This Chimamanda. Nigeria’s sweetheart writer Chimamanda Adichie has been doing what she does yet again; winning awards for her novels. The latest of her awards is the 2013 Heartland Prize. This annual prize, an initiative of the Chicago Tribune, was created in 1988 and sees authors awarded in two categories: Fiction and Non-Fiction. These prizes […]
Book: The last Villains of Molo Author: Kinyanjui Kombani Publisher: Longhorn Publishers Number of pages: 211 Reading about people going through pain is one of the less pleasant parts of the literature experience. Seeing a person’s trials and tribulations can be very disturbing as the good writer will describe the actions that happen and leave […]
Migritude was first coined by Kenya Poet and human rights activist Shailja Patel. The concept involves people who leave one space to another for whatever reason be it political, economical or otherwise. The concept has been seen of late quite a bit in literature of people from this continent with both Chimamanda Adichie (Americah) and […]
One of the most innovative publishers in Kenya has to be the Storymoja Publishing left by Muthoni Garland. They have the most output fiction wise where some of the new companies operating in Kenya are concerned. They also have several initiatives to bring reading to the fore like Start A Library. The biggest event in […]
We have a winner. The winner of the inaugural Kwani? Manuscript Prize is Ugandan Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi for her novel The Kintu Saga. The writer will be going home with the win as well as 300,000 Kenyan Shillings (equivalent $3500). 2nd place has been awarded to Liberia’s Saah Millimono for One Day I Will Write […]
We are all looking to market out books and one of the best ways to do this is using exerpts is the Alexander Nderitu. Here it is verbatim; An Excerpt from ‘KISS, COMMANDER, PROMISE’, Full e-book available at www.AlexanderNderitu.com/buy for only Kshs 150/= This is Georgeanne’s kind of town. She’s an urbanite. She loves high-profile […]
Kenyan writer Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor entered the literary scene with a blaze of glory in 2003 as she won the Caine Prize for African writing. It was for Weight of Whispers, a haunting tale of a Rwandan man who was in the upper class of that society who finds himself in Kenya just as the […]
The Kenyan literature scene is a very fluid concept. Promises so much but delivery is much lower than the hype. We are always for the next big thing to tout as… well… the next big thing. Last night what could be considered the real next big thing emerged; Temo Buliro. The Nairobi born writer was […]
Do you fancy that you can write science fiction that would amaze the world and don’t want to worry about competing with Hollywood types? The try AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers. This was the first ever anthology of Science Fiction by African writers only that was open to submissions from across Africa and abroad. […]
Just after being appointed the chair of the new Etisalat Prize for African writing Wits University professor Pumla Gqola’s latest book A renegade called Simphiwe is now in South African stores. The book is set to be launched in Johannesburg on the fourth of July. The book is a look at South African singer and […]
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Writers make it a memorable Sunday Salon
That Eric Wainaina place that used to be called Kifaru Gardens and is now called Elephant House was where all the roads led to on Sunday afternoon for the literary inclined for Sunday Salon. The Sunday Salon is an event where literature fans got to hear writers read their own work in a relaxed environment. […]
The fifth annual Golden Baobab Prize, a literary award that invites entries of unpublished African-inspired stories written for young audiences below the age of twelve is here. The mission of the Golden Baobab Prize is to inspire African writers to create enthralling African stories that will inspire the imaginations of generations of African children. Your […]
The Kwani Trust was started a over decade ago to ensure that literature from this part of the world grew. Their latest attempt at this is the Kwani Manuscript Prize supported by Lambent Foundation and Ford Foundation which saw those who entered get a chance to win the following prizes; 1st Prize: 300 000 KShs […]
The Sunday Salon was a really great event that debuted a few years ago and was the brain child of our old friends from the Kwani Trust. The event usually had several writers read their works at the Kengeles in Lavington on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a pretty quiet setting so you could interact with […]
Today is the Day of the African Child. For those not in the know this is the day in 1976 when a bunch of kids in Soweto decided that they won’t learn in Africaans in schools and went to the streets to protest. Now the children of Soweto and all South Africa have the opportunity […]
