‘Twelve voices, twelve journeys, each one intimate, raw, and often unspoken.‘

My Afrika Magazine reporter Lingiwe Sifelani (LS) spoke with Royal Mpande (RM), the Project Coordinator of WriteStart Foundation, to discuss the anthology that brings together the stories of young women and girls as they navigate the complexities of their menstrual cycles, shedding light on moments of confusion, pain, resilience, and quiet strength.

LS: Please give us a brief overview of your latest project, the short stories and poems anthology titled ‘It’s That Time of the Month….Again’
RM: It’s an anthology of stories written by 12 young women and girls, chronicling their menstrual journeys. And the problems women face during their menstrual cycles.

LS: Please explain why WriteStart Foundation was formed. What are the main objectives?
RM: Objectives are to nurture talent, to advocate for certain causes through literature, and to empower young writers one story at a time. Our mandate is to empower young writers through mentorship, collaboration, and real opportunities to publish their work. We advocate for many causes, starting with menstruation. We want to curate books that the world needs, books that should have long existed.

LS: Who is behind this initiative?
RM: The founder and Creative Director of WriteStart Foundation is Nkosi Mangena, a 19 year old crime writer from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She founded it in March 2025.

LS: What has been its impact since its inception?
RM: We were able to shine the light on emerging writers through curating a book titled Words We Live By, an anthology of memoirs chronicling the writing journeys of 7 emerging writers.

LS: Please explain the process of bringing together the 12 young women and girls, whose personal stories formed the anthology?
RM: It was a very difficult process. We had a number of individuals who lost interest along the way. We issued a call for female writers on WhatsApp. About 17 writers came forward, but only 8 ended up submitting their stories. And as time went by, we started announcing the names of our contributors, and that’s when the final 4 writers showed interest in joining our cause.

LS: What criteria did you use for their selection?
RM: We weren’t exactly selecting; it was open to all those who wanted to take part but we gave them a list of topics they had to choose from.

LS: Do you have future projects coming up?
RM: Yes, we are currently running a monthly short novel contest, which we started in March 2026. We plan to keep on running it for a couple of months, then finally our top 4 from all the months will compete in the Ultimate short novel contest. We also have another book cooking, Words We Live By 2, a continuation of our first book, but this time we are spotlighting published authors.

LS: Do you have future projects for the awareness of men, so they understand and tolerate their women better in line with menstruation?
RM: After we publish this book, we want to curate its sequel. The proposed title is ‘Period Pain’, which is one of the main reasons why females dread their menstrual period. The topics will cover what women need when they are going through period pain and how to manage, cure, or treat it.