The most powerful woman in African literature edits, agenting and godmothers in oneThe bookshelf builder

Ellah Wakatama, a Zimbabwe-born editor at Canongate and formerly Granta, has spent decades steering a generation of African writers into the English-language canon.

A group of East African writers met in Nairobi to talk about how to get published, and the conclusion was: we need to be adopted by Ellah Wakatama. She is editor, agent, publisher and godmother rolled into one.

The earlier version of this was Chinua Achebe, who ran Heinemann's African Writers Series and pushed a generation of African novelists into Western readers' view. Now it is her turn.

What surprised me most was how she got into publishing: her seven-year-old daughter told her, we can't live with you because you're so unhappy.