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 on Brian Chikwava’s debut novel Harare North. I would also like to draw your attention to what promises to be a lively debate on whether a Kenyan is qualified to review a book that addresses the Zimbabwean situation. You can follow the debate here, and if you feel like making a contribution, you have to log in first by creating an account.
Abidemi Sanusi, a Nigerian author, will launch her book, Eyo later this evening, April 7, 2010, at the Nairobi Serena. Eyo, was nominated for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa. It tells the story of Eyo, a young Nigerian girl who is taken to the UK where she is turned into a sex slave. This book exposes the evils of human trafficking and it is a call on readers to make steps to bring an end to this vile trade. The book is published by WordAlive an indigenous Kenyan publisher. Maisha Yetu sent some questions to Abidemi and she graciously answered them below
Maisha Yetu: What does the Commonwealth prize nomination mean to you?
Abidemi Sanuni: The Commonwealth Prize means a great deal. It’s a prestigious Prize and to be nominated is an honour in itself.
The author in a book signing session
MY: In terms of modern literature Kenya is way behind Nigeria, especially in creative writing, yet you were published by a Kenyan, how did this come about?
AS: I wouldn’t say that Kenya is behind Nigeria in literature or indeed in anything! I facilitated a writing workshop at the University of Nairobi yesterday courtesy of the Department of Literature and I can honestly tell you Africa has a new generation of writers with experimental and innovative ways of bringing African literature to the global marketplace. In terms of meeting Wordalive, this was done through my literary agent. He submitted my manuscript to them and they liked it. The rest, as they say is history.
MY: Is there any hope of eradicating human trafficking especially child prostitution in Africa?
AS: There is always hope and a way to eradicate child trafficking in Africa. A wise person once said that evil thrived when men do nothing. As long as we do nothing about childtrafficking, it will continue to thrive.
MY: It took you seven years to write Eyo, why was it so important for you to write this book?
AS: Eyo was inspired by my time in the field as a human rights worker and also, child trafficking is a real problem in Nigeria. It’s a pandemic and writing Eyo was my way of raising awareness of the issue.
The book cover
MY: Reading Eyo one can tell that you put in a lot of research into this book, what would you tell up-coming authors who think they can dispense with research and yet expect their books to be well received.
AS: Research adds depth to a writer’s work. Without it, a book doesn’t quite satisfy and leaves the reader unfulfilled.
MY: How has Eyo been received in Nigeria?
AS: Eyo is not yet available in Nigeria
MY: Eyo was the only book, among the Commonwealth nominees, published by an indigenous African publisher, what does this say about African publishing – does it mean that African writers have no faith in their publishers?
AS: African publishing has suffered a great deal in the few decades or so but there is a new generation of publishers such as Wordalive in Kenya and Cassava Republic in Nigeria who are doing amazing work to restore African publishing and put African literature back where it belongs; with the people and accessible to the rest of the world.
MY: What do you think hinders the marketing of African books within Africa, yet books by Western writers are readily available all over Africa?
AS: There used to be a disdain for local literary talent caused in part by bad writing, atrocious editing and poor quality printing. Within this context, you can see why Africans didn’t support local writers. International writers are backed by well heeled western publishers who have the funds to market and promote their authors well in Africa and that is why you see their books in the African marketplace. But that is changing with people like Wordalive who are restoring African literature to its former glory.
So you have that house girl and you have been mistreating her. Are you that man who steals into the househelp’s panties when the missus is asleep? You thought that you would get away just because you fired her, and that she will keep quiet about it. Well, you’ve got another thought coming. Yes, your days are numbered…
Soon, house-helps will be telling their stories and exposing what a bad society we live in. They will reveal all and you will have nowhere to hide, nowhere!
And I am not talking about the future here. I am talking about Eva Kasaya, who felt that she needed to tell the story of her life as a house-help. Read on…
House-helps occupy a parallel space in society, where their services are much sought after, yet they are rarely appreciated.
Little wonder then that you will always hear employers bad-mouthing them, yet they readily acknowledge that they cannot do without them.
To appreciate how lowly most employers rate their house-helps, you only need to read in the media how they get routinely mistreated. The most recent case that comes to mind is the Kenyan girl, who was thrown from a storied building in Saudi Arabia, by her employer.
Yet, in all these instances, no one, apart from close relatives and friends, bothers to listen to their side of the story. Well, one former house-help has sought to change all that and has actually penned down the story of her life.
And you can trust Kwani Trust, who are always experimenting with different styles of writing, to be the ones to publish the book. Tales of Kasaya: Let us now Praise a Famous Woman, is a book that will probably get other house-helps rushing to tell their stories.
And if Eva Kasaya’s life story is anything to go by, boy do house-helps have stories to tell? “It is apparent that you have quite some information, only that you lack an audience,” thus goes a popular Kikuyu saying that would readily apply to Kasaya and any other house-helps out there who would be willing to pour out their hearts.
Told in the first person, Tales of Kasaya puts the reader in the turbulent world of house-helps. It is rendered with the freshness and simplicity of an impressionable village girl. Like most house-helps will testify, circumstances beyond their reach, mostly poverty back at home, lead them to take up such jobs.
Kasaya, who hails from Maragoli could not continue with her education beyond primary school, as her peasant parents could not afford it. After a stint as a house-help back in her rural home, she thought is was time she upgraded and sought employment in the big city of Nairobi. Her adventurous trip to Nairobi is a must-read for every person has a house-help. So are the trials and tribulations she undergoes from one employer to the other.
While the book makes for interesting reading, I am not sure about the bit about praise for a famous woman. Clearly, there is nothing in the narrative to make one think of the narrator as a famous woman.
UPDATE: A newer edition of the book was released with a changed title: Tale of Kasaya
Dr Alembi, (right) during the launch of his book The People's Banker In Bunyore on December 19, 2009. James Mwangi is third from right. This was Daktari's last public function
Saturday, January 16, and I am relaxing in the house minding my business, when at around 7.40 pm a text message bursts into my phone. “Ati Alembi is dead?” Was the terse message from a colleague in the office. WHAT! This can’t be! I say to myself reading the message again. Dr Ezekiel Alembi had been admitted at the Mater Hospital on Tuesday, January 12, in critical condition. I hadn’t gone to the hospital as I was waiting for him get out of ICU, that way I reasoned I would be able to chat with him, and maybe joke him out of getting off the damn hospital bed. I suddenly remembered that heavy rains had prevented me from a new year’s party he had invited me at his house in Kahawa West. You see Daktari was very faithful and generous to his friends – Yes, I considered myself his friend – and would occasionally throw parties at his house. These parties were occasions where daktari and his friends ate a lot of food and drank a lot of tea – it was always tea, and maybe juice or soda – told stories and jokes and generally laughed at levels that would not amuse the chaps at NEMA. Daktari had his seat facing the rest of the people in the living room. Actually, it was a three-sitter, which he occupied all alone, er and his many books and papers. That was his office in the house. The mass of books and papers had a clattered disorderly look about them. “You know there is order in disorder,” Daktari would defend the state of his ‘office’. “I know where I have put each and every item, and it will not take me a second to retrieve it. But if someone arranges them I will have a hectic time finding things.” His explanation made perfect sense to me. Before I got married, my house had a very disorderly look about it, but then it was convenient for me as I knew where each and every item was, even in the dark. Enter the missus and the house became very clean, neat and ordered. Problem is that I have to keep asking where everything is… I am not complaining though By failing to attend the party, I missed the opportunity to be with Daktari for probably the last time. It turned out to be the last time he shared a meal with his friends, more like the last supper, because I am told the earliest person left his house at 8pm, for what was supposed to be ‘lunch’. He called me twice after that to tell me how much fun I had missed. Oh how I really missed! But then I comforted myself with the thought that from December 18 to 20, which by the way, is less than a month before his death, I was with Daktari at his rural Ebwiranyi home, in Western Province. It had been an occasion to launch his latest book, James Mwangi: The People’s Banker. I think this was book number 40, authored by the man. Now you see why he is so important.
Dr Alembi, (right) during the launch of his book The People's Banker In Bunyore on December 19, 2009. James Mwangi is third from right. This was Daktari's last public function
However, during our time in Ebwiranyi, I could tell that Daktari was unwell. He got exhausted quite often. During other times he would excuse himself saying that he needed to rest as his blood pressure was giving him trouble. It was really sad to see Daktari reduced to such a weakling. The Daktari I knew was a bundle of energy waiting to be unleashed into the various projects he undertook with so much vigour. At some point on the dinner table, and in the middle of a conversation, he just switched off and dozed off, for about five seconds. And when he came to he had this look about him that told me that all was not well with the good Daktari. Still, he put on a very brave face, in spite of all the pain and suffering – I was later told that he was in a really bad shape. During the event, Daktari with James Mwangi, the CEO of Equity Bank, launched the Ebwiranyi Community Library, in honour of his late parents Mzee Musa and Mama Selifa Alembi. He had build a brand new house, at the cost of around Sh700,000 – he told me this – to house the library. This got me thinking, why in the face of such suffering, would he insist on pulling off such a massive project, in such a hurry. Now, with the benefit of hand sight, I think Daktari had a premonition of his death, that he wanted to get the project out of the way before he passed on. Daktari was really keen on having well-wishers donate books to his library, and asked me for ideas. Luckily I had carried two copies of my book Henry Wanyoike: Victory Despite blindness, and promptly donated them to him. I guess the best way I can homour Daktari’s memory is by organising a campaign to have people donate books, the best way I know how. Despite being a very busy man, Daktari always had time for his friends. He would invite me for lunch at KU, where we really discussed many issues. Our lunches ended up being four to five hour affairs. And Daktari was a dramatic and funny man. I remember that whenever we went for lunch at the senior common room at KU, Daktari would feign annoyance on finding that there was no ugali on the menu. “I want real food! (ugali),” he would say. “I am not a bird to eat grains (rice).” To Daktari, nothing came before a good meal. “Aah Josefu, let us eat,” he would time and again me. “Why should we starve ourselves when there is food.” And I always daid amen to that. I think it was Unoka, Okwonkwo’s father, in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, who said that whenever he saw the mouth of a dead man, he saw the folly of not eating what one had during his lifetime… I met Daktari sometime in 2001. Then I had started writing a column I called Book World, in the Sunday Standard. Then he was plain Mr Alembi, as he had not yet gotten his doctorate degree. It took him close to eight years to get his doctorate degree, and it was not for lack of effort. During that time he time and again presented his proposals to the vetting committees at Kenyatta University, and they always managed to frustrate him. During our many talks Daktari confided in me how these individuals, who shall remain unnamed for now, frustrated him to a point where he was on the verge of losing his teaching post at KU. Then KU administration issued a circular to the effect that lecturers who did not hold doctorate degree would lose their jobs. And this was precisely the point when his tormentors had upped their tempo in frustrating my poor guy. At some point his salary was suspended, and for someone with a young family, this was really cruel. Meanwhile he had to think fast. He registered for his doctorate at the University of Helsinki in Finland, which he got in 2002. Yet this is the same person who went on to head the Literature Department at KU. This goes to prove that you cannot put a good man down. At the time of his death Daktari was the director of KU Radio services.
Whence comes another like Daktari Fare thee well Esekia.
Friends, I have waited for this moment for a very long time (sounds rather cliched eh?) Ok let me rephrase it; I’ve always longed to be a published writer and the dream is almost coming to fruition. My very first book a biography/autobiography – someone tell me what to call it as it is written in the first person – of the celebrated blind athlete Henry Wanyoike ,Victory Despite Blindness (Sasa Sema/Longhorn), should be out today – that is what the publishers told me – and I can’t wait to lay my hands on my copy, er, copies.
They however sent me an image of the book cover, which I am sharing with you. If all goes according to plan, the book should be on sale during the Nairobi International Marathon on Sunday – remember Wanyoike is an ambassador for the race – I will also try my hand at running the 10 kilometer race, purely for selfish reasons.
You can grab yourself a copy from next week at leading bookstores and online on www.enrakenya.com
Now the Swahili have a saying to the effect that Kinyozi hajinyoi – loosely translated to mean that the barber cannot shave himself – I can’t review my own book. I am looking for someone to review it for me to be published here. Any offers?
African culture has from time immemorial been transmitted, from one generation to the other, through the spoken word. This goes to show why the fireside stories, often told by grandmothers, occupy such a central place in the African literary setting. The study of African literature is not complete without talking about oral literature. Some of the greatest African novelists trace the roots of their prowess from the stories they were told by their grandmothers when they were growing up. Here, Chinua Achebe of the Things Fall Apart fame comes to mind. Performance literature has, over time, undergone a transformation in tune with modern trends. Still, this form of art is highly cherished in Africa. Perhaps the finest form of performance literature are poetry recitals which come in various forms, ranging from poetry slam to spoken word. In a move to celebrate performance literature, the Kenya Cultural Centre, the Goethe Institut and Alliance Francaise will be holding a one-of-its-kind festival from 17 to 20 September, whose entry will be free.
Dubbed Jukwaani! the festival will feature a blend of the new and old as far as East African performance literature is concerned. The five-day event will also feature European-based African artistes as well as those from Europe. The performances will mostly be in English and Kiswahili. Among the personalities set to perform during the festival is German-based poet and scholar Abdilatif Abdalla. Most young Kenyan’s would not be immediately aware of Abdilatif nor his achievements. In literary circles, he is best known for his protest works. The Kenyatta regime jailed him after he wrote the book Kenya Twendapi? (Kenya; where are we headed?) This book criticised the Kenyatta government for its excesses and neo-colonial stance. He was actually charged with sedition. His other book, Sauti ya Dhiki (Voice of Agony), a collection of poetry was written while he was incarcerated at Kamiti Maximum Prison. It was basically agitating for the opening up of democratic space in Kenya. Sauti ya Dhiki went on to win the inaugural edition of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1974 for the Kiswahili category. Ukoo Flani Mau Mau, better known for their lyrical prowess, will also be part of Jukwaani! attractions. Ukoo Flani, draw their inspiration and creativity from the day-to-day struggles in Nairobi slums. They are based in slums of Dandora. Best known as underground artistes, these Dandora-based hip-hoppers have chosen to remain true to their impoverished slum existence by shunning the more commercial forms of creativity. Theirs is the hard-hitting poetry that depicts typical life in the slums, their suffering, in the hands on corrupt authorities, as well as triumphs. They also document the negative side of life in the slum, like the effects of crime and drug abuse. Ukoo Flani are a direct contrast to the other form Kenya’s urban hip hop, which appears to celebrate materialism, commonly expressed in the form of flashy lifestyles and bling. Proceeds of their album Kilio cha Haki are going towards the creation of a permanent studio in Eastlands. This, they argue, will help to give young Kenyans a voice and demonstrates how hip hop and music can be an alternative to drugs and crime; a source of income; a means of voicing social and political protest. Truth be said Ukoo Flani boasts some of the finest urban poets in Kenya today, and it is their lyrical prowess that will be showcased at the festival. Tony Mochama, also known as the Literary Gangster, for his unconventional and often abrasive poetry, will also be performing at Jukwaani! The moniker Literary Gangster was inspired by the title of his book, What if I am a Literary Gangster, a collection of poetry. Other featured performers include Dalibor Markovic, Sheikh Ahmed Nabhany, Talking Drums of Africa, and Zamaleo, among others. While the example of Abdilatiff Abdalla goes to show that performance literature has been in existence for a long time, particularly among the Swahili people, the idea of performance poetry has caught up among urban youth in the last four years. Perhaps the best known is Open Mic poetry sessions organised on a monthly basis by Kwani Trust. The idea of Open Mic is borrowed from the American inspired Poetry Slam. Here a number of poets take to the stage to perform their poems and are awarded points from either a panel of judges or the audience. Spoken word is the other form of performance poetry, which is often accompanied with a musical background. Compared with Southern African countries, East Africans lag behind when it comes to performance poetry. Zimbabwe for example, has a well-established poetry movement, which has been at the forefront in the agitation for opening up of democratic space in the country. Jukwaani! as the name suggests, will mainly centre on what is on show on the podium. Jukwaani is Kiswahili for on the stage or podium. Jukwaani! hopes that the boundaries separating the performer from the audience will be shattered leading to a situation where the audience is fully involved.
When Kimani Maruge burst into the public limelight, I thought it was a bad joke, a publicity stunt gone too far. Seriously, how could a man aged over 80 enrol in Standard One? Nevertheless, I followed his ‘educational career’ with detached interest.
Two years down the line the man was still at it. So the guy was serious after all? I was now asking myself. Slowly he was winning me over. And yes he had become a media superstar. Boy, did the media love Maruge? And he rarely disappointed. He always came up with soundbites, that TV people ran over and over again.
My most enduring image was of the old man with a blue (I am colour blind) blazer, with matching knee-length shorts. His socks were always pulled to the base of his knees. And below them was a pair canvas shoes popularly known as Bata Bullets.
Thus dressed, and with his ubiquitous cane Maruge would drag one heavy foot after the other on his way to school.
It did not take long before the folks at Guinness Book of Records took notice, and he promptly entered their books for the dogged way he sought to get educated. He became the world’s oldest pupil.
This man kept telling everyone who cared to listen that he went to school so that he would be able to read the Bible, and soon he was reading his favourite book.
It was worthy noting here that Maruge despite his advanced age wanted to learn how to read. His example put to shame many people who soon after they are through with formal schooling throw away their books. You’ve probably heard of infamous academic bonfires, where secondary school leavers pile all their books and set fire to them.
In their foolish thinking that is the end of them and reading. These are people who have been socialised to think that reading is a form of torture, that is only tolerated for the sake of sitting exams.
During the just concluded Storymoja Hay Festival I attended a session where Muthoni Garland, the managing director of Storymoja, told the story of a young woman who came looking for a job in her firm.
When Muthoni asked the young woman the last title she read a book, the young woman shamelessly told her that she no longer reads and she had now finished schooling! Muthoni says she was scandalised and rightly so. Here is a person who hopes to be employed in a publishing firm, and who does not read.
Well, that girl is in good company. There are quite a number of people who work in our publishing houses, who do not read. Don’t ask me how I know.
Back to Maruge. As a media star, his star never faded. He continued to attract media attention in almost everything he did. Such was his star power that the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) invited him as a guest during the 2005 edition of the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature awards at the Nairobi International Book Fair.
In his speech Maruge, then in Standard Five, counselled on the need to cultivate a healthy reading culture. He also took the opportunity to urge the youth against engaging in casual sex.
After that Maruge retreated to his quiet lifestyle in Kenya’s Rift Valley, where he continued with his studies. The next time I heard major news on him was after the post-election violence, where he was talking to the media from an Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camp.
He had been ejected from his home for belonging to the ‘wrong tribe’.
And that is how he landed in a home for the aged, in Nairobi, from where he continued with his education. All this time, he pledged to pursue his education up to university level.
By now, Maruge was looking frail, and he spoke with difficulties, but still his star power was unmistakable. Everything he did attracted media attention.
This included his baptism ceremony at a Nairobi church. Meanwhile Hollywood was planning to shoot a major movie based on his life. Titled the First Grader, the movie unfortunately, could not be shot in Kenya as the relevant authorities levied exorbitant taxes on the moviemakers. South Africa gave them tax incentives they sought and that for the umpteenth time the South African country got to shoot a movie originally destined for Kenya.
I must mention here that I was involved, in a small way in scouting for a suitable person to play the part of Maruge, but that is a story for another day.
Maruge died on August 14, at the Chesire Home for the aged in Kariobangi North, where he was staying, from complications of stomach cancer. He was aged 89.
Fare thee well Maruge. You fought the good fight. I propose a literary award in honor of the old man. Any takers?
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 the fact that it is completely localised in that you can use M-Pesa to buy the books.
What is more delivery is absolutely free. All you have to do is log on to Rachel’s Bargain Corner, and order your book online. Once you pay your money through M-Pesa, you will get an automatically generated code, which you will then enter and wait for the book to be delivered wherever you want.
“We have an edge over conventional bookstores in that a person anywhere in the country can go online order a book and get it delivered to them,” explains Rachel.
The couple are both 27 and they met in Egerton University, where Rachel was taking a degree in Biomedical Sciences, while Enock was doing Computer Science.
Enock says that his wife is more business-minded and she is the one who decided to establish the online bookshop. “With my technical know how in IT, I designed the website,” he says adding that they are partners in the venture.
Unlike other online shopping stores, which rely on credit cards for payment, Rachel’s Bargain Corner employs the popular M-Pesa mode of payment. “Very few Kenyans have access to credit cards, but M-Pesa is widely available,” says Rachel.
Already, a number of publishers have bought into their idea and are supplying them with books. Rachel first approached Kakai Karani, the general manager of Longman Kenya, who instantly liked the idea.
Rachel then took photos of the books, information on the books and uploaded them on their website. “In instances where publishers have soft copies of their books, they have given that to me,” explains Rachel.
This makes work easier for the publishers as they are now assured of reaching areas that are currently not served by bookshops. Publishers also get the added advantage of saving on costs of delivering the books. Of course publishers give them the discounts extended to booksellers.
Customers from outside Nairobi can have their books delivered through the post office, “The customer indicates the preferred mode of delivery on the website, when they are ordering, and it comes at no additional cost,” she adds.
Apart from Longman, Rachel’s Bargain Corner has also entered into an agreement with the University of Nairobi Press, WordAlive Publishers and Text Book Centre. Storymoja and Kwani? publishers are in the process of joining them. “We are in talks with more publishers to partner with us,” says Rachel.
Rachel’s Bargain Corner will come as a relief for parents who are sending their children back to schools. “We have seen parents waste many hours in long queues waiting to buy books from bookstores,” says Enock. “What we are telling these parents is; you can now attend to other businesses and leave us to deliver the books to you.”
Mr Karani is full of praises for the initiative. “The very fact that they are able to apply the M-Pesa mode of payment puts them head over shoulders over other online shopping entrepreneurs,” says Mr Karani.
“Apart from the fact that they are opening up the availability of books to thousands if not millions of people, they have also revolutionised the supply chain, in that readers can order books from the safety of their offices or homes,” adds Mr Karani.
There is also the added beauty of readers ordering through their phones.
Rachel’s Bargain Corner has been in operation for the last one month, and already the response from customers, mostly their friends, has been satisfactory.
The following areas in Nairobi are currently in their program of distribution: Nairobi CBD, Westlands, Ngong Road, Mombasa Road, Upper Hill, Community Area and Hurlingham.
And with fibre optic cable finally here with us, the future looks really bright for the young couple.
Enock and Rachel got married in July last year and they have a nine-month-old daughter Lakisha.
Kenya’s most celebrated author, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, was in town and there is no way I was going to miss the occasion of launching his newest book, Re-membering Africa. This was yet another opportunity for me to interact with the cream of Kenya’s literary society – who in their right mind would dare miss an event graced by Ngugi?
I am walking to the Alliance Francaise, where the launch is taking place, when Billy Kahora, the Kwani? editor calls me from South Africa. There are some details I wanted clarified on the second edition of Kwani? 5, I am reviewing for the Sunday Nation.
I have particularly strong views on a certain Kwani? writer, which I am including in the review. “I have no problem with what you have to say as long as it is constructive criticism,” Kahora says from the other end of the phone. Hmm…
I am a bit late for the event, as usual, and Henry Chakava, the chairman of East African Educational Publishers (EAEP), Ngugi’s local publishers, is almost halfway into his speech.
My feelings of guilt are banished by the reception I get from Lydia, who is looking particularly hot tonight. Lydia, for those who do not know, is the receptionist at EAEP’s Westlands offices.
As he finishes his speech, Chakava addresses the issue of language in the book being launched. Remember Ngugi had sworn to only write in his Gikuyu language? Is Ngugi backtracking on his vow? “Sometimes it makes sense to tell them (Mzungu) in their own language,” says Chakava as he welcomes Ngugi.
As usual Ngugi welcomes members of his family present. Of particular interest is a young man, in his early twenties, who someone whispers to me, is a product of Ngugi and a Mzungu woman in Sweden. Apparently, the young man must have been conceived in the early years of Ngugi’s exile.
Ngugi then makes a revelation that he is working on his memoirs. The first installment is titled Dreams in a Time of War, which basically talks about his early childhood. Already five publishers around the world have already bought publishing rights of the book! I told you Ngugi was big.
Publishers in the region must envy EAEP. They are automatically assured of rights for Ngugi’s works.
And to appreciate how this relationship came about Ngugi tells of how far he has come with Chakava. At some point Chakava almost had his finger severed for continuing to publish Ngugi at the time when the powers that be wanted nothing to do with him. He is also the man who had to bear with Ngugi’s experimentation in writing in Gikuyu, in spite of repeated warnings from his superiors – then Heineman Educational Publishers in the UK.
Unconfirmed reports say that Ngugi is a major shareholder at EAEP. Re-membering Africa, is apart of a series of lectures Ngugi gave in 2002, staring with Harvard. In the book he has addressed issues of language. Well aware that his thoughts might spark off heated debates Ngugi said that when people read the book, they will agree, disagree or add onto his ideas. “Most of all, I just wanted to provoke a debate,” he said.
On the issue of language, he said that there is nothing wrong for Africans to learn foreign languages. “However, there is something fundamentally wrong when one identifies with other people’s languages and despises his own language,” he said heatedly, calling that a form of slavery.
He added that to add foreign languages to your own language is to empower oneself. Mnaskia hiyo maneno?
Check this space for a review of this book.
The book was first published early this year by Basic Civitas Books under the title Something Torn and new: An African Renaissance.
Kenya’s foremost writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o is among 14 contenders for this year’s Man Booker International Prize. Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.
Ngugi is the only African writer in the list of nominees, who include Nobel winner V.S. Naipaul. The nomination alone is enough proof that Ngugi’s works are rated among the world’s best.
Other nominees for the prize are Peter Carey (Australia), Evan S. Connell (USA)
Mahasweta Devi (India), E.L. Doctorow (USA) , James Kelman (UK), Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia), Alice Munro (Canada), Joyce Carol Oates (USA), Antonio Tabucchi (Italy), Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia) and Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia).
This is the third edition of the prize, which was won, in 2005, by Albanian Writer Ismail Kadare, and Nigerian Chinua Achebe, in 2007.
“By honouring Achebe they have redressed what is seen in Africa – and beyond – as the acute injustice that he has never received the Nobel prize, allegedly because he has spent his life struggling to break the grip of western stereotypes of Africa,” said the Guardian in 2007.
The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers.
Ngugi, whose writing career started 45 years ago decided to stop writing in English when he was detained without trial in 1977. He henceforth decided that would write in Gikuyu. He wrote his latest book Wizard of the Crow (Murogi wa Kagogo) in Gikuyu and later translated it in English.
The book takes a critical look at the often hypocritical relationship between Africa and donor countries. The book appears to suggest that donor funds are actually the main contributors to corruption and dictatorship in Africa, thereby fuelling underdevelopment in the continent.
His other book The River Between is currently a literature set book studied by secondary school students in the country. Ngugi is also a renowned essayist, with Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of language in African Literature and Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom, receiving international acclaim.
Ngugi was born on 5 January, 1938 in Limuru. He attended Makerere University in Uganda and Leeds University in the UK.
During his tenure as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Ngugi was at the center of the politics of English departments in Africa, championing the change of name from English to simply Literature to reflect world literature with African and third world literatures at the center.
The performance of I Will Marry When I Want, a play written with the late Ngugi Wa Mirii, at Kamirithu in Limuru landed him at the Kamiti Maximum prison without trial.
After his release in 1982, he fled to exile, first in Britain and then to the US and only returned to Kenya in 2004. On his return him and his wife Njeeri were attacked by gunmen at their hotel in Nairobi.
In 1992 he became a professor of Comparative Literature and Performance Studies at New York University, where he held the Erich Maria Remarque Chair. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as the Director of the International Centre for Writing and Translation at the University of California, Irvine.
The winner of this year’s Man Booker International Prize will be announced in May 2009, and the winner will be presented with their award at a ceremony in Dublin on 25 June 2009.
