We Will Tell Our Own Story
About UWP
Founded in 2004
Our Mission
Universal Write Publications is an academic, social science publisher of Black and African-centered books for colleges, universities, K-12 educators, and those who wish to re-engage the UWP mission of TELLING OUR OWN STORIES. We are intentional in the representation of the voices of the African Diaspora by bringing equity and inclusion through publishing and promoting academic books and articles that enhance critical research through the lens of marginalized intellectuals and return the narrative to those most impacted by broadening worldviews with inclusive, collective research using interdisciplinary theories, emerging concepts with an emphasis on the global realignment of African and Black histories and legacies. Here you will find foundational, borderless, and investigative studies conducted and written through the lens of philosophers throughout the Diaspora.
Our Focus
Universal Write Publications publishes rigorous scholarship that dignifies the rich histories of the culturally diverse peoples who make up our society. We focus on the Black diaspora through cultural and Afrocentric lenses, which bring an edge and zeal to our work. Professional educators, businesses, political enthusiasts, philosophers, and all manner of creative theorists are welcome at UWP.
We continue to expand our publishing list and welcome proposals. We encourage the collaboration of senior and emerging scholars to bridge the gap of knowledge and increase faculty development that engages, explores, and examines Black history and culture, Ancient African civilizations, philosophy, education, religion, science, and other critical topics that reassess, impact and at times re-center, universal knowledge.
Meet Our Founder
Dr. Ayo Sekai
Dr. Ayo Sekai is the CEO and publisher of Universal Write Publications, LLC. Since founding UWP in 2004, Sekai has prioritized publishing academic titles that demonstrate a commitment to African agency through scholar-activism, women-centered initiatives, and #BlackAcademicExcellence. As a social scientist and author, she understands the unique challenges of the academy and the social, global implications of being a Black, immigrant from the Global South.
In the legacy of prominent Howard University scholars, such as Vice-President Kamala Harris, (who shares Sekai's Jamaican heritage); Chadwick Boseman, Ron Walters, and Ralph Bunche, Sekai is a proud Howard University Ph.D. alum, from the Department of Political Science. Her research specializations are Black Politics and International Relations. As a linguistic activist, she is keenly attuned to social justice corrupted by "dog whistle" and racist rhetoric in politics and linguistic imperialism framed through language inequity and inequality, law, immigration, public policy, and education as it relates to Black and Brown people.
She worked as an associate publisher and executive editor in New York and was editor of 5ive Borough Magazine , New York's premier hip hop magazine. Sekai began her film experience, fiction writing, and poetry in New York, where she also taught in the public school system as an English teacher.
UWP Executive Board
Ayo Sekai, Ph.D.
Molefi Kete Asante, Ph.D.
Geane deLima
Ian Clarke, Esq.
UWP Advisory Committee
We believe we are living in a time of change, a time of purpose and time to make a difference in our individual spaces and places of cultural significance. We recognize the importance of social and historical records, which draw from a diverse past to enrich our common future.
Anjerrika Bean, Ph.D
Cheyanne Rosier, B.S.
Marc Medley, M.A., M. Ed.
Perry L. Daniel, Ed.D.
UWP Editorial Committee
Reynaldo Anderson, Ph.D.
Maulana Karenga, Ph.D.
California State University
Long Beach
African Studies Dept. Chair
Yoshitaka Miike, Ph.D.
University of Hawai'i -HILO
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