Tololwa Mollel

Tololwa Mollel is a children's author, dramatist and storyteller, who has written sixteen books and several plays as well as stories that he created or adapted for performance. His books, which include award winning titles such as Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper, Big Boy, and My Rows and Piles of Coins have been published in Canada, the U.S., Australia, England and Tanzania where he was born. His books have been translated into various South African languages and into Korean.

In Tanzania, Mollel was a University lecturer and an actor in a touring company that performed as far as Germany and Sweden. He continued acting in Canada but came to devote himself to writing and to the literary scene in Edmonton, serving as President of the Writers Guild of Alberta in the late 1990s.

Presently Mollel is working, among other projects, on life stories from across diverse communities in Edmonton, and on a memoir on his life growing up with his grandfather in Tanzania. Visit Tolowa's website to read Mollel's written piece samples. He is also working to compile his plays into a collection for schools.

Mollel has presented, performed and conducted writing, storytelling and dramatic workshops and writer-in-residence programs in schools, libraries and communities across Canada and the U.S., as well as in England, Australia and Tanzania. Of his presentations and his work with schools and libraries, Mollel says, "I aim to provide a feast of words – written and spoken – for the eye, the ear and the mind; as well as for the creative imagination, and for performance." Through writing, storytelling and drama, Mollel hopes to empower the young, and others, with the gift of story — to write, tell, share and enjoy stories; to mentor them as he was mentored. Visit Tolowa's website to learn about Mollel's childhood sources of inspiration for his love of story.