Profile

Wanjikū Wa Ngūgī is the author of Seasons in Hippoland (Seagull Books, 2021) and The Fall of Saints (Atria Books, 2014). Her short stories and non-fiction essays have appeared in Nairobi Noir (Akashic Books, 2020), Houston Noir, (Akashic Books, 2019), New Daughters of Africa (2019), The Barelife Review (2019), St. Petersburg Review, Wasafiri Magazine, Auburn Avenue, Cunning Folk Magazine, and Chimurenga, amongst others. Her short story “Father Matheri” was runner up for best story for the Africa Book Club Magazine, 2015.

She is the former director of the Helsinki African Film Festival (HAFF). She was also a columnist for the Finnish development magazine Maailman Kuvalehti and served as a juror for the CinenAfrica Film Festival, Stockholm, Sweden, in 2011–2013. Wanjikū is the recipient of the The Bronze Panther Prize, 2014, from the Villa Karo Foundation “for greatly enhancing the mutual understanding between different cultures and reduced biases between peoples, in Helsinki, Finland.” Wanjikū has an MFA in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston and a PhD in English and Creative Writing from Georgia State University.

Education

PhD English and Creative Writing | Georgia State University

MFA Literature and Creative Writing | University of Houston

BA Sociology | New York University

Clifford Thompson

Faculty, MFA in Writing [CNF/ hybrid forms]; Postgraduate Writers' Conference

Connie May Fowler

Faculty, MFA in Writing [fiction/CNF]; Director, Novel Retreat

Miciah Bay Gault

Faculty, MFA in Writing [fiction]; Novel Retreat

Natasha Sajé

Faculty, MFA in Writing [poetry/CNF]

David Wojahn

Faculty, MFA in Writing [poetry]; Postgraduate Writers' Conference

Bret Lott

Faculty, MFA in Writing [fiction/CNF]