About Lily Mabura

Lily Mabura has pursued a transnational literary and scholarly career in countries such as Kenya, the USA, and the UAE. Mabura has degrees from the University of Nairobi, the University of Idaho (MFA in Creative Writing - Fiction), and the University of Missouri-Columbia (PhD English - Creative Writing & Africana Studies). Her literary awards include the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature; Kenya's National Book Week Literary Award; and the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award. Her short story "How Shall We Kill the Bishop?" was shortlisted for the 2010 Caine Prize for African Writing. Mabura's publications include a first novel titled The Pretoria Conspiracy and four children's books: Oma, Saleh Kanta and the Cavaliers, Seth the Silly Gorilla, and Ali the Little Sultan. Her latest book is a collection of short stories titled How Shall We Kill the Bishop and Other Stories (African Writers Series, Heinemann-Pearson, 2012). With John Mugubi, she co-edited The Warm Heart of Africa and Other Stories (KICD 2017 Edition, Longhorn Publishers - Kenya). Short fiction by Mabura has appeared in PRISM international, Wasafiri, Callaloo, the 2007 Fish Anthology, Love on the Road 2015 anthology, and Antología: Escritores africanos contemporáneos (Editorial Empatía, Argentina, 2018). Her scholarly work has appeared in various international journals, including Research in African Literatures.