Nonikiwe Mashologu

Nonikiwe Mashologu consults for various Early Literacy organizations in editing and translating around South Africa. She’s the previous Chairperson of IBBY SA, the South African branch of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), which is an international NPO committed to bringing books and children together. Nonikiwe has also worked as a blogger for Nal’ibali, an organization which aims to inspire and sustain reading-for-enjoyment for South African children. She was celebrated as one of 12 women working to drive literacy change in South Africa. Prior to this, Nonikiwe worked as an editor for the Puku Children’s Literature website, a weekly online literary newspaper focused specifically on children’s literature, education and literacy in SA and at the Centre for the Book on the FWIP project (First Words in Print), an award-winning project which places books in their home languages into the hands of children younger than six. She describes herself as a mother, a wife, a children’s literature reviewer, editor and translator, a natural hair blogger.

Rutendo Chabikwa

Rutendo Renee Chabikwa is a writer, poet and former winner of the Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers. Rutendo was born on the 6th of October in 1994 in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. She was awarded a scholarship to study for an International Baccalaureate with the United World Colleges at Lester B. Pearson College in British Columbia, Canada. Rutendo started writing at a very tender age, and while she is honored to receive recognition for her short fiction, her main focus has always been poetry. Writing has always been a passion of hers as she loves to express her creativity through language. Rutendo is currently a an undergraduate student at St. Lawrence University

Kofi Anyimadu

Kofi Anyimadu is a young author, book lover and former judge of the Golden Baobab Prize for Illustrators who lives in Accra and attends North Legon Little Campus. Kofi has three short stories to his credit and is very appreciative of good art when he sees it. Kofi is excited for the opportunity to contribute his perspective to the Golden Baobab Book Prize.

Daphne Lee

Daphne Lee is an editor and writer with more than twenty years experience in the publishing industry. She was a sub-editor and features writer at a leading Malaysian daily for a decade, and wrote a weekly column about children’s books for twelve years. She is currently the consulting editor at children’s and YA publisher Scholastic Asia. Daphne also edits in a freelance capacity, and conducts workshops on creative writing. Nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2011 for her work as a promoter of reading, she is a staunch supporter of the development of African and Asian literature.

Brenda Randolph

Brenda Randolph is the founder and director of Africa Access. She is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, and holds a Master's degree in African Studies from Howard University as well as a Master's in Information Services from the University of Maryland, College Park. Currently she works as Outreach Director at the Center for African Studies at Howard University. She has worked as a library media specialist in Virginia, Massachusetts and Maryland. Brenda received the Francois Manchuelle Award in 2001 for innovative work promoting the cause of African Studies in the K-12 community. The award is given in memory of Dr. Manchuelle, an Africanist historian, who perished in the crash of TWA Flight 800 on July 17, 1996. In 2007 at the 50th anniversary of the founding of the African Studies Association, she received the National Outreach Council Award of Appreciation for outstanding service and commitment to promoting the teaching of Africa through the Children's Africana Book Award. Brenda was a major contributor to Sankofa Journal, a peer-reviewed journal edited by Meena Khorana and published by the Department of English and Language Arts at Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland.

Lanre Shasore

Lanre Shasore’s professional career has focused on governance and rights in the developing world. At various times she has worked with the United Nations as a political analyst in West and East Africa. In 2013 she helped to create Quramo Publishing in Lagos, Nigeria, publishing children's, fiction and general interest books and cannot overemphasize the importance of sharing African stories.

NONIKIWE MASHOLOGU

Nonikiwe Mashologu is a blogger for Nal’ibali, an organization which aims to inspire and sustain reading-for-enjoyment for South African children. She is also the recent past Chairperson for IBBY SA, the South African branch of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People). Nonikiwe has been celebrated as one of 12 women in South Africa who is working to drive literacy change. She believes that all children are born with curious, inquisitive minds that are ready to soak up information like sponges and children love hearing stories. “Introducing them to books at an early stage will take them on so many journeys even before they step out of their communities. It will make them wonder, question and want to explore the world,” Nonikwe says. Prior to her current work, she worked as an editor for the Puku Children’s Literature website. Nonikiwe describes herself as a mother, a wife, a children’s literature reviewer, a blogger and a natural hair guru. She loves photography and the simple things in life. Nonikiwe served as a judge for the 2013 Golden Baobab Prizes.

PAUL ZELINSKY

Paul O. Zelinsky is one of the most prominent chldren’s book illustrators working in the United States today. He studied Art at Yale College and the Tyler School of Art, and after a brief stint teaching college art, he moved to New York to illustrate children’s books. He now lives with his wife in Brooklyn, NY. Zelinsky is known for the versatility of his style. Perhaps his best-known book, The Wheels on the Bus, has sold over three million copies worldwide. Its colorful, expressionist art stands in bold contrast to the Italian Renaissance-style paintings in his retelling of Rapunzel and his other books based on Grimm fairy tales. His recent illustrations for Kelly Bingham’s playfully subversive picture books 'Z is for Moose' and 'Circle, Square, Moose' have been winning him new, ever younger, fans. Paul received the 1987 Caldecott Medal for Rapunzel, as well as three previous Caldecott Honors. His books have won New York Times Best Illustrated awards five times, and numerous other awards and honors. He volunteers extensively with literacy organizations such as RIF, and Learning Leaders. He serves on the Board of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and on the Chldren’s and YA Committee of PEN American Center. For many years he has been a juror for the Ezra Jack Keats Award, given annually to a beginning illustrator and author of a picture book published in the USA.

SUMMER EDWARD

Summer Edward is the Founder and Managing Editor of Anansesem Caribbean children's literature ezine, as well as a writer, poet, children's publishing consultant and children's literature blogger. Born in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, Summer has lived in the United States for a decade. She holds a Masters degree in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of a Highlights Foundation Scholarship for promising children's writers, and also received the School of the Free Mind's inaugural Way of the Book Honor Award given to artist-authors demonstrating long and sincere commitment to changing the world through children's books. In 2012 she was a writer-in-residence with the Cropper Foundation Caribbean Creative Writers Residential Workshop in Trinidad. She most recently participated in a Literary Boot Camp for Women of Color led by A. Naomi Jackson ('The Star Side of Bird Hill' author) at the Kelly Writers House in Philadelphia, USA. Summer's poetry, fiction and art have appeared online in tongues of the ocean, Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters, St. Somewhere Journal and sx salon to name a few, and have been published or are forthcoming in print in BIM: Arts for the 21st Century, The Columbia Review, The Caribbean Writer, Philadelphia Stories, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, and Matatu Journal for African Culture and Society. One of her poems was nominated for a Puschart Prize and her short story 'A View of the Sea' was shortlisted for the Small Axe Literary Prize. Her writing and art for children is carded to appear in an international anthology of children's literature edited by Pura Belpré-award-winning children's author-artist, Maya Gonzalez. Summer is the recipient of a Roothbert Fellowship for people motivated in their life's work by spiritual values.

KOFI ANYIMADU

Kofi Anyimadu is an 8-year book lover and writer who lives in Accra and attends North Legon Little Campus. His current favorite book is Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry. Kofi has three short stories to his credit and although he is not very good at drawing himself, is very appreciative of good art when he sees it. Kofi is excited for the opportunity contribute his perspective to the inaugural Golden Baobab Prizes for Illustrators.

NANCY DROST

Dr. Nancy Drost lives in Accra, Ghana and has had a long love affair with African literature. She is an educationist, and promotes African novels and short stories in her community. An avid reader, participant in the Accra Book Club and Board member of Golden Baobab, she is thrilled to be a first-time judge for the Prize.

KANENGO DIALLO

Thirteen year old Kanengo Rebecca Diallo lives in the city of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania, with her mother, Nuru, her father, Anthony, and her two siblings. Since she was eight years old, Kanengo’s dream has been to become a world renowned author of books and if lucky, best-selling books. Kanengo discovered that she has a unique talent of drawing manga or anime comics. Usually when she writes her stories, she turns them into comics. Kanengo is the winner of the 2013 Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers with her story Pieces of Africa. It features four children with diverse backgrounds who come from different parts of Africa. To save the world, the children have been chosen to find all the magical puzzle pieces scattered around Africa. Kanengo is an eighth grade student at the International School of Tanganyika (IST). She hopes to write a series to follow Pieces of Africa and hopefully get published.

DOREEN BAINGANA

Doreen Baingana is a Ugandan writer and author of Tropical Fish, which won an AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) Prize for Short Fiction in 2004 and the Commonwealth Prize for First Book, Africa Region, in 2006. Two stories in it were finalists for the Caine Prize for African Writing. Ms. Baingana has also published two children’s books, Gamba the Gecko Wants to Drum and My Fingers are Stuck, as well as fiction and essays in journals such as The African American Review, Callaloo, Agni, Glimmertrain, Kwani and Chimurenga. She has a law degree from Makerere University and an MFA from the University of Maryland, where she later was a Writer in Residence. She worked for Voice of America radio for ten years and Storymoja, a Kenyan publishing house, for two, as well as having taught creative writing in the US, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. She was Chairperson of FEMRITE: the Uganda Women Writers Association in 2011-2013, a winner of the inaugural Miles Morland Scholarship 2014 and a judge of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2014. She lives in Entebbe with her son.

AKUA PEPRAH

Akua Peprah grew up in Accra, Ghana and is currently a second grade teacher at The Park School of Baltimore. Akua completed a BA in French at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and a MSEd in Childhood General Education and Teaching Literacy. She is passionate about children's literature and is always searching for stories to share with her students, that reflect their experiences and also expose them to new ideas and cultures. Akua is also an avid reader of African literature, women authors and poetry!

KINNA LIKIMANI

Kinna Likimani is the Programs Officer for Mbaasem Foundation, which works to support and promote African women’s writing. She is the Founder of AfterSchool Ghana, an NGO that aims to improve the educational and social well-being of rural and urban disadvantaged children. She also co-founded the Abeadze Women's Development Organization, a rural community organization empowering women to achieve economic, social and gender justice. She is also Team Lead of Ghana Decides, a non-partisan project focused on fostering a better-informed electorate using online social media tools. Likimani is a feminist, social activist and a writer. Her literary blog, Kinna Reads, is one of the go-to locations online for dialogue on African literature. In 2012, she began an online based literacy challenge - the Africa Reading Challenge - which encourages participants to read, discover and discuss African literature for one year. Likimani has degrees from Smith College and Columbia University in the U.S. Prior to her return to Ghana in 2004, she worked for ten years at Columbia University in the fields of medical informatics and technology transfer. She and her brood of boys live in Accra.

ESI SUTHERLAND-ADDY

Esi Sutherland-Addy is a professor at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, working in the Language, Literature and Drama Section. She has served on several boards, committees and commissions in the University, nationally and internationally and is currently Chairperson of the National Inspectorate Board and Afram Publications Ghana Ltd. She also serves on the Executive Board of the Forum for African Women Educationalists and the Centre for Higher Education Transformation (RSA). Sutherland held two ministerial positions as Deputy Minister for Culture and Tourism and Higher Education respectively(1986-1993). Her research interests are in written and oral literature, gender, performing arts as well as education and cultural policy. She is currently setting up an archive of storytelling in Ghana at the Institute of African Studies. She has also written/edited over 50 books and articles including: Women Writing Africa, West Africa and the Sahel (edited with Aminata Diaw)and Ghana Where the Bead Speaks, written with Ama Ata Aidoo and Kati Torda. Esi Sutherland-Addy has received several awards including an Honorary Dr. of Letters. (Winneba) and is an Honorary Fellow of the College of Preceptors, U.K. Her work in civil society cuts across the arts, children, girl’s education and capacity building. She is currently Secretary to Mmofra Foundation, Chairperson of the Forum for African Women Educationalists Ghana Chapter and Convener of the Ghana Culture Forum.

BERNARDINE EVARISTO

Bernardine Evaristo was born in Woolwich, South East London, the fourth of eight children, to an English mother and Nigerian father. Her father was a welder and local Labour Councillor and her mother a schoolteacher. She was educated at Eltham Hill Girls Grammar School, the Rose Bruford College of Speech & Drama, and Goldsmiths College, University of London, where she earned a doctorate in Creative Writing. Bernardine is the author of seven books including her forthcoming novel, Mr Loverman, about a 74 year old Caribbean London man who is closet homosexual (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin, August 29th 2013). Her writing is characterised by experimentation, daring, subversion and challenging the myths of various Afro-diasporic histories and identities. Her writing ranges in genre from poetry, verse-novels, a novel-with-verse, a novella, short stories, prose novels, radio and theatre drama and literary essays and criticism. Bernardine has won several awards and her books have been a ‘Book of the Year’ twelve times in British newspapers. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2004, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2006, and she received an MBE in 2009. She lives in London with her husband.

OSAYIMWENSE OSA

Osayimwense Osa is the author of African Children's and Youth Literature (1995) in the Twayne's World Authors Series, Foundation - Essays in Children's Literature and Youth Literature (1987), Nigerian Youth Literature (1987), and editor of The All White World of Children's Books and African American Children's Literature (1995), Youth Literature International - A Selection of Readings (1988), and African Children’s and Youth Literature at the Dawn of the 21st Century (2004-2006). He has taught in various universities on both sides of the Atlantic. A Fellow of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, he is currently a Professor of English at Virginia State University.He was a British Council sponsored scholar for Practical Explorations in English Language Teaching Methodology at the University of Stirling in Scotland in 1986, a Fellow at the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, in 1989, and a Fellow at the International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka, Japan, in 1994. In September 2004, he was a part of the US delegate to the 29th Biennial Congress of the International Board on Books for young People (IBBY) in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the Founding Editor of the Journal of African Children's & Youth Literature (JACYL), and he is a member of the International Advisory Board of The Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics.

Nonikiwe Mashologu is the Chairperson of IBBY SA, the South African branch of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), which is an international NPO committed to bringing books and children together. Nonikiwe, who was recently celebrated as one of 12 women in South Africa who is working to drive literacy change in South Africa, believes that all children are born with curious, inquisitive minds, soak up information like sponges and love hearing stories. “Introducing them to books at an early stage will take them on so many journeys even before they step out of their communities. It will make them wonder, question and want to explore the world,” she says. Prior to her current position at IBBY SA, Nonikiwe worked as an editor for the Puku Children’s Literature website. Nonikiwe describes herself as a mother, a wife, a children’s literature reviewer, a blogger and a natural hair guru. She loves photography and the simple things in life.

ZETTA ELLIOTT

Born in Canada, Zetta Elliott moved to the US in 1994 to pursue her PhD in American Studies at NYU. Her poetry has been published in several anthologies, and her plays have been staged in New York, Chicago, and Cleveland. Her essays have appeared in Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, and Hunger Mountain. Her first picture book, Bird, won the Honor Award in Lee & Low Books’ New Voices Contest; it was named Best of 2008 by Kirkus Reviews, a 2009 ALA Notable Children’s Book, and Bird won the Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers. Elliott’s first young adult novel, A Wish After Midnight, has been called “gripping,” “a revelation…vivid, violent and impressive history.” Her latest novel, Ship of Souls, was published in 2012; it was included in Booklist’s Top Ten Sci-fi/Fantasy Titles for Youth and was a finalist for the Phillis Wheatley Book Award. Zetta Elliott is Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Borough of Manhattan Community College and currently lives in Brooklyn.

Annette M. Hansen was born and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, IL, the United States of America. After completing two BA’s in Near Eastern Archaeology and Arabic Studies from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, she completed a MSc. in Archaeological Science at Keble College, the University of Oxford. She has studied and worked in eight countries (including Egypt and Morocco), and presently lives in the Netherlands with her partner where she works as a researcher, administrator and English teacher at University of Groningen. In her free time, she writes novels and children’s stories.

YOHANNES GEBREGEORGIS

Ethiopian Yohannes Gebregeorgis is the founder of the SEGENAT FOUNDATION ( segenatfoundation.org), an organization geared towards enhancing literacy among Ethiopian children. Yohannes, whoemigratedto the United Statesof America in 1982, attained both his B.A. and Masters in the USA, gaining a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas. Whilst, working with the San Francisco Public Library as a children’s librarian, he authored the children’s book Silly Mammo, written in English with Amharic translation, after he discovered a dearth in books written in his native Amharic language. He returned to Ethiopia in 2002 along with 15,000 books and opened the Shola Children’s Library in 2003; he has subsequently opened many other school libraries. His achievements also include establishing the Donkey Mobile Libraries programme which ensures that even children in the rural parts of Ethiopia have access to books. His organisation also publishes books in Amharic for Ethiopian writers and established the Awassa Reading Centre. Yohannes was named one of the Top 10 Heroes of the Year by CNN in 2008 for his many contributions to literacy in Ethiopia. He is currently lecturer of Library and Information Science at the Mekelle University.

VIVIAN YENIKA-AGBAW

Vivian Yenika-Agbaw is associate professor of Language and Literacy Education at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park where she teaches children's and adolescent literature. She is also an affiliate faculty in the African Studies program. Prior to her current affiliation with Penn State she taught high school level English in Cameroon; secondary English methods, literature and composition courses at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, and English Language Arts at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Vivian is currently an assistant editor of Sankofa: Journal of African Children's and Young Adult Literature and serves on the editorial boards of IRA's Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy and NCTE's Language Arts. Representing Africa in Children's Literature: Old and New Ways of Seeing is one of her most recent books.

CAROL BROOMHALL

Carol Broomhall has 18 years’ experience in the publishing industry. As a Publisher at Jacana Media, she has conceptualised and commissioned a range of award-winning children’s books and has built up a publishing list with wide appeal. She is passionate about helping to grow a culture of reading in South Africa. She promotes and supports the development of children’s literature in Africa by trying to publish each book in as many languages as possible to enable children to access books in their home language. Carol has a long history of involvement in alternative education projects in South Africa, conceptualising, developing and managing communication campaigns focusing on behaviour change, with a focus on HIV/Aids. Material has been produced across an extensive spectrum of subjects, languages, literacy levels, target audiences, packages and media working in partnership with many different stakeholders.

Nigerian-born, Atinuke, has a heritage which lays claim to Nigeria, England, Wales, Portugal, Spain and China. However, she is the author of the much-acclaimed Anna Hibiscus and No.1 Car Spotter children’s stories set in Africa. Atinuke, who currently resides in Wales, lived in Nigeria until age 10 when she moved to the United Kingdom to continue her education, but still spent most holidays in Nigeria. She went on to Oxford University to study Commonwealth Literature. Her written children’s stories have won her many awards including the Boston Globe Horn Book Award Honor, the Gryphon Awards Honour Book and the Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year. Her storytelling is not only limited to written works as she is also a versatile oral storyteller who has told stories in various venues throughout the United Kingdom.

KOPANO MATLWA

A current Rhode Scholar pursuing an MSc in Global Health Science at Oxford University, Kopano Matwla is a doctor and an award-winning author of the novels, Coconut and Spilt Milk. Her novel Coconut, published in 2006, won her the 2007 EU Literary Award and the 2010 Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature. Kopano who is a graduate of the University of Cape Town where she attained a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery, is also the chair and founding member of the non-profit organisation WREMS – Waiting Room Education by Medical Students. This organisation sensitizes patients on common health issues in the waiting rooms of mobile clinics run by students. In 2005, she was honoured with the Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Award.

Tanja Galetti was born in Southern Germany but lived in Ghana for 18 years before moving to Hong Kong this August. She earned a Master’s degree in African Linguistics from University of Bayreuth (Germany) and a Master’s in Educational Technology from Indiana State University, Terre Haute. After serving for five years as Elementary Library Media Specialist at Lincoln Community School (LCS), Accra, Ghana, she recently joined Hong Kong Academy (HKA) as Primary School Librarian. At HKA, just like previously at LCS, she engages with over 300 children, ages 3-11, from around 50 different countries. She is passionate about kindling their passion for reading and constantly seeks new reading materials that ignite her young readers’ interest. At the same time she aims at developing a multicultural collection, which allows readers to connect with their home or host culture, as well as with other cultures from around the world. Tanja also collaborates with classroom teachers on the integration of information literacy skills, thereby exploring technology and Web 2.0 tools (find her on Twitter as tgaletti and Shelfari). Tanja co-authored an annotated bibliography on Nubian Languages and participated in an oral history project on beads in Ghana, contributing also to the resulting publication The Bead is Constant.