Moraa Gitaa

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Moraa Gitaa
Moraa Gitaa.jpg
Born
Mombasa, Kenya
NationalityKenyan
Alma mater Africa Nazarene University, Nairobi - BA in Peace and Conflict Studies

Moraa Gitaa is a Kenyan novelist, born in Mombasa. She is also a Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution 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.

Contents

Career

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 included Gitaa in a list of 39 top African novelists under the age of 40 writing in English. [9]

Works

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 Gitaa, Moraa (2008). Crucible for silver and furnace for gold (first ed.). Oakville: Nsemia Publishers. p. 276. ISBN   978-0981036229.
  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. Murua, James (9 May 2014). "39 Top English Language African Novelists under 40". Writing Africa. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  10. Gitaa, Moraa (2023-07-31). Let's Talk about This. Worlds Unknown. ISBN   978-1-7349822-1-3.
  11. Obunga, Ochieng (2020-10-28). "Book Review: Lets Talk About This". Nation. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  12. Gitaa, Moraa (2020-07-31). The Kigango Oracle. Worlds Unknown publishers. ISBN   978-1-7349822-5-1.
  13. Gitaa, Moraa (2014). The shark attack. Moran Publishers. ISBN   978-9966-34-738-1. OCLC   892514533.
  14. Moraa, Gitaa (2020-02-27). The Shark Attack. Moran Publishers. ISBN   978-9966-34-738-1.
  15. Gitaa, Moraa (2012). Shifting Sands. Nsemia. ISBN   978-1-926906-04-1.
  16. Gitaa, Moraa (2008). Crucible for Silver and Furnace for Gold. Nsemia. ISBN   978-0-9810362-2-9.
  17. ALPC Anthology ‘Finding Ground and Other Stories
  18. Kenya Publishers Association
  19. Nuria Bookstore's 2024
  20. IAS-CEU Writer-in-Residence
  21. Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature
  22. James Currey Prize for African Literature (Longlist)
  23. NOMMO Awards (Nominated/Longlist)
  24. apexart Fellow
  25. Burt Award
  26. Penguin Prize for African Writing (Shortlist)
  27. NBDCK - Book Week Literary Awards