Maimouna Jallow is a Nairobi based storyteller, writer and journalist who uses poetry, prose and radio to explore questions around modernity, identity and all that exists in the cracks in between.

Maimouna is passionate about preserving traditional oral storytelling and has performed at various festivals, including the Storymoja Festival, the Hargeisa International Book Fair and Somali Heritage Week.

Maimouna believes that storytelling can be used as an educational tool, not only in teaching moral values, but also to educate children and adults about significant events in African history. “To know your past is to own your future,” she says. “There are clear parallels between the political and economic systems that govern us today and how we came into being as nation states. These are things that we should be continuously questioning and re-examining.”

Maimouna recently directed a contemporary storytelling performance called And Then She Said, which is a re-adaptation of five novels by African women authors.

She is also the curator of an online competition inviting African writers to reimagine the traditional African folktale for a new millennium.

Her fiction and poetry has been published in anthologies called the Fifth Draft and Fresh Paint.