MAISHA YETU
Are you an emerging writer? This is your opportunity to participate in the prestigious International Literary Seminars (ILS), where you will get to improve your writing skills. ILS, a joint venture by ILS and Jahazi Press, is looking for three writers to fill the slots. You have until August 7 to submit your application. The […]
Title: Benji’s Big WinAuthor: Nducu wa NgugiPublisher: East African Educational PublishersAvailability: Leading BookstoresReviewer: Mbugua Ngunjiri Though he enjoys his life in school, there are a number of things bothering Benji.Top of them is his father’s apparent disinterest in his budding football career. He is not only the top striker in Kamden Boys School, he is […]
Title: Chadi’s Trip Author: Sarah Haluwa Publisher: Storymoja Reviewer: Mbugua Ngunjiri The village of Kalole is faced with a deadly plague; Shaka Risha. Anyone who contracts it, most likely ends up dead. The whole village is worried; there is no knowing who will catch the deadly ailment next.The village oracle announces that the cure can […]
When Ngugi wa Thiong’o left his Kamirithu village, in Limuru, to join Alliance High School, the State of Emergency had already been declared, by colonial authorities in Kenya. This mainly affected members of the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru communities, that formed the bulk of the Mau Mau rebellion. Members of these three communities could not […]
A poet, like a spider, works tirelessly spinning silver yarns. He struggles, endures until finally, a pattern is made: a web of beauty; a trap for the reader. Those are not my words; I have just paraphrased Ng’ang’a Mbugua’s poem A Poet for it beautifully captures what good poetry does to a reader. It rejuvenates […]
Everyone has a story to tell but it depends on who is telling the story and how that story is told. That is what makes the difference between a well told story and an ordinary, even boring story. Now, Tony Mochama, who also goes by the name Smitta, has a way with words and you […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
David Mulwa was just emerging from the Literature Department bulding, at Kenyatta University (KU) where he teaches, when he came to an abrupt halt. It was as if he had seen a ghost. For a few brief seconds he stood there, his mouth wide open, as if trying to establish whether his eyes were lying […]