MAISHA YETU
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 […]
It would appear that matters to do with environmental conservation occupy a special place in Ng’ang’a Mbugua’s world. Yet, it is these conservation matters that fire his creativity. His last two books have all focused on environmental conservation as their central theme. And while these issues might appear boring and the least likely subject of […]
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 […]
Most of us must have, at one point or the other, gone through a particularly traumatic experience; an experience so painful that it leaves you thoroughly disillusioned and demoralised. In most cases some of these experiences crush one’s spirit to the extent that if the person is not strong enough, they might give up on […]
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 […]
Author Kinyanjui Kombani has parted ways with his publishers Acacia Stantex in regards to his book The Last Villains of Molo. The move effectively ends a long drawn struggle between author and publisher that has lasted more than five years. The novel has been hailed as a powerful enactment of the 1992 ethnic violence and […]
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 […]
Whenever explanations are sought on poor performances, in English or Kiswahili, in national exams, Sheng is always on the surface waiting to be summoned, on short notice, and vilified for being such a diabolical influence on these two ‘pure’ languages. Ever since it came into existence, Sheng has always been considered the bastard child in […]