Spotlight: Anne Moraa

Spotlight is a monthly series showcasing work by a member (or member emeritus) of Jalada Africa. Each month, we explore poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photo/video essays, comics, films: it could be anything, as long as it’s produced by a Jaladan. We also highlight their past and present contributions to the Collective, whether editorial, managerial, or organizational.

Anne Moraa is a founding member of Jalada Africa. She is also a Kenyan feminist writer, editor and performer, who now delights in her anger. She is the ‘M’ in the LAM Sisterhood, an award-winning story company that exists to make African women feel seen, heard and beloved.

Her writing can be found in Catapult, The Meridians Journal, The Elephant, The Wide Margin and so on, while her performances have taken her from Kenya through to South Korea and Scotland. Anne is currently developing delectables while eating copious amounts of chilli-lemon crisps. You can follow her on Twitter via @tweetmoraa.

This month, Anne shares a new poem. She says,”In this time, it was easy to forget the love and support we do have. In a dark moment, a friend reached out and I remembered. I had to give thanks.”

To the sisters who chose me

for the tear stained old t-shirts from that bar 
crawl and heart run

for the twist of sane in my ear
and cackling too, like market women, we were
told when we were thirteen

for being made entire

for being
for being
for being

thank you

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Anne Moraa was the Lead Editor on Jalada 08: Bodies (2019), contributed the poem, “Distant Relatives” to Jalada 06: Diaspora x DWF (2018) and worked as an editor on Jalada 04: The Language Issue (2016). She interviewed Tsitsi Dangaremba for The Jalada Conversations No 5 (2015), worked as an editor on Jalada 02: Afrofuture(s) (2015), contributed the short story, “Bound” to Jalada 01: Sext Me Poems and Stories (2014) and was the Managing Editor of Jalada 00: Sketch of a Bald Woman in the Semi-Nude and Other Stories (2014).