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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
This story first appeared in the premier edition (July – September 2010) of The Kenyan Runner, the one that had David Rudisha on the cover – ha, I had to say that – It has since changed names to Runners Magazine. When he got blinded in 1993, Henry Wanyoike had no idea which direction his […]
When Ngugi wa Thiong’o was in the country for the launch of his latest book Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir, yours truly had a chance to talk with him, and the interview touched on a number of issues. Among other issues he urged young writers not to shy away from self-publishing […]
Ever since I heard that Kenya’s government spokesman Alfred Mutua has written a book on, wait for it, How to be rich in Africa, I knew something was amiss somewhere. With all due respect Mutua was the last person I expected to write on such a topic. He must have hustled his way to a […]
As a little boy growing up in Limuru, writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o was, one night, woken up by his mother to meet some ‘visitors’. Young Ngugi was pleasantly surprised to find that one of the visitors was his elder brother Wallace Mwangi, also known as good Wallace. Years back, Good Wallace had escaped to the […]