The Pan-African Initiative for Research (PAIR) Speculative Futures Visiting Writer Series brings visionary writers working in Afrofuturism, speculative fiction, and related genres to Waterloo to engage with students, faculty, and community around diasporic futures, worldbuilding, and resistance narratives.
Our inaugural guest is Shingai Njeri Kagunda (March/April 2026), an award-winning Afrosurrealist/Afrofuturist storyteller from Nairobi, Kenya with a Literary Arts MFA from Brown University. Shingai is the author of We Who Will Not Die (2025 Ignyte Award for Outstanding Novelette) and & This is How to Stay Alive (2022 Ignyte Award winner for best novella). They are co-Editor-in-Chief of Fantasy Magazine (Hugo Award finalist), former co-editor of Podcastle Magazine (Ignyte Award winner), and co-founder of Voodoonauts—an Afrofuturist writing workshop for Black writers. With work featured in Best American Sci-fi and Fantasy, Year's Best African Speculative Fiction, Lightspeed, Africa Risen, and numerous literary journals, Kagunda’s speculative storytelling explores themes of social memory, resistance, and transformation.
During her visit, Kagunda will engage with the community in classroom visits, hosted conversations, and a public reading--creating opportunities for students and faculty across disciplines to engage with speculative fiction as both creative practice and critical methodology.
Full Schedule
Monday, March 16, 11:45am-12:45pm: Storytelling & Social Justice | Online
Kagunda will visit Dr. Katy Fulfer’s Arts First course, “Inquiry and Knowledge Creation: Gender on the Edge of Time” to discuss the relationship between storytelling and social justice.
Monday, March 16, 6:30-8pm: Storyteling & Social Justice, Continued | Online
Theorypratice Lab will host a conversation with Kagunda on storytelling and social justice, keeping the discussion going from their morning guest lecture.
Thursday, March 19, 4-5pm (hybrid): WISH Reading Group Short Story Discussion | Hybrid
The WISH Waterloo Initiative of Solarpunk and Hope will convene to discuss Kagunda’s short story, “The Once-girl Made of Mycelium.” Kagunda will join virtually for an author reading and group discussion.
Location: University of Waterloo, Modern Languages Building, Room 245, Online
Tuesday, April 7, 6-8pm : Public Reading + Conversation | In person
Kagunda will read from recent work followed by conversation shared over food and refreshments.
Location: University of Waterloo, EC5 1111 (305 Philip St)
All events are free and open to the public.
Co-sponsored by the Department of Communication Arts, the Department of English Language and Literature, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through a research grant held by Brianna Wiens, WISH: Waterloo Initiative of Solarpunk and Hope, Theorypractice Lab, and the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Anti-Racism.