What began as a personal writing project—a memoir, a platform for conversations about healing and self-discovery turned into an award-recognised work after taking second place in the Delaware Press Association’s Book Competition in the Nonfiction, Autobiography or Memoir category in 2026. Now Joyce Wambua Osborne is finding success in her past pain.

Some seasons of life arrive quietly; others leave us changed forever. There are seasons marked by love and belonging, while others are defined by grief, migration, motherhood, heartbreak and the difficult work of finding oneself again.

For Kenyan-American author Joyce Wambua Osborne, these seasons became more than memories. They became the pages of Seasons of Me: A Journey of Learning & Unlearning, a memoir that has resonated with readers far beyond her own story.

In the book, the award-winning author opens the door to some of the most personal chapters of her life, confronting loss, relationships, identity and the process of rebuilding oneself with striking honesty. What began as a personal writing project eventually became a published memoir, a platform for conversations about healing and self-discovery, and an award-recognised work after taking second place in the Delaware Press Association’s Book Competition in the Nonfiction, Autobiography or Memoir category in 2026.

But perhaps the most meaningful measure of the book’s success is not the recognition it has received, but the readers who have seen fragments of their own lives in its pages. Osborne did not set out to tell an extraordinary story; she set out to tell a human one. In doing so, she discovered that vulnerability can become a bridge between strangers.

“I think people were able to connect with it because I told my story with honesty and authenticity,” she says.

Released last year, Seasons of Me is an intimate account of migration, identity, womanhood, love, loss, motherhood, grief and the difficult but liberating process of becoming comfortable with oneself. At its heart is Osborne’s journey from Kenya to the United States and the many transitions that followed. When she began writing, Osborne deliberately chose not to hold back. She wanted readers to encounter the imperfect reality of a life shaped by difficult decisions, painful experiences, lessons and moments of renewal.

“My story is not extraordinary; it’s human,” she says. “I wanted my readers to see parts of their own journeys reflected in my book.”

For Osborne, some of those seasons were particularly difficult to revisit. One of the hardest chapters to write was about her late father. Growing up in Lang’ata, Nairobi, she was the middle child in a family of seven siblings. Her life changed when her father, the family’s breadwinner, suffered a stroke. As his health deteriorated, the children were forced to confront responsibilities earlier than expected.

Determined to pursue better opportunities, Osborne eventually left Kenya for the United States. Her father’s death in 2019, while she was still abroad, left a lasting ache.

She moved to the United States while pregnant, financially vulnerable and stepping into an uncertain future. She arrived seven months pregnant with just $200 (approximately Sh26,000) and no safety net. Migration brought cultural displacement, loneliness, financial pressure and the overwhelming responsibility of raising a child while attempting to rebuild her own life. Yet the experience also revealed a resilience she had perhaps not fully recognised in herself. She discovered that she could rebuild repeatedly, even when life left her feeling broken.

Now, just over a year after introducing Seasons of Me to Kenyan readers, Osborne is entering another season. Her ambitions extend beyond the memoir. She hopes to develop mentorship programmes and workshops focusing on healing, resilience, personal growth, self-discovery and migration. She also envisions working with the Ministry of Education and other organisations to secure support that could enable Seasons of Me to become an educational resource for schools and communities.

Now, Osborne hopes to build on Seasons of Me through mentorships and workshops on healing, resilience, self-discovery and migration, and eventually see the memoir used as an educational resource in schools and communities.