The Africa Institute at Global Studies University (GSU), Sharjah, has announced Goretti Kyomuhendo, Nzube Nlebedim, and Godfrey Mwampembwa as its Fall 2026 Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellows.
The Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship is named in honour of the late Nigerian scholar and literary critic Tejumola Olaniyan. It supports writers connected to Africa and the African diaspora by providing them with space to develop creative projects within the Institute’s academic community.
Author of five novels, including Secrets No More (1999), which won the Uganda National Literary Award for Best Novel; Waiting (2007), translated into Spanish; and Promises (2025), Goretti Kyomuhendo is a Ugandan novelist and the founding director of the African Writers Trust and TUBAZE African Books. She will work on The Invisible Enemy, a novel following four characters through the global lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project examines the effects of the pandemic on everyday life, with particular attention to migration, exile, loss, love, and resilience.
The second fellow, Nzube Nlebedim, is the founder of the literary magazine, The Shallow Tales Review, and a Nigerian essayist, literary critic, and editor. He holds a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Ibadan and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Lagos. A graduate of the 2025 Granta Memoir Writing Course, he has received funding from the Hawthornden Foundation. His debut essay collection, At Night Men Take the Lonely Way Back Home, was published in 2024.
During his residency, he will develop Hotel Lumumba, a memoir tracing the lives of his maternal and paternal grandfathers and their roles during the Nigerian Civil War. At its center is his discovery that his maternal grandfather, whom he never knew, owned a hotel named in tribute to Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba. The memoir connects these family histories with Nlebedim’s childhood memories of Nigeria’s transition to democracy in 1999.
Godfrey Mwampembwa, known professionally as Gado, is a Tanzanian editorial cartoonist, graphic journalist, animator, and television producer. His work has appeared in publications including The Continent, Daily Nation, Le Monde, Courrier International, and Deutsche Welle. He is co-founder of Buni Media and the creator and producer of The XYZ Show, a weekly satirical puppet series broadcast on Kenyan television since 2009. A graduate of Vancouver Film School’s Classical Animation program, he has received the Prince Claus Award, the Cartooning for Peace International Editorial Cartoon Award, and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. In 2022, the French government named him a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
During his residency, Gado will develop The Martyr, a graphic novel examining economic inequality, marginalization, radicalization, and violent extremism in East Africa. It follows Omar, a young Kenyan sculptor who joins al-Shabaab after being wrongfully arrested and imprisoned for two years.
Congratulations, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Nzube Nlebedim, and Godfrey Mwampembwa!
