ABOUT US
KWEE began as a remedy to the problem within Liberia literature, which had entered a drastic decline shortly before the first civil conflict. The years after the war, there was a still deafening silence. But as the dust settled, new voices emerged from all over the place. They told stories of war, personal experiences, romance etc. Slowly, the literary culture began resurfacing. Sadly, they had very little options. There were not many homes, mentors or publishers to take them to the next level. Of the few, The Perspective, Liberiapedia, Sea Breeze Journal and Liberia Studies Journal did immensely well to keep the literary world alive. To these, mentioned and not mentioned, we are most grateful. However short-lived the efforts, they were most meaningful.
We soon noticed that this was not unique to Liberian literature. Other African writers or poets suffered same. In an already difficult field, African writers find ever increasing challenges in the literary world. Finding a landing space for their work is challenging at best. In the event they do, many publishers wish to water down their creativity to fit into the westo-cultural worldview either because they do not understand it, are uncomfortable with it or have a stereotype of what African literature should be.
At KWEE, we know the dangers in generalizing creativity, more so, those of African origins. Africa is NOT a country. It is a complexity of massive proportions and any attempts to box it into a small creative space is bound to fail. Kwee began publishing to change that narrative. We offered [and still do] a space for emerging and established writers, poets, artists and other creative minds from all over Africa.
Today, KWEE has proudly transitioned into a fine blend. Our original focus remains but we have devised a special way of mixing African voices with creativity from every other part of the world. This is partly responsible for our success. We focus on creativity and quality and those come not in color or race, but is found in all humans. Cognizant of this, we expanded our original focus to include talents from writers, poets, artists and anyone who has a creative talent regardless of where they come from. This has made us home to a diverse group of creative artists.