Okang'a Ooko is novelist, musician, and senior book designer with deep roots in publishing, storytelling, and design. He grew up in Kenya up in Kisumu, Kenya, and later lived briefly in Barcelona, Spain. He thrives on a steady diet of music, dreams, and literature. To date, his books are mostly set in Kenya and are often characterized by several recurring themes that explore the complexities of modern African society, culture, and identity. At his best, his works are mostly character-driven modern stories that evoke a sense of struggle to succeed while grappling with the uncertainties of the present and future. His themes typically include history, pop culture (especially music), love and danger, politics, human greed, power and control, business (especially design, marketing and advertising), art and culture, corruption, religion, crime and punishment, self-development as well as death and mortality. Many times, his characters are misfits with extravagant vulgarities and complexities that often drive them to the fringes of society. But history remains a major theme in his works. All six of his books – Bengaman, When You Sing To The Fishes, Hunter and Gatherer, Inherited Danger, The New Girl In Mombasa and Wayward Eastlanders – have been bestsellers in Kenya. His latest novel, Kisumo, is modern Kenyan epic set in his birth town of Kisumu in Western Kenya. This book will be out in December in Kenya and March 2026 in the US and Canada. In this book, the weight of history, from the 1969 Kisumu massacre to the post-Independence era of corruption and oppression, history continues to regurgitate its trauma upon ordinary Kisumuans. He lives with his family in Mbita, Homa Bay County, Kenya.