James Murua is a Kenyan blogger, journalist and media consultant, who has written for a variety of media outlets. He is a former columnist for The Star newspaper in Kenya, leaving to become a full-time blogger.[1]
In 2013, he founded a website – James Murua.com – that became the leading online platform covering the African literary scene.[2][3] In 2023, the website was renamed to Writing Africa (writingafrica.com).[4] Murua also established a YouTube channel as a space for African literature on the web.[5]
James Murua was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya.[6] He made his debut as a blogger in 2009 with a (now defunct) blog called Nairobiliving.com,[7] and went on to work for The Star newspaper, serving for five years as editor and as a columnist for nine, being voted "Columnist of the Year" in 2009.[8] He has also contributed to Management Magazine (Kenya), The Daily Nation (Kenya), The Nairobian (Kenya), DigifyAfrica.com (South Africa), Johannesburg Review of Books (South Africa),[9] and Africa Independent (South Africa).
In 2013, he founded a website – James Murua.com – that became the leading online platform covering the African literary scene.[2][3] In 2023, the website was renamed Writing Africa, and Murua explained: "The name change had been something that I had thought about for many years. The actual change was however forced on me as the company that I had outsourced the hosting component of my business had an internal falling out. With the owners abandoning the company, staffers set up a separate company and moved as many of their clients as they could to a new internet host. In that melee, I lost some of my websites including JamesMurua.com which lapsed in the interim to the move. Lucky for me, my company had already saved my content on a separate server and all I needed was register a new domain and start again."[4] Murua also established a YouTube channel as a space for African literature on the web.[5]
He has taken part in international book fairs and has conducted workshops on blogging and social media in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi. He has also been a media consultant for the Goethe Institut, Nairobi.[10]
In 2020, Murua served as a judge for the Caine Prize for African Writing,[11] and he was the founding chairman of the Kendeka Prize for African Writing, "the richest independent literary prize for fiction in East Africa".[12]