In Search of Africa’s Writing Talent

A Senior Editor, searching for the latest African writing talent is due to land in Nairobi on 5th August to take part in this years Kwani Litfest.

Ellah Allfrey, a Senior Editor with the Random House imprint Jonathan Cape is looking for good scripts to build her list of contemporary African writers. The Zimbabwe born editor, who was recently nominated for a Booksellers Association Nibbie: the Decibel Cultural Diversity Award, will spend time going over manuscripts in her search for hot writing talent.

Allfrey will first give a talk on TUESDAY August 05th at 7.30pm at Club Undecided on Getting Published before taking appointments with individuals. Having commissioned the likes of James Baldwin, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Chinua Achebe and Nuriddin Farah for Penguin Modern Classics, she has great experience to pull from. She also commissioned Mi Revalushanarry Fren, a collection of the poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson.

“All I need is 10 pages and a synopsis of the novel to assess the viability of the book,” said Allfrey who has worked with authors Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan. “And I am sure that Kenya is full of relevant and interesting manuscripts.”

Allfrey commissions history, general non-fiction and literary fiction and a central focus has been the building a list of young African writers within the Cape imprint ? creating what is arguably the premier mainstream list of young African talent in British publishing.? Her prize-winning authors include Dinaw Mengestu, Biyi Bandele and Segun Afolabi.

Please send your synposis and 10 pages only to litfest@kwani.org