Billy Kahora

Billy Kahora is the Managing Editor of the Kenyan literary journal Kwani? He is a Chevening Scholar with an MS.c In Creative Writing from the University Of Edinburgh, Scotland. His writings have been published in Granta, Kwani?,and Vanity Fair. His short story, “Treadmill Love,” was highly commended by the 2007 Caine Prize judges. He has recently edited Kenya Burning, a visual narrative on the Kenyan post elections violence published by the GoDown Arts Centre and Kwani Trust in March 2009.  

Billy is also an Editor of the Picha Mtaani/Kwani Trust book project; and was a Regional Judge for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.  He has written one book of creative nonfiction, The True Story of David Munyakei (2009), as well as the script for the 2010 film Soul Boy (dir Tom Tykver) that won an audience award at the Berlin Film Festival and a Kalasha Award  for Best Script at the Kenya Film Awards. He is working on a novel titled, “The Applications" and has just completed a residency at the Iowa International Writers Program.