I hold a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education (BSc Ed) and a Masters Degree in Communication Arts (MCA). As an employee of Federal Ministry of Education, I worked in various capacities in the education sector namely education officer, assistant director, and deputy director. I also functioned as a research officer, Book Development Unit of the Nigerian Educational and Development Council, a parastatal of the Ministry of Education. Before my retirement from the Federal Ministry of Education as a Deputy Director, I was the Coordinator, National Readership Promotion Campaign. Interview
Lorato Trok is an early literacy consultant and expert in developing reading for pleasure books for young children, especially in African languages. She has 20 years' experience in publishing, writing, translation, editing and story development in children's literature.
She is currently a Managing Editor at Puku Children's Literature Foundation. Lorato is a published author of 16 children's picture books and biographer of Young Adults non-fiction books, originated in both Setswana and English and translated into other South African languages.
She is a two-times recipient (2017 and 2020) of the Association of Non-Fiction and Academic Authors of South Africa (ANFASA) writing grant, supported by the Norwegian Embassy to write a series of young adult biographies the first is of Rosina Sedibane Modiba, South Africa's first Black female athlete to compete against white athletes during the apartheid years and set multiple records. The second book in this series of unsung heroes is The Forgotten Scientist: The Story of Saul Sithole (Jacana Media, 2020). It is about the untold story of a pioneering black scientist who made a great contribution to the fields of anthropology and ornithology in South Africa. In 2005 Lorato was invited to help launch the "Reading Africa" programme at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C.
Interview
Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha is a multiple award-winning author with
a natural flair for the arts. She wrote her first unpublished novel at the
age of six and has been writing poems, scripts, short stories, and songs
since then, which were mainly for leisure. One of her poems, The New Yam Festival, won second prize in a nationwide poetry competition in 1983 and she was the recipient of the silver prize at the Kanagawa World Biennial Children's art competition in Japan in 1987.
The rigours of medical school and residency training made her writing sporadic for several years.
A long distance rural post-residency posting requiring about six hours of commute to and from work, provided writing time for Chigozie in the back seat of a car and in the tremendous heat of Lagos traffic.
Her debut publication Beyond the Trial was awarded the Samuel Ajayi Crowther prize in 2017.
Beyond the Trial is a collection of three novellas with a unifying theme of female empowerment.
The UN SDG 5 Book Pick Rude Awakening is one of the three novellas in Beyond the Trial. All three novellas have also been published as stand-alone books.
Interview
Edusei Derkyi is the Founder and CEO of Housing Partnerships Africa providing Housing Advisory and Brokerage services. He is a retired founding executive of HFC Bank (Ghana) Limited, now Republic Bank Ghana. Interview
Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad is a poet, short story writer, essayist, publicist, a University lecturer, with many publications to his credit. He was Chairman, Creative Writers Club, A.B.U, Zaria (1993 – 1994); Chairman, Niger State Branch of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA, 1994 – 2000); and also National Assistant Secretary-General of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA, 2002 – 2004).Interview
Ama Worla is an educational administrator, author, and a trainer who brings color to the learning process through stories, dialogue, and games. Motivated by her children's love for her storytelling, Ama was inspired to help children learn important lessons about life by reading about the capabilities of people just like them. Interview
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, author of Monkey Business, Chukwuemeka Iroegbu Chukwudi, has been a writer for nearly thirty years.
He has written articles, news reports/features, short stories and poems for publications and competitions and some of these poems have won awards.
Interview
Dr. Hamisi Babusa, Kenyatta university administrator and lecturer in Kiswahili and Language Education, is also founder of Babusa TV, an online Kiswahili channel which testifies to his passion for developing content for children. Hamisi Babusa is also a creative writer and an academic writer, with several books to his name. Interview
Born in Zambia, Harrington Kanyanta is a graphic artist, illustrator, and an ardent advocate of interpersonal skills art. The book Koko Grows Food was selected for the inaugural reading list in English addressing UN Book Club Africa SDG 2-Zero Hunger. His artistic works cut across cultural values, education, personifications and caricature. Harrington Kanyanta believes that art transcends, living on from generation to generation and therefore serves as a way of leaving a scar on the fabric of time. At his art studio, Kanyanta Arts,' he teaches students on the mastery of their arts.Interview
Dominic Maina Oigo is an author, editor, translator, and a final year student at Kenyatta University, Kenya.
He is also the current Secretary-General to the University Organization for Kiswahili Students in East Africa, Kenya Chapter, and an active member of the International Human Rights Art Festival African Chapter.
His book, Hatima Ya Musa has been selected for the inaugural Kiswahili reading list addressing the theme: No Poverty - SDG 1.
Interview
