Storymoja Africa

Knowledge is the most powerful engine for economic growth worldwide. To accelerate development in our beloved country, we have to nurture a reading culture that goes beyond academics and politics. Growing Kenya 's reading culture is Storymoja's mission as it feeds our business), our personal call as writers, and our patriotic duty. Storymoja is a venture recently formed by a collective of five writers who are committed to publishing contemporary East African writing of world-class standard. We source widely to identify good local writers, help them edit their submissions to exacting standards, and develop eye-catching book-covers. Our books are marketed to a wide Kenyan audience for entertainment rather than as textbook material. This constitutes our unique selling proposition. We want to challenge the perception that Kenyans do not read (other than required educational text) by providing them with the contemporary stories they can identify with and which we believe they are dying to read. Our initial categories of stories include business, inspirational, fiction, humour, crime/detective and true life. The shareholders of Storymoja are writers with experience in different professional fields – Muthoni Garland (marketing), Dayo Foster (microfinance, author of Reading the Ceiling), Parselelo Kantai (journalist, Caine Prize nominated writer), Martin Kimani Mbugua (IGAD consultant on war and security issues), and Ivy Mwai (PR, education and publishing). They are committed to fanning the literary flame in Kenya , and celebrate literature as both the basis of our business and as an important pillar of our country's development. We dream of the day when the ordinary Kenyan is as excited by reading as he is by Kenyan music, Nigerian DVDs and the mobile phone! Growing Kenya 's reading culture would benefit and profit all of us.