Brittle Paper Submissions Editor Tahzeeb Akram [Courtesy]
Kenyan writers Owen Habel Lwanda, Salama Wainaina, Mwende Makulu and Mercy Eni were among the writers selected for the inaugural Brittle Paper Literary Festival for Aspiring Writers. It is a one-day online celebration of emerging writers in the African literary space held on August 29 on Zoom.
The festival, organised by Brittle Paper, celebrated African literary culture and brought together writers from across the continent and the diaspora. The programme opened with poetry and prose readings from writers who had been published by Brittle Paper earlier in their writing journeys.
Lwanda was part of the poetry session, where he presented his poem Nostalgia, which was published by Brittle Paper. Two days before the festival, he says that being selected to read and present the poem was exciting and gave him a sense of accomplishment.
“Something that you composed in the dark and now you are reading it in the light – there is nothing that is more accomplishing than that,” he said.
Being featured at the festival represented recognition and an opportunity to be part of a wider literary community. He noted that thousands of poets could have been selected; thus, his inclusion was particularly meaningful.
He says that he wouldn’t attend the festival; he would be a part of it. He feels like the festival has introduced him to an extensive literary audience and gave his work legitimacy and given his biography a boost.
Having Nostalgia selected for the festival made him think about the weight of his words.
“This is a poem that existed privately in my mind, and now strangers are going to hear each and every word that is hidden in my mind, and they are going to attach their memories to my experiences,” he said.
He added that being published and selected by Brittle Paper placed him in a literary space where writers and readers gather to take African writing seriously.
Nostalgia was inspired by Lwanda’s experience of being away from Kenya and the memories he carried with him.
“I wrote Nostalgia from the strange experience of being away from home, and I realised that where you come from can open an entire country inside of you,” he said.
The poem follows a traveller at a barbershop in Berlin who longs for home. He drew from his own experiences of travelling far from Kenya and remembering seemingly ordinary details of life at home. He also remembers his mother calling his name at night.
“Sometimes I would sit and remember a mango tree in your backyard, remember how the cock would crow at 6am in the morning, and remember how matatus would make noise on the road,” he said.
When writing the poem, he wanted to explore emotional and sentimental longing, which he described through ideas such as wistful thinking, reminiscing and homesickness.
He said that he wanted someone who reads and is away from home to immediately build the urge of going back home or traverse through the experience of wistful thinking. He also wanted to capture the ache of remembering home from a distance and create a force that makes the reader’s mind travel backwards.
The poem, he explained, evokes conflicting emotions. The title holds that longing, carrying a place with you even when you are no longer there.
“Like you are sad about home, but you are not sad; you are happy, but you are not happy. When you read Nostalgia, you want to go back home and experience it one more time,” he said.
Lwanda began getting published in 2025 and has been more active with submissions in June 2026 after overcoming his reluctance to send his work to literary journals.
After submitting to the Afritondo Short Story Prize 2026 and being accepted, he began sending out more stories. He now has several finished stories and is waiting for the right submission opportunities.
He said 'nostalgia' means something bigger to him now than it did when he wrote it. He was trying to capture what it means to be away from home and how an ordinary encounter awakened memories of Kenya. With the poem now being presented at a literary festival, he said that he is no longer the only person experiencing it.
“It is a personal poem, and now it is going to be a communal poem. I carry Kenya publicly through my voice now,” he said.
He had not expected the poem to lead him to a space where he would eventually read it aloud to other people.
Lwanda said he was looking forward to seeing the poem exist beyond the page and hearing how other people receive it. He was also excited about sharing a literary space with writers whose work he had encountered through Brittle Paper.
He hopes to meet writers who challenge the way he thinks about his own writing. He hopes to meet readers who bring interpretations to his work and to get new ideas and perhaps to take his writing where he has not taken it before.
“As a writer, you get a chance to read your work. It creates a space where writing becomes a shared experience rather than a solitary act,” he said.
He said such festivals allow writers to hear their work read aloud and connect with real audiences. They also create opportunities to meet critics, editors, publishers, novelists and readers who can become important to a writer’s journey.
He sees literary festivals as spaces for exposure, validation, collaboration, mentorship and fellowships that can continue long after an event ends.
“You get a sense of belonging; that is the most important thing of all. You realise you are not writing into emptiness,” he said.
Brittle Paper Submissions Editor Tahzeeb Akram said the festival was created in part to recognise writers at the beginning of their literary journeys.
Akram, who joined Brittle Paper in 2021, said the writers she has published and built relationships with over the years are talented and deserve recognition and a platform to showcase their work.
“Usually, literary circuits only favour writers who are already well established, with multiple book deals under their belt, and I think it does a disservice to writers who are coming up,” she said.
Through the literary festival and future editions, Akram said that Brittle Paper wants to celebrate writers it has published who are still developing their careers and who she believes will become household names.
Selecting the works for the festival was difficult because of the number of writers Brittle Paper has published. Akram said that she ultimately chose writers and works that had stayed with her over the years.
She said that Brittle Paper's reach extends across the African continent and the diaspora, with writers from different parts of the world submitting their work.
Akram described Lwanda as a fantastic writer and said she had published several of his works. His recent relationship with Brittle Paper made his inclusion in the inaugural festival important to her.
“Owen is one of the writers I’ve worked with more recently, and he is a fantastic writer. I had the honour of publishing a few of his works, and it was important that he be a part of this debut literary festival,” she said.
The festival was divided into three main sections. The first featured poetry and prose readings from published writers, with works exploring subjects including romance, grief, sociopolitics, activism and family.
The second section featured a keynote conversation on the role of the writer in today's society, while the final section featured a publishing masterclass.
Akram said bringing writers from different parts of Africa together was important in strengthening connections across historical and sociopolitical barriers.
“Writers have always been at the forefront of movements, and this is no different. Writers are the voice of their communities, and representation is created and promoted through their words,” she said.
She said grief is one of the themes she encounters frequently among writers submitting to Brittle Paper, something she considers understandable given history and the current state of the world.
At the same time, she has been encouraged by the growing number of writers exploring ordinary life and happiness.
“It’s been a joy to also see the current rise of writers who write about the mundane and the happiness found in their world,” she said.
Akram said the festival also helps bridge the distance between Brittle Paper’s readers and the writers behind the work they encounter online.
“I hope that people who join the festival get to see the writers behind their favourite works and get inspired to also take the leap and create in whichever way feels right for them,” she said.
Brittle Paper receives about 2,500 submissions each year, mostly from writers based on the African continent, and publishes about 150 pieces on its website and another 50 in its seasonal anthologies. For many contributors, publication represents their first opportunity to have their work published.
The festival was designed to celebrate those beginnings and provide emerging writers with a platform alongside conversations with industry experts about navigating the publishing world.
Akram said that Brittle Paper plays a role in connecting writers and readers while working alongside publishers and literary organisations that share the goal of bringing people together.
“We are a small cog in a big machine, but we work with the intention to promote the writers on the continent and to publish work for readers to enjoy,” she said.
She hopes audiences leave the festival having enjoyed the work and feeling excited about the writers featured.
“I want people to cheer and get excited for these writers who deserve all of the praise and support,” she said.
The festival also reflected what Akram sees as the continuing growth of African literature.
“African literature has grown so much over the decades, from when the first generation of Achebes started. This festival is but another milestone that African literature will continue to prosper and be celebrated,” she said.
She added that storytelling remains deeply rooted in the continent's heritage.
“Because the continent has some of the greatest storytellers, it’s in our bones and our soil and our heritage. No matter what happens, that will always be,” she said.
As part of the festival, Brittle Paper also held a flash fiction competition asking writers to imagine the year 2158, 200 years after Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and consider the role of the writer in the 22nd century in exactly 22 words. The winner is Nigerian writer Mary Ipeh Osise.
The festival opened with a showcase of writers who had been published by Brittle Paper earlier in their writing journeys. The poetry session featured Salama Wainaina, Aanuoluwapo Adesina, Salmah Salam Oiza, Chioniso Tsikisayi, Owen Habel Lwanda, Nabila Ismail, Laurène Southe and Omobola Osamor, and ended with a special guest appearance by Dr Patricia Jabbeh Wesley.
The fiction session featured Amani Mosi, Mifa Adejumo, Bello Taiwo Victoria, Mercy Eni, Dami Salami, Riley Hlatshwayo, Mwende Makulu, Mali Kambandu and Marjorie Namara Ruganda.
Novelists Kelechi Okafor and Chukwuebuka Ibeh headlined the keynote panel, “Can the Writer Still Have a Role in Society?”, moderated by Nteranya Sanginga. The discussion explored the role of the writer in the age of AI and social media and how it has changed since the era of Achebe and Ngũgĩ.
The festival concluded with a masterclass, “How to Go From Rejection to Book Deal”, featuring Othuke Ominiabohs and moderated by Ibrahim Babátúndé Ibrahim. The session explored the process of moving from rejection to securing a first book deal.