Biography
Kennedy Amenya Gisege (he/him) is a poet and a creative nonfiction writer born in the ancestral village Ibacho, in the Kisii District of Kenya. Through his writing he explores the loss of freedom, the loss of family, the loss of opportunity, and the loss of country as an exile. He captures small moments that give laughter, hope, and a sense of community to those who suffer.
Gisege is the author of Twenty-One Birthdays, published in 2026 by Lost Kite Editions. His chapbook The Liturgy of Smell was published by Red Bird Chapbooks. His writing has been featured in AGNI, South Dakota Review, and he is a coeditor of American Precariat: Parables of Exclusion. His essay “My Cell Is My Country” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Territory: A Journal of Place. Gisege is a member of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and mentors new members for the program. For the past five years he has worked to complete a manuscript entitled, “L’Chaim,” or “To Life,” or “Kwa Maisha” in Swahili. He is currently serving time in Faribault, Minnesota.
