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Moraa Gitaa

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Moraa Gitaa
NationalityKenyan
Alma materAfrica Nazarene University, Nairobi - BA in Peace and Conflict Studies

Moraa Gitaa is a Kenyan novelist, Peace Studies and Conflict Management researcher, cultural advocate and arts curator. She is the author of the YA novels Let’s Talk About This, The Kigango Oracle, Hila and The Shark Attack among other works.

Career

Moraa Gitaa works and writes at intersections of gender, social justice, arts for positive social change, feminist politics, sustainable livelihoods and social enterprise. She has worked for more than 15 years with various organizations among them the British Council, Aga Khan Foundation and PEN Kenya Centre across a broad spectrum [1]

Moraa Gitaa's debut full-length Adult Fiction novel, Crucible for Silver and Furnace for Gold, centres on two characters: Lavina, a Kenyan African woman living with HIV, and Giorgio, an Italian man whom Lavina meets on vacation in Malindi on Kenya’s coast.[1] Gitaa's sophomore novel is Shifting Sands.[2]

Crucible for Silver and Furnace for Gold has been critiqued by scholars as a re-reading and re-writing of gender in times of HIV.[3] Her work on Shifting Sands received a positive review in the Nairobi Star from Khainga O' Okwemba, who said: "Here is a writer with the patience, perseverance and discipline needed to create vivid characters. Here is a contemporary Kenyan writer capable of bedazzling and cajoling the reader with a skillfully written and scintillating narrative.... Shifting Sands is a must read for literature students."[4] Gitaa's stories focus on the vulnerable, underserved, marginal and marginalized members of contemporary African society.[5]

Gitaa’s non-fiction and short stories have been featured in: Harvard University’s Transition Magazine, [6] PEN International’s PEN OutWrite,, [7] IFLAC’S Peace & Anti-Terror Anthology, Spotlight Publisher’s Waiting and Other Stories, Creatives Garage Anthology, several Author Me Anthologies, several G21 The World’s Magazine Anthologies including ‘Africa Fresh! New Voices from the First Continent’, The African Magazine, and Hekaya Initiative[8]

In 2014 James Murua's Literary Blog [9]included Gitaa in a list of 39 top African novelists under the age of 40 writing in English

Works

  • Let’s Talk About This. Worlds Unknown Publishers, Kenya/USA, 2020
  • The Kigango Oracle. Worlds Unknown Publishers , Kenya/USA, 2020
  • Hila. Storymoja Publishers, Kenya, 2015
  • The Shark Attack. Moran Publishers, Kenya, 2014
  • The Con Artist. Kenya Literature Bureau, Kenya, 2014
  • Shifting Sands. Nsemia Publishers, Kenya/Canada, 2012
  • Crucible for Silver and Furnace for Gold. Nsemia Publishers, Kenya/Canada, 2008
  • Hekaya Arts Initiative Issue 01 / Libros Agency: Anthology - Jihadi Bride and Other Stories, Kenya/USA, 2018
  • Transition Magazine Issue 121: Theme - Childhood - Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, 2016
  • Creatives Garage: Femmolution Volume 01, Kenya, 2016
  • Waiting and Other Stories: Spotlight Publishers, Kenya, 2016
  • PEN OutWrite - Obscure Oddities: LGBTQI Issue Published by PEN International, 2015
  • G2’s Anthology - Africa Fresh! New Voices from the First Continent, 2010

Awards

  • 2021 James Currey Prize for African Literature (Longlist) [10]
  • 2021 Nommo Awards (Longlist) [11]
  • 2017 apexart Fellow [12]
  • 2014 Burt Award [13]
  • 2010 Penguin Prize for African Writing (Shortlist) [14]
  • 2008: National Book Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK) - First Prize Adult Fiction Winner [15]

References

  1. ^ Gitaa, Moraa (2008). Crucible for silver and furnace for gold (1st ed.). [Oakville, Ont.]: Nsemia Publishers. p. 276. ISBN 0981036228.
  2. ^ Gitaa, Moraa (2012). Shifting Sands. Nsemia Inc. ISBN 978-1-926906-04-1.
  3. ^ "A Critique of Friendship across Race and Tribe in two Kenyan Novels". Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  4. ^ "Moraa Gitaa Is a Must-Read Author". The Star. Nairobi. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  5. ^ Evan, Mwangi (5 March 2006). "Kenya: Books: Kenyan Writers Open Debate On New Corruption Frontiers". Daily Nation. Retrieved 14 August 2013 – via All Africa.
  6. ^ "Transtition Magazine, Issue 121". Archived from the original on 2017-11-04. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  7. ^ "Pen Outwrite, Obscure Oddities".
  8. ^ "Hekaya Initiative, Jihadi Brides".
  9. ^ "James Murua's Literary Blog, 39 Top English Language African Novelists under 40".
  10. ^ James Currey Prize for African Literature (Longlist)
  11. ^ Nommo Awards (Longlist)
  12. ^ apexart Fellow
  13. ^ Burt Award
  14. ^ Penguin Prize for African Writing (Shortlist)
  15. ^ NBDCK First Prize Adult Fiction Writer
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