Philo Ikonya is a Kenyan writer, lecturer, and human rights activist, now living in Norway. She has been the President of PEN Kenya since 2008. She has taught semiotics at Tangaza College and Spanish at the United States International University in Nairobi. She graduated in Literature and Linguistics from the University of Nairobi before studying philosophy in Spain and Italy. She has worked as an editor for Oxford University Press (Eastern Africa) and as a socio-political radio and TV commentator. She has been subject to threats and harassment because of her writings and non-violent protests in favour of social and human rights. Her fiction includes two novels and three poetry collections.