Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ (born 1970s) is a Kenyan writer, who has lived and worked in Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Finland. She is the founder and former director of the Helsinki African Film Festival (HAFF).^[1] Also a political analyst, she is a member of the editorial board ofMatatu: Journal for African Literature and Culture and Society, and has been a columnist for the Finnish development magazineMaailman Kuvalehti. Among journals and newspapers in which her work has appeared areThe Herald (Zimbabwe),The Daily Nation,Business Daily,Pambazuka News andChimurenga.^[2] She is the author of a novel published in 2014 and a contributor to anthologies includingNew Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent (2019, edited byMargaret Busby),Nairobi Noir (2020, edited by Peter Kimani).^[3]

Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ was born in Kenya into a family of writers that includes her father,Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and her brotherMũkoma wa Ngũgĩ.^[2] She studied for a BA in political science and sociology atNew York University^[4][5] and holds an MFA from theUniversity of Houston.^[6] She later worked as an editor for the American publishing house Africa World Press, and has served in other editorial positions, such as on the editorial board of the journalMatatu.^[7]

After completing her studies she spent time in Eritrea, before moving to Zimbabwe, where she lived for five years and worked as an editor as well as production manager,^[8] also travelling during these years to different African countries, including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.^[9] In 2007, she and her Finnish partner moved to Helsinki, where she founded the Helsinki African Film Festival (HAFF).^[6]

Wanjikũ has written plays and short stories,^[10] and her first novel,The Fall of Saints, was published byAtria Books in 2014.^[11] Her short story "Hundred Acres of Marshland" featured in 2019'sNew Daughters of Africa,^[12] edited byMargaret Busby, and she was also a contributor toNairobi Noir, edited by Peter Kimani (2020).^[13] Among other publications in which her short stories and essays have appeared areHouston Noir,The Barelife Review,St. Petersburg Review,Wasafiri,Auburn Avenue,Cunning Folk Magazine, andChimurenga.^[6][12]

Wanjikũ's second novel,Seasons in Hippoland, was published by Seagull Press in 2021,^[7][14] characterised by one reviewer as a "dreamlike coming-of-age novel ... about the power of storytelling".^[15]

• The Fall of Saints, Atria Books, 2014.ISBN 9781476714936^[16]
• Seasons of Hippoland, Seagull Press, 2021.ISBN 9780857428943^[17]

• Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ website

• 1970s births
• 21st-century Kenyan women writers
• 21st-century Kenyan writers
• Kenyan novelists
• Kenyan women novelists
• Living people
• New York University alumni
• University of Houston alumni
• Women short story writers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Date of birth not in Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Pages using infobox person with deprecated parameters
• Year of birth uncertain
• Date of birth missing (living people)