We Will Tell Our Own Story
About UWP
Our Mission
Our mission is to represent the voices of the African Diaspora by publishing and promoting academic books and articles that enhance literacy and broaden worldviews through collective research using interdisciplinary theories with an emphasis on African and Black-centered scholarship.
Our Focus
Universal Write Publications publishes social, anthological, and ethnographical scholarship that dignifies the rich histories of the culturally diverse peoples who make up our society.
We focus on the 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.
Meet Our Founder
Dr. Ayo Sekai
Dr. Ayo Sekai is 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. UWP Books share the legacy of diasporic people by implementing cultural strategy through African narratives.
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
Dr. Ayo Sekai
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
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
Oyame KenZoe Brian J. Okpe, PhD
Cheyanne Rosier
Marc Medley
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
Join Our Mailing List
Join us for upcoming releases, calls for chapters, conversations, and author events.