About Author

Hi, I’m Candida Mosoma, an award-winning musical theatre actress, children’s author and founder of Mbilu Tales.

After years of bringing stories and characters to life on stage, I began creating stories of my own, rooted in the heritage, language and imagination that shaped me.

My writing journey began with a simple but powerful desire: to create a world where little Black girls could see heroines who looked like them, while introducing children to the warmth, language and culture that shaped my own childhood.

That desire became Khanyi and the Kite, my first children’s book, and the beginning of Khanyi’s adventures.

One of the moments that has stayed with me most happened when my cousin read the story to her daughter. The moment she heard the word “Kokwani,” she lit up and ran to tell her nanny, “My Kokwani is in the book!”

That little moment captured exactly why I started writing. There was something powerful in seeing a child recognise a word from her own world inside a story.

Mbilu means “heart” in Xitsonga, and the world of Mbilu Tales is deeply rooted in my Tsonga heritage and family. Khanyi, her pug Momo and Kokwani all carry pieces of people I love: my sister, my late pug Banzai and my parents, whose encouragement taught me to dream boldly and never give up.

Through Mbilu Tales, I want children to experience colourful adventures filled with imagination, family, language and culture. I want African children to recognise pieces of themselves within these stories, while inviting children from every background into Khanyi’s world.

My hope is simple: to bring stories rooted in Tsonga heritage to children around the world.

Alongside my work as an author, I continue to perform professionally in musical theatre, bringing the same love of character, storytelling and imagination from the stage into the world of Mbilu Tales.

That is the cohesive version we had landed on after you specifically asked to keep the Kokwani anecdote and give your stage career more weight.