Reviewers' Profiles

Jay Heale has been a primary school teacher, librarian, author, publisher, bookseller, and general enthusiast of children’s literature in England and South Africa for quite a long time. He has a degree from Oxford University and a teaching diploma from the University of Cape Town. He is actively involved with various children’s literature projects in South Africa. Jay Heale has attended ten IBBY Congresses; he was twice on the Jury of the Hans Christian Andersen Award and then twice President of that Jury. He organised the 2004 IBBY Congress in Cape Town.

Meena Khorana is a professor of English and Adolescent Literature at Morgan State University, Baltimore (Maryland, USA). In 1995, she was appointed editor-in-chief of IBBY’s journal, Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, publishing a total of twenty-two issues during her six-year tenure. In 2002, she founded a new journal, Sankofa: A Journal of African Children’s and Young Adult Literature. She is the author of The Indian Subcontinent in Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography of English-Language Books (Greenwood, 1991), Africa in Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography of English-Language Books (Greenwood, 1994), and The Life and Works of Ruskin Bond (Praeger, 2003). She has edited British Children’s Writers 1800–1880 (Gale, 1996) and Critical Perspectives on Postcolonial African Children’s and Young Adult Literature (Greenwood, 1998). In addition, her many articles have appeared in the major publications in the field of international children’s literature.

Anna Louw is a retired Associate Professor of Information Science, with a love of literature for the young and the promotion of reading.

Suzana Mukobwajana Murara has worked for Editions Bakame since June 2003, and was appointed its Managing Director in January 2005. A graduate in Political science from La Sorbonne, she has held a variety of positions in various fields: United Nations employee, farmer, French teacher, director of transport companies, and trainer. She has travelled, lived, studied, and worked in many countries – Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo, Guinea, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroun, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and the United States – with one constant in life: the passion for literature. Working in the field of books is a dream come true.

Jafred S. Musisi was born in Western Kenya where he got his primary and secondary education. Later, he studied at Makerere University in Uganda and Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. He has a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science, and has worked as a librarian since 1956 in the Ministry of Agriculture (Kenya), Nation Media Group Library, Kenya Science Teachers College, and Moi University. Currently, he is University Librarian at the Kenya Methodist University in Meru, Kenya. Musisi has served as Secretary General and Chairman of the Kenya Library Association, and as host Chair to the IFLA, SCECSAL, and the Commonwealth Library Association. He is the author of over fifty articles in leading international journals, with five festchrifts and chapters in three books. He is also a consultant in Library and Information Services.

Adrian Onyando lives close to Lake Victoria and is a lecturer in Creative Writing, African Oral Literature, and Latin American Literature at Egerton University, Kenya. He is also the author of over thirty creative works, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of his well-known works are The Epic of Gor Mahia, Heart of Wilderness, and Taming the Wild, all published by Pangolin Publishers Ltd., Egerton, Kenya.

Maria Candelaria Posada was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She received a degree in Philosophy and Literature from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and then pursued graduate studies in English and Comparative Literature at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. For over fifteen years she worked as an editor for Editorial Norma, the largest publishing house in Latin America, and then she became the Editorial Director for Children’s Books for eight years. In January 2005, she began her career with the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) as Director of Communications and Project Development. In December 2005, she relocated to the United States and was IBBY Project Leader until 2006.

Olakunle Sogbein has a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Microbiology (1987), a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (1992), and a Master of Business Administration (1998). After a brief stint as a science teacher, he began his career in publishing (and the book business in general) with the representative of the World Book International in Nigeria. He subsequently worked for Longman Nigeria Plc. as a Sales Promotion Manager until 2004, when he joined the Nigerian Publishers Association as the Executive Secretary (Director). He has attended several short courses and seminars relevant to publishing, marketing, and management.

Elizabeth Muthoni Warrick is a children’s librarian and former teacher who has worked and lived in four countries: Kenya, Mozambique, the United States, and Zambia. As a mother of two children, she is an avid supporter of local publishing as a means of creating books that promote literacy by being affordable, and foster a love of reading by being immediately relevant to children’s lives.