Oyunga Pala is a writer, curator, and coach who looks at the world through an anthropological lens to better understand the stories we tell ourselves. For over twenty years, he has been one of Kenya’s most distinct voices, moving from the sharp satire of national columns to profound investigations into masculinity, culture, and grief.

Today, as an author and certified coach, Oyunga works at the intersection of the personal and the systemic. He helps individuals and collectives navigate “grief alchemy” by transforming sorrow into strength and finding the universal in the everyday. His debut memoir Strength and Sorrow: Reflections on the Ones We Lost (2025) is an unflinching interrogation of the 21st-century African interior, where the personal memoir of a veteran journalist intersects with the collective mourning of a nation.