was produced by the Kwani Trust, an organization dedicated to fostering Kenya's and Africa's intellectual, creative, and imaginative resources through strategic literary initiatives.

For instance, the seventh issue (2012/3), titled "Majuu" (a Sheng word meaning "overseas"), was "a 570-page testament to the journal's diasporic roots".

The project established a judging panel that included notable figures such as Jamal Mahjoub, Ellah Allfrey (deputy editor of Granta magazine), Helon Habila, Simon Gikandi, Mbugua wa Mungai (chairman of Kenyatta University's Literature Department), and Irene Staunton (associated with Weaver Press in Zimbabwe).

[18] On 12 April 2013, the project unveiled a longlist of selected manuscripts,[19] and later in July 2013, the winner was announced as Ugandan writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi.

The runner-up position was awarded to Liberia's Saah Millimono for One Day I Will Write About This War, and third place was secured by Kenya's Timothy Kiprop Kimutai for The Water Spirits.