Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ

Biography

Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ was born in Kenya into a family of writers that includes her father, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and her brother Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ. She studied for a BA in political science and sociology at New York University and holds an MFA from the University of Houston. She later worked as an editor for the American publishing house Africa World Press, and has served in other editorial positions, such as on the editorial board of the journal Matatu.

After completing her studies she spent time in Eritrea, before moving to Zimbabwe, where she lived for five years and worked as an editor as well as production manager, also travelling during these years to different African countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. In 2007, she and her Finnish partner moved to Helsinki, where she founded the Helsinki African Film Festival (HAFF).

Wanjikũ has written plays and short stories, and her first novel, The Fall of Saints, was published by Atria Books in 2014. Her short story "Hundred Acres of Marshland" featured in 2019's New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby, and she was also a contributor to Nairobi Noir, edited by Peter Kimani (2020). Among other publications in which her short stories and essays have appeared are Houston Noir, The Barelife Review, St. Petersburg Review, Wasafiri, Auburn Avenue, Cunning Folk Magazine, and Chimurenga.

Wanjikũ's second novel, Seasons in Hippoland, was published by Seagull Press in 2021, characterised by one reviewer as a "dreamlike coming-of-age novel ... about the power of storytelling".