👋 I'm Mose Njo—but these days, I mostly speak on behalf of someone named Lisy. She started as a story. Now she's about to start a universe.
Apparently, someone thought I had something to say (or to teach)—and gave me a microphone. 👇
If you'd like me to speak 🎙️ at your thing—serious or slightly absurd—please, feel free to reach out by clicking 👉 this. 📨
I once represented Madagascar as a writer at the Francophonie Games in Abidjan.
It was the same year Mohamed Mbougar Sarr was there. He won the Goncourt. I won some hearts and got sunburned.
I was awarded a scholarship to study at AoTR, the film school in Berlin.
I went. I learned. I wrote odd things.
I've recently found myself entangled in a number of curious ventures. Some are discreet. Some have already collapsed in dramatic fashion. Some involve video games. One involves a girl named Lisy—who now insists on being everywhere.
✨ A discreet launch.
I'm not at liberty to say much about this.
Just know that something small, strange, and quietly useful has been released into the world. Please don't tell anyone.
🗺️ Lisy Atlas.
A minimalist, fast cultural and linguistic dictionary—atlas of Malagasy words, emotions, and curiosities.
Start exploring at Lisy Atlas—search a word, follow the threads, get pleasantly lost.
🎮 Lisy's Dream.
A video game about a girl with a secret and a world with too many doors.
The first demo was shown publicly at the Video Game Developers Festival at the French Institute of Madagascar, which seems like a mistake—but a delightful one.
📚 Lisy 1817.
A reading and listening platform for stories in Malagasy and French.
If you enjoy tales, voices, and odd little adventures, you'll feel right at home. If not—why are you still reading?
🎙️ Two voices, a man and a woman, fourteen minutes, one persistent question: who exactly is Mose Njo— and is he really in charge, or is it Lisy?
Things I've done, attempted, or somehow gotten away with:
- I've given talks at Duke, Johns Hopkins, Université de Lyon, ISCAM Business School in Madagascar, TEDx Manjakamiadana, and the National Library of Abidjan. Sometimes people even stayed for the Q&A.
- I've shared panels and conference tables with writers like Karan Mahajan, Abhay Kumar, Francesca Mari, Nina Leger, Pierre Ducrozet, and Ilija Trojanow. On stage, I tried not to on the absence of the concept of time and how to stop the time as it flew so fast. I failed.
- I won an Honorable Mention for a short story in the Africa@2050 Climate Fiction Competition. I like to say I came in first—from the last. (Also: the only non-native English speaker. Just saying.)
- I received a scholarship to study independent cinema at the Art-on-the-Run Film School in Berlin. I never ran. Not even once. But God, did I walk.
- I published Lisy Mianjoria, a sci-fi novel in Malagasy. It's still selling, still finding readers, and still sending me lovely messages.
- I was published in Europunk, a French sci-fi anthology from Realities Inc. Yes, it's as punk as it sounds.
- I represented Madagascar at the Jeux de la Francophonie in Abidjan. Mohamed Mbougar Sarr was there too. He won the Goncourt. I didn't. And I won't.
- I wrote and directed a short film for the social enterprise Le Relais, created by Abbé Pierre. (The double B in Abbé isn't what you think.)
- I've ghostwritten scripts for feature films and multi-season series in Europe. You've probably seen something I've written—you just didn't know it. Just kidding.
- I translated Roberto Zucco into Malagasy. It's a play that doesn't ask politely.
- I translated 100 Great Indian Poems into Malagasy and French. I also translated The Magic of Madagascar by H.E. Abhay K., the Indian Ambassador to Madagascar. I like to mention it when I want to sound impressive.
- I've been translated into Romanian (Convorbiri Literare), German (LCB Diplomatique), and likely misquoted in a few other languages.
- I was a jury member for Diary Nofy, a project creating storybooks for Malagasy children and spreading a love of reading.
- I created an installation for La Nuit Malgache at the Institut Français de Madagascar and exhibited a conceptual artwork at Hakanto Contemporary in Antananarivo.
- I've taught creative writing to children, teens, and one memorable group of with a 70+ year-old who wrote with more fire than anyone.
- I started Filmada to map Malagasy cinema with friends in the USA, China, and Madagascar. It’s on pause. Not the vision—just the platform.
- I've been published (twice) in Future Science Fiction Digest, with both stories translated by Allison M. Charette.
- I've been selected for the Lunar Codex—which means my work is literally headed to the Moon. (That sentence still surprises me.)
- I also run a startup called Pepero, which operates discreetly. Possibly too discreetly.
- I helped draft the Charte de la professionnalisation du livre—a document meant to help shape the future of Madagascar's book industry. I was there as a writer. And possibly as someone who asks too many questions.
- I didn't mean to join the coordination team of that WordPress-in-Malagasy thing as the "translation supervisor" or whatever they call it—I just showed up, asked too many questions, and they gave me a role. Now I help localize WordPress in Malagasy and pretend I know what I'm doing. (It's going surprisingly well.)
- According to GPT-4o and Perplexity, I'm a "Madagascan Renaissance Man." Google Gemini disagrees. But you know how Gemini is.
- I've been counseling an interior design agency. Such a refreshing experience. And sometimes, they even listen.
- I once built a platform for books and audiobooks with a bilingual dictionary, entirely on my own. It didn't work out. I'm rebuilding it anyway. Right now—it's called Lisy 1817. She insisted.
- I make music. Discreetly. Very discreetly. Write, compose, co-arrange. But my dream is to do more out of it—like a musical (it has begun during the IFM Lab, a blooming nascent project at the Institut Français de Madagascar), or build some studio à la A24 meets Ghibli in the heart of Madagascar, why not? It's called ko18
Sinon, je flâne. The stories tend to follow. (Look up Baudelaire if you're wondering)
