Read to Resist Cafe: Our Broken Silence Edition

Unapologetic, bold, and a voice for her generation: Adelle Onyango has been a mainstay on the Kenyan entertainment scene for over a decade. She is a media entrepreneur, poet, published author, and women’s rights activist, internationally recognized for her work empowering African women and youth.

She has been named among the 50 Most Influential Women Shaping Africa (2025) by Africa Policy Conversations, Top 100 Kenyans (2023), MIPAD’s Top 100 Africans (2020), Facebook’s Icons of Change (2019), Africa Youth Awards’ 100 Most Influential Young Africans (2019), OkayAfrica’s 100 Women (2018), and BBC’s 100 Women (2017). Whew!

Adelle Onyango

After over a decade in radio, Adelle left the industry to focus fully on her mission of amplifying African voices and driving social change. She founded Legally Clueless Africa, a multimedia platform that has recorded hundreds of stories, toured internationally, and supported over 500 participants through therapy, wellness talks, and digital training.

She also established The Adelle Onyango Initiative, a registered trust dedicated to ending sexual violence through survivor support and policy advocacy. Expanding her storytelling into new mediums, Adelle made her film and directorial debut with Home, a short poetry film that invites African women to reconnect with their one true home - their bodies.

Adelle’s passion for storytelling and healing is powerfully expressed in her debut book, Our Broken Silence, co-authored with Lanji Ouko-Awori. The groundbreaking collection of diary entries from survivors of sexual violence across the greater East African region was officially launched by Hon. Chief Justice Martha Koome in March 2022. Proceeds from the book continue to support survivors through the Safe247 program and Lanji Ouko-Awori’s microfinance fund, which supports survivors with relocation and legal services.

Adelle embodies everything that the Read to Resist Cafe stands for, and it is our absolute pleasure to announce that she will be the featured guest in the next edition of the Cafe.

Many thanks to our bookstore partner Soma Nami Books for always supporting the Cafes! Use the code ‘Read to Resist’ at the book store or online and claim that 15% discount. If you’d like to attend the event, you can register here. Registration closes on 26th September 2025. Can’t wait to see you then!