

Congrats to all the selected writers and artists! Also kudos to Huza Press! RadioBook Rwanda is more proof that they are unbelievably committed to galvanizing the literary culture in Rwanda