Asante Mtenje

Asante is an Iso Lomso Fellow at NIAS during 2023-2024.

Asante Lucy Mtenje is an Associate Professor in the Department of Literary Studies at University of Malawi where she teaches courses in African literature. She holds a PhD in English Studies from Stellenbosch University. Her research has been published as book chapter contributions and in academic journals such as Journal of Commonwealth Literature, African Studies Review, Hecate: International Journal of Women’s Liberation, Journal of the African Literature Association, Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, Matatu Journal for African Culture and Society and Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies. Her current research interests include gender and sexualities, Malawian life writing, Afro-diasporic literature, popular culture and Malawian oral literature. She is a receipt of a number of fellowships including the STIAS Iso Lomso Fellowship (2022-2025), JIAS Creative Writing Fellowship (2021), the Africa-Oxford (AfOx) Visiting Fellowship (2020) and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)- African Humanities Program (AHP) postdoctoral fellowship (2017). She is also a published poet and short story writer. Her debut poetry collection, Forms of Slaughter and Other Poems, was published in 2024. She was also the project lead of the Copyright Society of Malawi funded project “Malawi Writing Better” which was implemented by the Department of Literary Studies at University of Malawi.