Writers Space Africa-Rwanda (WSA-R) launched "Voices of Space,” an almanac of multi-genre anthology, designed to raise awareness on some societal based issues and promote creative writing and the culture of reading in Rwanda.

The event that included a book reading session, poetry performances, storytelling and meet-and-greet with authors, took place on Sunday, June 5.

The book is the first episode of Voices of Space series that will be coming up annually, containing different themes in Kinyarwanda and English.

About the book

When you read Voices of Space book, you explore the voices of 44 young Rwandan writers, through 43 poems, 10 stories, 2 essays and 10 quotes that tackle mental health, the art of healing, love, humanity, domestic and gender-based violence, effects of drugs use, motherhood, Rwandan culture and other mundane feelings and philosophies.

According to perfect Nzeyimana, one of the editors of the book and the head of education team at WSA-R, it is their role as Rwandan writers to uplift the literary industry in Rwanda, hence impacting society but also, they wanted a collection of all the authors to showcase what the youth are capable of doing through various voices.

"The fact that many Rwandans are not friendly with reading, we wanted to create something that every individual can relate and engage with, and give room to the authors so that they can communicate,” Nzeyimana says.

The book explores voices of young Rwandan writers. / Photo: Courtesy

He adds that they also chose to make a multi-language book, to make it to both local and international levels, and attract every potential reader.

Vincent Sugira, one the authors of the book, expresses gratitude now that the book is finally out.

"This has been a long journey. A year and half, when we thought about Voices of Space and working on it, and I am glad that the book is finally out and people now know about it,” Sugira says.

He recommends people to read the book and give them feedback, for authors to be motivated to go on with the book series.

Jerome Kajuga, the Director of Culture, Social and Human Sciences at the Rwanda National Commission for UNESCO, says this gives hope that the writing culture will be so much improved in the future to Rwandans.

"I like the new writing techniques these young people have come up with to deliver such a powerful and full-of-knowledge book, attracting all readers in both languages, English and Kinyarwanda,” he says.

He adds that writers are like prophets, what they write about currently has much impact on the readers today, but also to the next generation because a book never gets old.

"When people work together, it adds strength and expression among themselves, while inspiring their young ones, changing the reading behavior in the country,” Kajuga notes.

Lucy Grace Isingizwe, who was part of the audience from the book launch, says as someone who works in the publishing business, this book is something amazing and the writings will go to the big stages in Africa and to the world.

"My sister is part of the group and I was blown away with the amazing work. It is not really easy to find active young talents, but for them to have come from there, to this moment of putting something together and be able to publish it, it is something amazing in the writers’ space in Rwanda,” she says.

She concludes by calling onto more Rwandans to support young talents and buy the book, for them to be inspired and to grow.

Marvin Nicholls, a British-born man who runs Abera Innovation Hub where the event took place said, "It was our pleasure to host the WSA-R book launch. We are committed to youth empowerment, culture and arts. We know they are important aspects to showcase young people’s talents and raise their interest in reading books and overall literacy."

He added: "For us, we wish to promote peace, love, respect, and unity as well as to promote a greater sense of self-identity in order to remember our values and true selves."

The price of the book is 15k and can be found on Amazon or one can text them via their social media accounts as WSA-Rwanda.

WSA-R is a community of Rwandan writers and artists, who are determined to enhance skills, network and collaborate. They aim to promote creative writing and the culture of reading in Rwanda by providing learning platforms for writers, and linking writing art with other different forms of art.