Nigerian trans filmmaker Noni Salma is now the official publisher of Urashi Press, the LGBTQ+ imprint of Abibiman Publishing.

Abibiman Publishing is a Pan-African publishing firm, registered in the UK, US, Nigeria, and India. Its LGBTQ+ imprint Urashi is named after the Igbo deity and aims to showcase stories that are frequently ignored and misrepresented by providing a platform for queer perspectives. Its first publication will be Michael McCloud’s memoir Black Butterfly, set to release in March 2024 in the UK.

Noni Salma is an award-winning transgender screenwriter and filmmaker from Nigeria. She is passionate about decolonizing narratives of black and brown trans, queer folks by centering them in her writing in ways that are fresh and inspiring. She will definitely be a good leader for the Urashi imprint due to her experiences with queer writing.

Her feature drama screenplay, Raison D’etre is a ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship 2021 Finalist and her comedy pilot, Badass is a ScreenCraft Comedy Competition 2021 semifinalist and on the GLAAD list 2022. Salma also made the nomination list for The Future Awards Africa Prize for Screen Producer in 2018 and Best Of Nollywood Awards 2018 for her screenplay in the movie We don’t live here anymore. Her personal essay “My Daddy’s Daughter” won second place in the 2021 Queer West African Women’s Writing Contest.

Congrats to Salma on this new role! We are certain that she will lead Urashi to new horizons.