KESSA Young Panafrican Storytellers Program 2026 – YOA

Deadline: January 9, 2026

Applications are open for the KESSA Young Panafrican Storytellers Program 2026. KESSA helps the brand new era of African storytellers — those that write, movie, create, suppose, and rework the continent’s narratives.

KESSA was born from a easy conviction: telling Africa’s story in another way is already a means of remodeling it. Africa is a continent of voices, recollections, and imaginations. In its cities, phases, studios, laboratories, and media areas, highly effective narratives are rising — tales that encourage, problem perceptions, and reveal a continent in movement.

A joint initiative of the UM6P Story School and the French-African Foundation, KESSA goals to assist and elevate the skills who’re shaping a contemporary, daring, and provoking African narrative. The phrase KESSA, that means “story” in Arabic and in a number of African dialects, embodies this ambition: to amplify tales that resonate, join, and rework.

Benefits

This is a singular pan-African program designed to:

• Fix: Fix the inventive voices which might be shifting views.
• Support: Support rising expertise by first-price coaching.
• Connect: Connect a pan-African group of creators, thinkers and storytellers.

During an immersive week on the UM6P Story School campus, the 30 chosen laureates will profit from an surroundings the place creativity, innovation, and storytelling come collectively.

Eligibility

Candidates should:

• Be an African;
• Be between 25 and 40 years previous;
• Have at the very least 5 years of expertise of their discipline;
• Demonstrate vital inventive apply or narrative work;
• Possess an energetic and engaged viewers linked to Africa;
• Contribute to a optimistic, structured, and transformative African narrative;
• Show robust potential for affect.

Application

Deadline: 10 January 2026 at midnight (9 January, 11:59 PM)

Click here to apply

For extra info, go to Kessa Young Panafrican Storytellers Program.