Sada Malumfashi

Sada Malumfashi is an author and freelance journalist from the Nigerian capital of Kaduna and one of several fellows on RSF Germany’s Berlin Scholarship Programme. He is the founder of the literary arts collective Open Arts.

In his journalistic work Malumfasho focuses mainly on sexual abuse, gender-based violence and feminism in Nigeria’s conservative northern region. He was among the first journalists to cover the #ArewaMeToo movement in northern Nigeria. The movement targets male violence against women in the region, which generally goes unpunished. As a result of their protests, activists are having to defend themselves more than ever against oppression, because their critics are intent on preventing an open discussion of the problem of sexual violence in northern Nigeria. Malumfashi also reports on other sensitive issues in his home region, such as pleasure and sex, as well as queer culture as depicted in Nigeria’s Hausa-language literature. His reports have been published in various media including The Africa Report, Saraba Magazine, This Is Africa, Asymptote and Music in Africa. 

Malumfashi is also passionate about music and was a representative of northern Nigeria in the project “Music in Africa Connects”. The initiative is aimed at strengthening the music industry in conflict-ridden African countries. The conflict in northern Nigeria is fuelled mainly by religious fundamentalists who see the arts and entertainment in general as sinful activities. Malumfashi’s achievements include participating in the literary exchange programme of the Goethe Institute and the Sylt Foundation for Nigeria and Cameroon and being nominated for the 2017 Kofi Addo Award for Creative Writing. (Current as of 06.11.2019)