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Wangeci Wambui Gitau is a queer Gikuyu writer, educator and cultural worker whose work centers the intersections of Blackness, Indigeneity, and displacement. Raised in Lawrence, MA and rooted in Kenyan traditions, she writes to preserve memory, affirm ancestral knowledge, and imagine liberated futures.

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She is the author of two acclaimed poetry collections — there’s the truth and there’s other things (2019) and i’m not allowed to explain (only foreshadow and reminisce) (2021) — and the co-founder and prose editor of Exposed Brick Literary Magazine, a community arts publication uplifting voices of the Global Majority. Her debut novel, which follows an undocumented Gikuyu girl navigating college in the U.S., is currently seeking representation.

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Wangeci’s writing appears in Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose From Across the Undocumented Diaspora (HarperCollins, 2024), Bread Loaf Journal (2024), and the Andover Bread Loaf Anthology (2019). She is also the playwright behind Mwenyeji (2024), which explores the impact of British colonization on modern Gikuyu families in diaspora, and the creator of a manual for returning to the earth before you die (2022), a solo performance centering Black and Indigenous land and liberation movements. Her cultural critique draws from post-colonial theory and includes archival research on British colonial records of Kikuyu resistance conducted at the University of Oxford, UK.​ 

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Her creative work spans poetry, theater, performance, and education. She has performed at The Huntington Theater, UC Berkeley’s Radical Kinship Series, Elevated Thought’s KickBack, and Sol Sound Stage. She has been a featured speaker and performer in venues including WGBH’s Stories from the Stage PBS special, she interviewed Dr. Angela Davis through Lawrence Public Library’s Social Justice Lecture Series, and has performed numerous times at the Bread & Roses Heritage Festival in Lawrence, MA.

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Wangeci has received recognition through her magazine from the Juneteenth Arts and Awareness Festival and served as a judge and keynote speaker for Youth CITIES, awarding funding to youth entrepreneurs. She is a 2025–2026 IRT Fellow and just finished a year as the  Poet-in-Residence at Bruce Middle School. Wangeci is a  Bread Loaf Teachers Network Fellow, and a graduate of the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, where she earned her Master's in Literary Arts. Through her writing, teaching, and performance, Wangeci honors culture as a site of resistance, healing, and rebirth.

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Wangeci Gitau (she/they) is a queer Gikuyu writer, educator, and cultural worker based in Lawrence, MA. She is the author of two poetry collections and co-founder of Exposed Brick Literary Magazine. Her work centers Black immigrant life, queerness, and Indigenous resistance.

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Publications

Books & Creative Writing

  • there’s the truth and there’s other things (Poetry Collection, 2019)

  • i'm not allowed to explain (only foreshadow and reminisce) (Poetry Collection, Multimedia Launch, 2021)

  • Co-founder & prose editor at Exposed Brick Literary Magazine (2019-present)

  • Mwenyeji – Play exploring the impact of British colonization on modern Kikuyu families in diaspora (2024)

  • "a manual for returning to the earth before you die" – Solo performance centering Black and indigenous land and liberation movements (2022)

  • Debut Novel – About an immigrant Gikuyu girl navigating college in America (looking for representation)

 

Anthologies & Magazines

  • Contributed to Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose From Across the Undocumented Diaspora (HarperCollins)

  • Published in six issues of Exposed Brick Literary Magazine (Co-Founder and Co-Editor)

  • Published in Bread Loaf School of English Journal (Summer 2024)

  • Published in Andover Bread Loaf Anthology (2019)

 

Speaking Engagements & Performances

Keynotes & Panels

  • Interviewed Dr. Angela Davis for Lawrence Public Library’s Social Justice Lecture Series

  • Presented at Lawrence History Center’s Education Symposium – Community-Based Education (April 2024)

  • Panelist – Diasporic Blackness in the Merrimack Valley, Bread & Roses Festival

 

Performances

  • Performer at:

    • The Huntington Theater (2023)

    • Literary Lounge (Host & Performer) (2022)

    • UC Berkeley’s Radical Kinship Series (2021)

    • Elevated Thought’s KickBack (2023)

    • Sol Sound Stage and Essex Art Center with Monkey Knife Fight

  • Featured verse on “Pressure” – Monkey Knife Fight’s album A Reason to Fight

  • Film Screening Host – Enkai, animated short on Kikuyu culture (Ripton, VT)

  • Hosted the Literary Lounge at the Bread & Roses Festival (2021)

 

Awards & Recognitions

  • Recognized by Juneteenth Arts and Awareness Festival with $750 donation for uplifting Global Majority voices through Exposed Brick Literary Magazine

  • Selected Speaker and Performer for WGBH's Stories from the Stage PBS Special – In the Name of Justice

  • Youth CITIES Judge and Keynote Speaker, Cambridge, MA – Awarded $1,500 to youth entrepreneurship winner

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Critical Writing & Cultural Critique

  • Literary critique using post-colonial lens à la NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong'o

  • Researched personal papers of a British colonial officer reporting on Kikuyu under occupation in Oxford, UK​

 

Fellowships & Residencies

  • Artist-in-Residence, Bruce Middle School (2024–2025)

  • Bread Loaf Teachers Network Fellow (2019–Current)

  • Bread Loaf School of English Student Fellow, Students of Color Consortium Officer (Oxford Campus, 2024)

  • Teach For America Corps Member, Lawrence Public Schools (2017)

  • Participant, Andover Bread Loaf Summer Institute (2019)

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Educational & Cultural Facilitation

  • Led writing workshops with El Taller, Untitled Mic, and Elevated Thought

  • Taught a Kikuyu-centered environmental lesson using Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement

  • Led MCAS prep tied to local environmental justice

  • Presented Kikuyu protest song at pro-Palestinian rally; taught history of Zionism in East Africa

  • Guardian of the East during Taíno queer healing circle (2024)

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