Nation journalist Ng’ang’a Mbugua, is this year’s Wahome Mutahi’s Literary Prize winner with his book Different Colours. This makes it two times in a row that he has won the prize.
Ng’ang’a Mbugua (Left), is all smiles as he receives his winner’s certificate from Prof Egara Kabaji, who was the chief guest at the ceremony
In 2010, he won the same prize with his other book Terrorists of the Aberdare. Different Colours is published by Big Books. Ng’ang’a’s book beat a formidable competition from Dr Yusuf Dawood’s book Eye of the Storm (East African Educational Publishers) and David Mulwa’s book, We Come in Peace (Oxford University Press). Eye of the Storm won last year’s edition the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature.
In the Kiswahili category Jeff Mandila’s book, Sikitiko la Sambaya (JKF) was the winner, beating other nominees John Habwe’s Pamba also published by JKF and Mwenda Mbatia’s Msururu wa Usaliti (EAEP). The two winners took home cash prizes of Sh50,000. John Habwe won the Kiswahili prize in 2010 with his book Cheche za Moto.
The Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize is held every two years in honour of the late humourist and novelist Wahome Mutahi of the Whispers column fame. It is organised by the Kenya Publishers Association and held at the end of the annual Nairobi International Book Fair, which was in its 15th edition.
The judging panel was led by Prof Henry Indangasi of University of Nairobi, Prof Wangari Mwai of Kenyatta University and Dr Tom Odhiambo of University of Nairobi.
Ng’ang’a Mbugua, who is the chief sub editor of Business Daily said that he was happy to have won the prize two times in a row saying that it was testament of the hard work he put into his writing.
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 a novel, Mbugua has nevertheless breathed life into these otherwise mundane issues and crafted interesting stories around them.
Call him an NGO novelist, an environmental crusader/activist, and any other such names but the fact of the matter is that Mbugua’s books are immensely readable. This is a refreshing departure in an environment where captivating Kenyan writers are few and far between.
Mbugua’s foray into ‘environmental writing’ started with his book Susana the Brave, a primary school reader that talked about a teacher, who after being posted to a school in an arid area, went ahead and transformed the place due to her dedicated campaign to plant trees.
His second book, Terrorists of the Aberdare, addressed the delicate issue of human wildlife conflict and by extent, forest conservation.
And for his troubles Terrorists won the third edition of the Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize. The book was also short listed for the 2011 edition of Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature.
His latest book, Different Colours, and which I think is his most ambitious so far, has taken the game a notch higher. Not only has he written on his pet subject, he has fused it with the sublime world of Art. Different Colours revolves around an imaginary waterfall in an equally imaginary Banana County, which is threatened by an unscrupulous merchant who starts to mine building stones from around the waterfall. The hero of the book is Miguel, a dreadlocked artist – don’t they all sport dreadlocks? – who, after hearing of the beauty of the waterfall decides that he must immortalise it on canvas.
It is while on one of his surveying missions that he accidentally bumps into a group of men hard at work in a secret quarry. The story unfolds after the owner of the secret quarry is alerted of Miguel’s nosiness.
Not that Dik Teita (note the play on the word dictator) hadn’t had his fears as to the ‘real’ intentions of the newly arrived ‘rastaman’. The moment he got wind of Miguel’s mission of painting the waterfall – word travels fast in Banana – he feared it was a matter of time before his secret quarry was discovered.
To prevent this, Dik Teita comes up with what he thinks is a convenient smokescreen; make Miguel paint the local cattle dip – who, in their right minds assigns such jobs?
Seeing as the cattle dip ruse didn’t work, Dik Teita resorts to intimidation and threats of violence. And who better does this dirty work than Vu Tabangi (bhang smoker) the village thug. Sadly for Dik Teita, the threats have the opposite effect on Miguel: his resolve to save the waterfall from destruction hardens. Together with Angela, a widow who also happens to be his landlady, they mobilise the local community on the importance of conserving the waterfall, which is their lifeline. They also enlist the services of Derek, Miguel’s friend, who is also a tech geek. Derek also has contacts in media.
Meanwhile, the noose tightens on Dik Teita and his goons. It also emerges that Dik Teita was behind the death of Angela’s husband.
While the waterfall conservation saga is engrossing I found the parts dealing with Miguel’s art most appealing. It is either that the author is an accomplished art connoisseur or that he had done thorough research on all that entails art, paintings and other forms of visual art.
Whatever the case, the informed discourse on art really uplifts
Mbugua’s book.
In Different Colours, art meets nature, and it is in the appreciation of the beauty of nature that Miguel’s talent and eye for detail enriches the conservation narrative.
Due to their unconventional behaviour society tends to misunderstand artists. Most of the times artists are seen as misfits. And Miguel was no exception; in one classic moment, Miguel is told that people come to the waterfall to commit suicide. “It is a good place to die,” he says more to himself, probably after being overawed by the beauty of the falls.
Throughout the book, the author teases romantics with the probable love affair blossoming between Miguel and his widowed landlady. Even at the end of the novel, he only hints at what might come between the two.
This book, in my view, is a fitting tribute to the late Nobel Laureate, Prof Wangari Maathai. Your work, Mama Miti, was not in vain.
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 with a cool Sh150,000, this being the prize money for the award. I am hearing whispers to the effect that the prize money could be increased.
That being the case KPA has announced a three -judge
panel for this year ’s, yes they do have judges.
The panel is headed by Prof Henry Indangasi, who teaches in the Literature
Department of University Nairobi . The other members are Dr Tom Odhiambo also of University of Nairobi and Prof Wangari Mwai , the Director of Kenyatta University Campus in Nyeri . Mr James Odhiambo , the executive officer of KPA says this year’s award has attracted 19
Kiswahili titles and 33 English titles. “The judges panel should be able to announce the shortlisted titles by September , ” he explains .
“Winners will announced on October 1 during the 14th edition of the Nairobi International Book Fair.” And we shall tell you who the nominated authors are, come September. Er, we’re that good.
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 as a
premonition of the 2008 post election violence. We understand that the
split is the culmination of many months of conflict over unpaid royalties . The author is also said not to be happy
about the publisher’ s marketing and publicity plans .
When contacted, Kinyanjui was non-committal on the reasons for the split, only saying ; “ I have enough respect for Jimmi Makotsi – he made the book what it is and I do not want to malign
his name. But it is time to move on .” He admitted that he is in discussion with
other publishers to reissue the book, although he did not give names. The Last Villains of Molo has enjoyed some level of publicity in the print and electronic media and on social forums . It is currently a study text in Moi, Kenyatta, Daystar and Egerton
Universities and is a subject of several Masters and one PhD theses. Plans are
underway to produce a stage version of the book in an upcoming festival , and a local film producer has expressed interest in shooting the film
based on the novel . The writer has also written two other children’s books and scripted a film. He has finalized work on another novel . Kinyanjui says that, as part of the termination agreement , he purchased
all stock copies of the book from the publisher, and they are currently on sale via his website
www .kinyanjuikombani.com
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 administered in Kenya by the National Book Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK) with support from the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education (CODE). It is named after William Burt, a Canadian citizen who is a long time supporter of CODE.
According Ruth Odondi, the CEO of NBDCK, the Burt Award seeks to recognize excellence in young adult fiction, with the goal of increasing the literacy skills while at the same time nurturing a reading culture.
“As NBDCK, we are particularly concerned that school going children, particularly in the rural areas, do not have access to supplementary reading materials, which, in our view, has a negative impact on the quality of education,” she adds.
It is in pursuit of those goals that the Burt Award will consider works that target young readers between the ages of 12 and 18. She says that the Award committee will work closely with publishers for purposes of submission of manuscripts, which will then be assessed by a panel of judges who will then come up with the first three winners.
The second prize is worth Sh500,000 (6,000 Canadian Dollars) while the third prize is worth Sh250,000 (3,000 Canadian Dollars).
“We are inviting writers to come and get first hand, details of the competition,” says Mrs. Odondi.
Ruth Odondi, the CEO of NBDKC (right) with Sean Maddox, CODE's director for development
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
money, when his book Blossoms of the Savannah won the 2009 edition of
the Award. While this is a welcome move, some observers however
believe it is not enough as the Award comes after two years.
On the other hand, the Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize, also biannual,
still gives out Sh50,000 as its top prize, which is not commensurate
to the effort a writer puts in writing the book. Credit should however
go to the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) who administer the two
prizes, and which happen to be the only consistent literary prizes in
Kenya.
The situation is however set to change fundamentally with the
introduction of the William Burt Prize for African Literature. If for
nothing else, the prize money involved in this award will most
probably get writers rediscovering their muse and going back to
putting pen on paper; After all, it is not everyday that a Kenyan
writer gets a cool Sh1million!
Ruth Odondi, the CEO of NBDKC (right) with Sean Maddox, CODE's director for development
The prize is being administered in Kenya by the National Book
Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK) with support from the Canadian
Organisation for Development through Education (CODE).
The Award is named after William Burt, a Canadian citizen who is a
longtime supporter of CODE. According Ruth Odondi, the CEO of NBDCK,
the award seeks to recognize excellence in young adult fiction from
Africa, with the goal of increasing the literacy skills while at the
same time nurturing a reading culture.
“CODE and its partner organizations, which include NBDCK, have long
been involved in supporting the provision of a wide variety of reading
materials in various countries in African, Asia, the Caribbean and
Latin America, as a means of developing and supporting literacy skills
and opening up of new ideas, perspectives and awareness about social,
cultural and other relevant issues,” explains Mrs. Odondi.
She adds that the Burt Awards is therefore designed to build on the
strength of CODE’s literacy initiatives by supporting and motivating
the development of supplementary reading materials for a critical
stage of learning.
“As NBDCK, we are particularly concerned that school going children,
particularly in the rural areas, do not have access to supplementary
reading materials, which, in our view, has a negative impact on the
quality of education,” she adds.
It is in pursuit of those goals that the Burt Award will consider
works that target young readers between the ages of 12 and 15. She
says that the Award committee will work closely with publishers for
purposes of submission of manuscripts, which will then be assessed by
a panel of judges who will then come up with the first three winners.
The first, second and third prizes are valued at Canadian $ (CAN)
12,000, (Ksh945,600) 6,000 (Sh472,800) and 3,000 (Sh236,400)
respectively.
The fact that publishers will be involve in the process means that the
winning entries will be assured of getting published. It gets even
better for the writers; not only will they be published, they will be
assured of getting 3,000 to 5,000 copies of their books automatically
purchased by NBDCK.
“These copies will be distributed through CODE’s partner organizations
network of schools and libraries,” she adds.
Any author worth their salt will testify that getting to move 5,000
copies of a work of fiction that is not a set book, in Kenya, is a
tall order indeed.
“This project comes bearing goodies for the whole book chain right
from the writer, the publisher, printer to the booksellers,” explains
Mrs. Odondi.
Onduko bw’Atebe whose book Verdict of Death won the inaugural edition
of the Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize, in 2006, says the Burt Award will
be play a big role in developing writing in Kenya. “You see when the
prize money is big, the writing profession will get the respect it
deserves as opposed to now when it is seen as pass time for idle
people with nothing much else to do,” he says. “This is a massive step
if you consider that I only got Sh50,000 for the award.”
In 1997, Ngumi Kibera’s collection of short stories The Grapevine
Stories won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature and for his
troubles he got a measly Sh30,000. “A million shillings is definitely
good money for a struggling writer,” he says. “The writer is
definitely the winner as apart from the prize money, they are
guaranteed of having about 5,000 copies of their book sold, which
means more money in terms of royalties.”
On her part, Mrs. Nancy Karimi the chairperson of KPA says the Burt
Prize, with its enhanced prize money will encourage authorship. “It is
not just the writers who will benefit from the package, publishers too
will gain as they will as 5,000 copies will be bought at a go,” says
Mrs. Karimi who is also the managing director of Jomo Kenyatta
Foundation.
Mr. Muriuki Njeru, the managing director of Oxford University Press
says that small publishers also stand a chance to gain from the
arrangement, “When a small publisher has the opportunity of moving
5,000 copies at a go, the rest of the copies will not be difficult to
sell,” he explains.
Mr. Muriuki sees the Kenyan writing scene moving to the next level
once the Burt Prize comes to effect. “Our writing scene has really
come of age as evidenced by the fact that more and more Kenyans are
willing to buy books outside the school setting,” he adds.
Mrs. Odondi says that details about the rules and regulation of the
award will be announced during the launch, which will take place on
January 19. “Once we launch the prize, we are going to give writers a
nine-month grace period so as to prepare the manuscripts,” she says.
Kenyan publishers: The weak link in Kenyan writing?
A Paper presented at an international seminar on Historical Legacy and Contemporary Writing in the Commonwealth, held in New Delhi from 8-10 October.
By JOSEPH NGUNJIRI
Just like the old woman in the Igbo proverb gets uneasy when dry bones are mentioned so does East Africa and Kenya in particular, whenever the phrase literary desert is invoked.
It is indeed interesting that more than 30 years after Taban lo Liyong issued his infamous edict, Kenya has not done much to disprove the controversial Sudanese writer.
Compared to Southern and Western African writers, Kenya, and the Easter African region still have a long way to go in terms of creative writing. You can easily tell this by the fact that most literary prizes in Africa keep ending up in the hands of either Southern or Western Africans.
This is ironical because Kenya has one of the most advanced publishing sectors in Africa aside from South Africa. However, a careful look at publishing houses in Kenya reveals that they dedicate their energies to the lucrative textbook market.
It has been argued that Kenyan publishers only publish a general readership books as an afterthought, and even then, they do not market them well.
When Henry ole Kulet’s book Blossoms of the Savannah won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 2009, such was his frustration when readers could not access copies of the book from bookshops.
And in my case, when my book Henry Wanyoike: Victory Despite Blindness came out in October last year, it took more than six months before it could get to Textbook Centre, the largest book distributor in Kenya.
And when recently, the subject of my book, a blind Olympic champion and multiple world record holder appeared in a radio talk show to promote the book, callers to the station said they could not get the book in their local bookshops.
Textbooks on the other hand require little or no marketing at all. Once your book has been approved by the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) you only need to deliver them to booksellers and schools will make their orders. Of course there is the small bit of going round schools trying to convince teachers that your book is better than the others in the market.
In short marketing departments of Kenyan publishers are comprised of glorified salespeople who spend most of their time hustling school teachers.
About four months ago Kenyan publishers got a major scare when KIE, in a report, indicated that it intended to go back into the publishing of textbooks. Had this come to pass, publishers would have lost more than 70 per cent of their revenue, with the stroke of a pen.
It later emerged that the KIE report was heavily doctored, and that it was only after the mouth watering monies involved in school publishing. If there was a lesson to be learnt by Kenyan publishers then it was that they need not put all their eggs in one basket. But has the lesson been learnt? Only time will tell.
So reliant are publishers on the school market that even when they publish a work of fiction it is in the hope that KIE will adopt it as a set book, thereby guaranteeing them handsome sales. Rarely do they target the mass market.
It estimated that the textbook market potential in Kenya has been exploited up to 70 per cent, while that of non-textbooks stands at a mere 30 per cent, which means that there is a large untapped potential for non-textbooks in the country, and which publishers are unwilling to exploit.
When David Waweru established WordAlive Publishers in 2001, players in the industry laughed when he told them that he wanted to do Christian and motivational books. Today, nine years down the line the same publishers who laughed at him seek his services in terms if book packaging and marketing.
So successful has WordAlive been in those nine short years that when top biblical scholars from Africa wrote the Africa Bible Commentary, WordAlive was chosen to be its publisher in Africa.
WordAlive marked another milestone when Eyo one of its fictional titles was nominated for the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, in 2010. The book was written, not by a Kenyan author but by a Nigerian writer!
The only WordAlive book that targets the school market is the Student Companion Bible.
And speaking of literary awards; this year’s Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize, was won by Ng’ang’a Mbugua, a journalist who decided to self-publish his book Terrorists of the Aberdare, after mainstream publishers turned it down.
There had been a precedent, another self-published effort, Grapevine Stories had won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature in 1997. It is only then that a publisher agreed to adopt it.
And when Penguin South Africa launched its inaugural Writers Prize for Africa, for unpublished manuscripts, one of the nominees in the fiction category was Kenyan Moraa Gitaa. Moraa’s manuscript had severally been rejected by publishers in the country. One of them accused her of having a “wild imagination”.
When Ngugi wa Thiong’o was in Kenya to launch his latest book Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir, he urged writers not to shy away from self-publishing their books, if that is the only way to get their works into the market.
Ngugi defended publishers’ decision to concentrate on textbooks, arguing that as business entities they exist to make money.
He however said that it is the duty of African publishers to nurture and market young writers.
When I asked Ngugi why there hasn’t been young writers coming up to fill his shoes he said that he did not wish to pass negative judgment. “There are enough young writers today,” he said. “We might not see a lot of their works at the moment, but I believe they are working on something.”
He pointed out Kwani? as a group of young Kenyan writers with whom he has a lot of faith.
It is interesting that Kwani? should now be getting their legitimacy from Ngugi. When Binyavanga Wainaina founded Kwani? in 2003 after winning the Caine Prize for African Writing, in 2002, such was the buzz that accompanied it that many people felt a true Kenyan writing renaissance was unfolding before them.
So fired up were they that, among other things, they said that the writing by the Ngugi generation was outdated, and that they needed to step aside and let fresh new talent show the way.
When Vyonne Awuor, another of the Kwani? generation of writers won the Caine Prize in 2003, the general feeling was that these young writers at least knew what they were doing. Seven years after Kwani? was formed Kenyans are still waiting to read the first novel written by a member of Kwani?
By comparison Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was only a nominee when Binyavanga won the Caine Prize in 2002. Today Chimamanda has written two highly acclaimed novels, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. The latter went ahead to win the Orange Prize. Chimamanda has been hailed as Chinua Achebe’s literary daughter.
Helon Habila is the other exciting young Nigerian writer. Thus Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka can rest easy in the knowledge that they have worthy inheritors of their mantles.
Back in Kenya, the Ngugi succession might take a little longer. And as he says we should be more patient.
Ngugi (centre) with his wife Njeeri (Right) and PLO Lumumba (left) during the book launch at the National Museums of Kenya
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 their works. For a long time the self-publishing route was taken as a last resort, after publishers shut their doors on a writer.
Ngugi (centre) with his wife Njeeri (Right) and PLO Lumumba (left) during the book launch at the National Museums of Kenya
While self publishing is fraught with risks, I think it is time writers gave it a shot. Why am I saying this? Well, as far as Kenyan publishers are concerned, creative works are nothing more than engaging Corporate Social Responsibility. Let me explain: after they have made tonnes of money from publishing textbooks, their conscience pricks them and they decide to do one or two consumer books, as a way of giving back to the society.
The tragedy is that they do not give these books too much thought and therefore do not really market these books. It is therefore not unusual to find good books lying in their warehouses, and they are not being taken to bookshops. Thus don’t be surprised if you walked into a bookstore to request for a Kenyan book only to be told that it is not available. Believe you me, I have been published and I know how it feels for a person to tell you they cannot find your book in a bookstore, including the main ones in Nairobi.
Even when the books are in bookstores, publishers do not bother to make noise about them. Tell me publishers, how do you expect readers – do not give me crap about Kenyans not reading – to know about a book you have published if you do not make them aware of its existence in the market? Is it too much to buy space in the media to shout about your new book?
I recently had a talk with a motivational author who told me that he has moved more copies of a book he self published, than one that was done by a publisher, and in a relatively shorter time. Go figure.
During the interview I asked Ngugi for his opinion on why we are not seeing new novels – not short stories – from young Kenyan writers. Being the good person that he is, Ngugi told me that he did not want to pass “negative judgment” on young Kenyan writers. He urged patience saying that writing is a long process, and that we would eventually be shocked by what these young writers, particularly Kwani? might unleash on us in the future.
I don’t know what Ngugi told the Kwani? crew about our interview, when he later met them, because later that evening at the launch of his book, at the National Museums I was cornered by Billy Kahora, the Kwani? editor, who demanded to know why I had been asking Ngugi “leading questions.” It so happened that Binyanvanga Wainaina, Kwani’s founder, with dyed hair on his head, was nearby and he joined in on the ‘grilling’ . “I just laughed,” Binya sniggered. He was referring to his reaction to whatever Ngugi had told them.
With all due respect, I would love for someone to point out a novel – again not short story – that has been written by the Kwani? franternity, or better still, take a look at this year’s Wahome Mutahi Literary Prize nominees, here and show me a book written by a Kwani? person, and I will show you who is splitting hairs.
