Details

Some contributors, like Somalia’s Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, have since returned home to Mogadishu. But, the likes of Bob Rugurika who escaped Burundi’s death squad and Tanzania’s Ansbert Ngurumo are stuck in exile. So are Farida Nabourema (Togo) and Makaila N’Guebla (Chad) who, for years, have been hounded from one sanctuary abroad to the next. Other contributors hail from Cameroon, Eritrea, The Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda and Uganda. The rest are from Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

“Hounded is both a tribute and a record of history,” notes book editor Joseph Odindo while paying homage to hounded scribes. “It’s an acknowledgment of the commitment to truth and justice in little-known corners of the continent.”

Saluting exiled journalists for their bravery, KAS Media Africa Director Christoph Plate said writers continued to flee their countries in modern times because “the digital availability of many ideas and thoughts does not always come along with freedom of speech, or even of thought.”