No Kenyan publisher has ever taken Moraa Gitaa seriously. And while they have generally given her manuscripts a wide berth, Penguin Books, one of the world’s most respected publishers, thinks otherwise. Out of the 250 manuscripts received all over Africa for the inaugural Penguin Prize for Africa Writing, Moraa’s and five others became the eventual […]
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Dreams in a time of war
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 […]
News that Judith Akinyi could have gone back to her old drugs trade did not exactly catch me by surprise. Although I did not interact with her on a one-on-one basis, after she was released from jail, I nevertheless saw her on many occasions during literary events when she was in the process of promoting […]
Good people, I came across this email, written by Prof Chris Wanjala, and posted in the Pen Kenya google group, and I thought it was interesting. Though Prof Wanjala shies away from comparing Mochama with Zimbabwe’s Dambudzo Marechera, I would be more incline to compared Mochama, aka Smitta with Dambuzo. Read on… Dear Juba, Taban […]
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Harare North revisited
Hi there, Yesterday I blogged about Marimba Media, the new Pan African arts journalist platform, which, to all you art lovers, promises to be an exciting forum where you can interact with cutting edge arts reporting from some of the best arts journalists across the continent. While I pointed you to the review I did […]
Following the announcement, by the Kenya Publishers Association, that they have increased the prize money from Sh40,000 to Sh150,000 maisha yetu is proud to announce the nominees for this year’s Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature. The judging panel, chaired by Prof Henry Indagasi, of the University of Nairobi, announced the list of nominees as follows: […]
Karl Max famously commented that religion is the opium of the masses, and looking at the present religious set-up in the country, one would be tempted to agree with Max’s observations. A critical look at some of the fastest growing churches in the country today reveals that they thrive on the phenomenon known as prosperity […]
Creative writers in Kenya will be in for a major treat at the annual Nairobi International Book Fair (NIBF) set to be held towards the end of September. For the first time, the winner of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature will take home a substantial amount of prize money. The Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) […]
About two months ago I had the rare honour of visiting a community library in a dusty, remote village called Ndeiya. I would love to share my thoughts on what I saw there: The Cardinal Otunga Library is as modern as modern libraries go. Its catalogue includes much-sought after books like the two biographies on […]
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You can now order your books online
I’ve just had a chat with a most interesting couple, and at the end of it my faith in the young people of this country was restored. Not only have they married across tribes, they have come up with a unique online shopping experience for books. What make’s Enock and Rachel Essendi’s venture unique is […]