In 2015, Rwandan literary author Dominique Uwase Alonga founded the African publishing house, Imagine We, to cultivate, train and produce African authors and storytelling. They produce Rwandan and African children and young adults’ books.

Dominique Uwase Alonga and her team—Mico. G. Jamal, Malika Helene, Aaron Migaywa, Crepin Gontran Kayisire, and Sandrine Bwiza—say they recognized a “lack of relateable reading content for young Rwandan readers and the misrepresentation of Rwanda and Africa in different books and media.” As a Rwandan publishing house, Imagine We is implementing their vision of restoring African dignity by writing and sharing life within the contexts of several African cultures, and challenging global outlooks on Africa’s image. They accomplish this through author and teacher training, book donations, illustrations and book distributions throughout Africa and abroad.

Imagine We team working

Imagine We Team

In 2016, they published 6 titles, including Simbi the Inventor, My Name is Life and Ysolde and Her Magical Shoes, The ABC’s of Rwanda, MAHORO, Oh Rwandan child.

Ysolde and Her Magical Shoes, the very first Rwandan fairytale is Imagine We’s most recent book. The team hopes that an African fairy tale can teach moral lessons and empowerment to children through relatable storytelling and inspire “Africa’s little girls to dream and engage their imagination.”

Learn more about this dope project here!