Moraa Gitaa Explained

Moraa Gitaa
Birth Place:Mombasa, Kenya
Nationality:Kenyan
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, culturaladvocate and arts curator. She is the author of the YA novels Let's Talk About This, The Kigango Oracle, Hila and The Shark Attack.

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 marginalizedmembers 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, CreativesGarage 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

Anthologies featured

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Gitaa, Moraa. Crucible for silver and furnace for gold. 2008. Nsemia Publishers. Oakville. 978-0981036229. 276. first.
  2. Book: Gitaa, Moraa. Shifting Sands. 2012. Nsemia Inc.. 978-1-926906-04-1.
  3. News: A Critique of Friendship across Race and Tribe in two Kenyan Novels. 14 August 2013.
  4. Web site: Moraa Gitaa Is a Must-Read Author. The Star. Nairobi. 7 February 2013. 9 August 2017.
  5. News: Evan. Mwangi. Kenya: Books: Kenyan Writers Open Debate On New Corruption Frontiers. 5 March 2006. 14 August 2013. Daily Nation. All Africa.
  6. Web site: Transtition Magazine, Issue 121. 2018-08-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20171104202543/http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/transition-121. 2017-11-04. dead.
  7. Web site: Pen Outwrite, Obscure Oddities.
  8. Web site: Hekaya Initiative, Jihadi Brides.
  9. Web site: James. Murua. 39 Top English Language African Novelists under 40. Writing Africa. }
  10. Book: Gitaa, Moraa . Let's Talk about This . 2023-07-31 . Worlds Unknown . 978-1-7349822-1-3 . en.
  11. Web site: 2020-10-28 . Book Review: Lets Talk About This . Ochieng. Obunga . 2022-05-27 . Nation . en.
  12. Book: Gitaa, Moraa . The Kigango Oracle . 2020-07-31 . Worlds Unknown publishers . 978-1-7349822-5-1 . en.
  13. Book: Gitaa, Moraa . The shark attack . 2014 . 978-9966-34-738-1 . English . 892514533.
  14. Book: Moraa, Gitaa . The Shark Attack . 2020-02-27 . Moran Publishers . 978-9966-34-738-1 . en.
  15. Book: Gitaa, Moraa . Shifting Sands . 2012 . Nsemia . 978-1-926906-04-1 . en.
  16. Book: Gitaa, Moraa . Crucible for Silver and Furnace for Gold . 2008 . Nsemia . 978-0-9810362-2-9 . en.
  17. https://www.uneca.org/african-land-policy-centre/ ALPC Anthology ‘Finding Ground and Other Stories
  18. https://ias.ceu.edu/people/moraa-gitaa/ IAS-CEU Writer-in-Residence
  19. https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/weekend/new-faces-emerge-in-list-for-annual-literary-prizes-3959656#l8fthsfl7j13ga2y99 Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature
  20. https://brittlepaper.com/2021/06/10-writers-longlisted-for-the-2021-james-currey-prize-for-african-literature/ James Currey Prize for African Literature (Longlist)
  21. https://www.tor.com/2021/05/13/the-longlist-for-the-african-speculative-fiction-societys-2021-nommo-awards/ NOMMO Awards (Nominated/Longlist)
  22. https://apexart.org/fellowship/gitaa.php apexart Fellow
  23. https://www.burtaward.org/book/the-shark-attack Burt Award
  24. http://penguin.bookslive.co.za/blog/2010/06/30/shortlists-for-the-inaugural-penguin-prize-for-african-writing/ Penguin Prize for African Writing (Shortlist)
  25. https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/lifestyle/rebel-author-on-a-mission--563068?view=htmlamp NBDCK - Book Week Literary Awards