There are several events for a person who loves the literary arts including some featuring Ubah Cristina Ali Farah, Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, and Joan Thatiah.
There will be several events hosted at what is an activity-filled end of the week in Kenya’s biggest city. Here are a few events you want to check out;
Ubah Cristina Ali Farah in conversation with Dr Mshai Mwangola
Date: Thursday, February 24, 6:30pm
Venue: Cheche Books, Lavington, Nairobi
Ubah Cristina Ali Farah is an Italian writer of Somali and Italian origin. She has written, Ai confini del verso: Poesia della migrazione in italiano, (At the boundaries of verse. Poetry of migration) Le Lettere”, Florence, 2006; A New Map: The poetry of Migrant Writers in Italy, texts collected by Mia Lecomte et Luigi Bonaffini, Green Integer, Los Angeles, 2007; Madre piccola (“Little Mother”), Frassinelli, 2007; Il comandante del fiume (The commander of the river), 2014; and Rethinking Power Relations – for a decolonised and non-racial world 2021.
Khadija Abdalla Bajaber in conversation with Dr Mshai Mwangola
Date: Friday, February 25, 6:30pm
Venue: Prestige Bookshop, Mama Ngina Street, Nairobi
Khadija Abdalla Bajaber is a Mombasa-born poet and novelist with a degree in journalism who was selected as the first winner of the Graywolf Press Africa Prize, awarded for a first novel manuscript by an African author primarily residing in Africa. House of Rust which came from this manuscript has Jahazi Press as the Kenyan publisher.
Nairobi Poets Meet
Date: Friday, February 25, 5:30pm – 7pm
Venue: Alliance Française
Nairobi Poets Meet brings together writers of poetry from across the city. The club exists to amplify the voices of poets around issues of common concern and to celebrate their aesthetic contributions to our lives. Nairobi Poets Meet is keen on a vigorous presence for poetry in the Kenyan culture, to discover and celebrate the best poetry, and to place it before the largest possible audience. We purpose to raise poetry to a more visible and influential position in the Kenyan culture. The club seeks to shape a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, encouraging new kinds of poetry, and nurturing new writers.
Moto Festival Book Signing: Joan Thatiah
Date: Saturday, February 26, 2-4pm
Venue: Half Price Books, Village Market
The Moto Festival was recently unveiled as the latest literary festival in Kenya. As part of their activities, they are doing a series of readings leading to their main event in April. The first of the readings will be by journalist and writer Joan Thatiah whose books include the nonfiction offering Things I Will Tell my Daughter, Everything I know About Life, Letters to My Son, and I’m Too Pretty To Be Broke.
