Brainstorm; winner best political blog Kenyan Blog Awards 2014. Brenda Wambui and Michael Onsando are the brains behind it. They recently launched and quarterly online journal; When Women Speak; a book that focuses on feminism by several contributors.
I interviewed Brenda Wambui to get insight into why they published the book this is what she had to say:
1. What is brainstorm all about?
Brainstorm is about the need for an alternative voice in Kenya. We feel that there are stories that need to be told that aren’t being told. It’s also about dwelling on stories – hence the long form. We need to think more about what is happening and to go in depth into both Kenya as a state but the world in general.
2. Why a book on feminism?
The book was launched in March, a month that hosts international Women’s day. Since both of us are feminists it made sense to talk about how Kenya treats women.
3. How did you come up with the title “When Women Speak”
The title when women speak was thought of by one of our contributors a few months ago. Following an argument on twitter about feminism she wrote a blogpost titled when women speak. We simply asked her if we could use it for the book.
4. Tell us a bit about your crowdfunding campaign
We are trying to raise money to increase our content offering. We would like to have a magazine, podcast, youtube channel and a lot more. The crowdfunding campaign is one of the ways we are looking at to raise this money.
5. How does it relate to the e-book
The ebook involved writers and a designer. Money from the crowdfunding campaign would allow for us to pay them.
6. What’s your take on the current state of feminism in Kenya
This would involve an entire paper of its own. There is feminism in Kenya. There is a lot of feminism in Kenya, We are trying to find a way to amplify these voices and get it heard.
7. What next after this book
As said earlier we plan to release another ebook on mental health in June. Also we want to start podcasting very soon and doing a magazine. In the larger scale of things we plan to create a serious alternative voice online in Kenya and, soon, Africa.
The book is a great read. It’s available for download here brainstorm.co.ke