Publication Identity, Cover Art Curation, & Cultural Positioning

In collaboration with Zukiswa Wanner’s Paivapo Publishers, Huza Press, and Modjaji Books, Stoep Collective created the cover art and visual direction for a major literary publication archiving the experiences of African women publishers, authors, literary activists, and intellectuals.

Edited by Joel Cabrita, with a foreword by Margaret Busby and an afterword by Kadija George Sesay, the volume brings together conversations with nine women who have shaped African publishing across the twenty-first century: Ellah Wakatama, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Zukiswa Wanner, Ainehi Edoro, Louise Umutoni, Lola Shoneyin, Colleen Higgs, Goretti Kyomuhendo, and Thabiso Mahlape.

Their conversations move across publishing landscapes from Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, and the diaspora, opening questions around distribution, language, access, market-building, women’s labour, literary power, and the future of African books.

Stoep’s role was to shape the book’s visual presence: creating cover art that could honour the spirit of this archive in a striking, contemporary way.

This project reflects one of Stoep Collective’s core strengths: translating complex literary and cultural material into a refined public-facing form, with enough beauty, clarity and authority to travel across publishers, institutions, readers + geographies.

Our studio is proud of our footprint in work so deeply invested in African literary futures.

Learn more about this landmark publication via Stanford University.