Billy Kahora

Billy Kahora is a writer from Kenya. He is currently a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Bristol and also working on a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. He was Managing Editor of Kwani? Trust, a Nairobi based literary network, and edited 7 issues of the Kwani? journal and other Kwani? publications, including Nairobi 24 and Kenya Burning. He was also Kwani? Litfest Curator 2008-2015 and initiated the Kwani? Manuscript Prize. His work has appeared in Chimurenga, McSweeney’s, Granta Online, Internazionale, Vanity Fair and Kwani?. He has published a non-fiction novella, The True Story Of David Munyakei (2010), and a short story collection, The Cape Cod Bicycle War (2019). His stories ‘Urban Zoning’ and ‘The Gorilla’s Apprentice’ were shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2012 and 2014 respectively. He wrote the screenplay for the movie Soul Boy and co-wrote Nairobi Half Life, both of which won Kalasha awards. He is working on a novel titled The Applications.