Ibua Publishing just announced their 2024 longlist for the Ibua Manuscript Project! Eight authors were selected from thirty-seven submissions after careful review. These authors will receive workshops, consultations, and an online development program to aid them in preparing their final manuscripts. After this, Ibua Publishing will select and publish three manuscripts starting in 2025.

Here are the eight longlisted authors:

  • Cuthbert Magara, Wakiso, Uganda
  • David Ngumi, Nairobi, Kenya
  • Doreen Anyango, Kampala, Uganda
  • Gladwell Pamba, Nairobi, Kenya
  • Gordon Anjili, Njoro, Kenya
  • Muthoni wa Gichuru, Nairobi, Kenya
  • Owen Mushabe, Kampala, Uganda
  • Peter Ngila Njeri, Nairobi, Kenya

The Ibua Manuscript Project is dedicated to discovering new voices from East Africa. Ibua hopes to be able to provide a platform for African writers. See their mission statement below:

Ibua Publishing is a Uganda-based publishing house whose mission is to create a publishing platform for African writers writing from the continent. As a house, we are committed to providing these writers, emerging or established, with the tools to grow their craft, improve the editorial quality of their work and publishing channels to bring their works to a wider audience.

Ibua’s partnership with the teaching platform Saseni! allows them to create learning experiences for the authors, like the ones included in this longlist. Saseni! is a Nairobi-based literary organization that teaches creative writing with the hopes of producing more contemporary African fiction.

Recently, Saseni! has collaborated with Huza Press and Jahazi Press to produce the anthologies, Bald Dandelions and Other Stories and Let Us Conspire and Other Stories. Ibua’s lead editor, Billy Kahora, and other creative writing teachers from Saseni! will be leading the workshop for these longlisted authors.

In addition to the workshop, the authors will have an opportunity for one-on-one editorial engagements and a three-month online program focused on writing development. These sessions were developed by Senseni! with the hope of the manuscripts reaching their full potential.

With authors from across Uganda and Kenya, Ibua has truly given a voice to new talent throughout East Africa. It will be exciting to see what these new authors do next!

See the longlisted announcement below: