MAISHA YETU
Nation journalist Ng’ang’a Mbugua, is this year’s Wahome Mutahi’s Literary Prize winner with his book Different Colours. This makes it two times in a row that he has won the prize. In 2010, he won the same prize with his other book Terrorists of the Aberdare. Different Colours is published by Big Books. Ng’ang’a’s book […]
Anthony Mugo is probably the richest author in Kenya today. On Friday evening he won Sh1 million in the inaugural Burt Award for African Writing. The Burt Award, administered by the National Book Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK), is the richest literary award in Kenya’s history. His manuscript titled Never say Never has been published […]
This is what I wrote on June 6, 2012. I trust is makes sense… When Raila Odinga advisor turned-bitter foe, Miguna Miguna announced that he would write a book, which among other things, would reveal the Prime Minister’s ‘dark secrets’, it generated a lot of debate among Kenyans. Expectedly, and like anything mildly controversial about […]
A Kenyan, Mr. Lawrence Njagi is the new treasurer of African Publishers Network (APNET), the continental body that brings together African publishers from both English and French speaking countries. Mr. Njagi, who apart from being the chairman of the Kenya Publishers Association, is also the managing director of Mountain Top Publishers, was elected for a […]
Sunday Nation columnist Dr. Yusuf Dawood is the winner of this year’s Jomo Kenyata Prize for Literature award. His book, Eye of the Storm, beat two other nominees; Terrorists of the Aberdare by Ng’ang’a Mbugua, and Lone Dancer (EAEP) by Joe Kiarie to scoop the top prize in the English category. In the Kiswahili category […]
In case you have forgotten Kenya still has a literary prize called the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature. I might also hasten to add that the Prize is administered by the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) every two years. Come October, at the end of the Nairobi International Book Fair a creative Kenyan will go home […]
The National Book Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK) will on Wednesday, January 19, launch the William Burt Prize for African Literature at the Kenya National Library Services headquarters. The award promises to be the most prestigious in the Kenyan literary scene, with the winner taking home Sh1 million (12,000 Canadian Dollars). The Award is being […]
For a long time now there have been concerns that literary prizes in the country do little to encourage writing. This was before the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature, the most prestigious literary award in the country, tripled its prize money to Sh150,000. Henry ole Kulet was the first recipient of this vastly improved prize […]
Kenyan publishers: The weak link in Kenyan writing? A Paper presented at an international seminar on Historical Legacy and Contemporary Writing in the Commonwealth, held in New Delhi from 8-10 October. By JOSEPH NGUNJIRI Just like the old woman in the Igbo proverb gets uneasy when dry bones are mentioned so does East Africa and […]
Henry Chakava, the man who almost lost his finger for sticking out his neck for Ngugi wa Thiong’o, purrs with pride at the prospect of his star writer winning the coveted Nobel Prize for Literature. “I feel very proud,” says Chakava the Chairman of East African Educational Publishers (EAEP), who are Ngugi’s Kenyan publishers. “It […]